Scouting New Location: Adams Park

So with only 1 car in the family, the kids and I have started taking the bus around town (and by around town, I mean to the Library). We keep passing this park that has this cute shabby building there. I thought it would be great to take pictures there so that was our adventure today!

It was bad timing though... 10:30 AM and the sun was WAY up. I tried to stayed in the open shade, which elimanates 1/2 the building. But I think I got some pretty good shots anyways.

That was his most natural smile... I hate when kids cheese it up lol



What can I say about this girl, she is TROUBLE!



Doesn't it look cold? Well, it WAS!



I love a great vintage action! Don't you?

Adventure In Babysitting

I got to babysit my sister in law's baby today and it was so fun! Granted, she is only 5 months old and couldn't do much but I just love cuddling babies! She cooed and yelled and peed and spit up. Pretty much a normal routine day for her. I know her mom won't appreciate this, but I didn't put her down for her nap, I just held her the ENTIRE time! It's so much fun spoiling other people's babies....

So not only did I get to hold the baby, I had a chance to take her pictures too. Mental note, taking pictures of babies by youreslf... not a good idea!

This is SOOC (straight out of the camera), taken with my rebel xt and 50mm 1.8 lens with natural light.


I wish my headboard wasn't going through her head, but you make do with what you've got right? I love that she is somewhat smiling AND eating her hand at the same time. I think I took about 30+ shots and only this one was usable. What did we do before digital??? I can't even remember!

This is after photoshop

You know I LOVE photoshop right? I'm not really going for a natural look here, it might look over process to some people but I like it how it is. I used coffeeshop's free action (again!) but before I did that, I did adjust the temperture and exposure in ACR (adobe camera raw). If you are not shooting in RAW, you should get started! The actual shooting part is no different at all, there is no special way to shoot RAW vs JPEG. You do the exact same thing! RAW just takes up more memory. Then you go to ACR in photoshop, and you can adjust the picture like it is in camera. Go ahead, make the switch next time you take a picture!

I Love Photoshop!

Okay, yes, I realized that this post contradicts the post before, but I've got it all figured out!! Sort of... I figured out the action part anyways (thanks to a fellow ILPer!) I took some valentine's picture of Ms. S because she doesn't go to preschool and won't get to do anything fun with her classmates, so I thought she can make some cards herself and sent them to her cousins. We live for little things like this because, quite frankly, it's too cold to go outside and play! That and we don't have a car and can't drive around and explore Logan.

These 2 pictures are both edited in Photoshop Elements 7 and taken with my Canon Rebel xt and 50mm f1.8 lens. Usually I like the very natural looking photos but I wanted to be funky and fun for this shoot. (I use the term loosly becaues I am in no way a professional photographer!) I downloaded some free actions over at Coffeshop, applied urban action for the photo above and color pop for photo below.

Well, when you don't have a car and you live in a small town AND you are impatient, what do you do? you print your pictures out at walmart. It's one hour and 19 cents a copy. Mind you, without a car, one hour means nothing but it's better than waiting by the mailbox for 4 days if we do it online. I just have to wait till hubby gets home to pick them up :)

My Beef with PSE 7!!

I just installed Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and it keeps spasing out!! What is up with that?? They are on version 7 already why is there still so many bugs??? Not only that, I've been trying all day to figure out how to install actions into the program. I am having no luck unhide my folders. The internet is a great thing to find info, but sometimes you just need someone next to you to show you (and maybe actually do it for you)!

I gave up after a few hours, plus I was a bit sleepy because my body told me to wake up at 5:30 am! We went over to the in laws for a Super Bowl party, the food was yummy as usual. I was able to get this drooly (is that a word?) pic of Ms. E. She didn't want to smile for me, but that's okay, I love her just the same. Even more after she hurled on me...