Archive | March 2018

Buttercup–Different Points of View

Like in photography, with writing, we can show different perspectives. It’s fun to move around when trying to take pictures of a subject and see how that changes the view.

In writing, since I write in third person, I switch back and forth to show off the two main characters’ points of view. Who has the most to lose or gain in the scene? That’s whose point of view it will be in. It helps when I get stuck sometimes, to change point of view. Sometimes, I’ll share a secondary character’s point of view to show how others are thinking of the main characters. This can give even more depth to the main characters. But too many points of view can be confusing.

Once, I read a story where a person has a whole chapter in his viewpoint, but was never mentioned any other time in the book. It was like the author had just stuck him in there, and forgotten about him. Another started off with the character running for her life and so you think, she’s going to survive since it’s her story, right? Nope! Author killed her off. It was maybe 3/4ths through the book that I finally realized the killer was the heroine’s father. By then did I care? No. It was like this random scene to get the adrenaline running, and then, wait, we have to start over with a new character? And it didn’t seem like that prologue was in any way connected with the book for chapter after chapter. So if we offer someone else’s point of view, he should be important to the rest of the story. 🙂

In the pictures I took of the buttercup, I noticed the purple flowers in the background and I wanted to capture the bokeh. On one, I looked down from above and focused on the top flower. So each flower became the main focus, and then some parts of the one flower became the main focus. The rest, the bokeh, showcases the main character.

Okay, I’m off to do more edits. Still need to figure out the ending. I’ve written the epilogue already. 🙂 Just need the final scene(s) to wrap everything else up.

Have a lovely day!!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
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Crawfish/Crayfish/Crawdad Party!

Mar18

crayfish party Trey cooking pork ribs 062

My next-door neighbor had a crayfish party and so I had fun taking pictures, and eating the pork ribs and fried catfish while many were dressed in the green for St. Patrick’s Day!

The kids were so cute with the crayfish! But I also got some practice in for the photography challenges. Moving people, no blurry body parts, check! Clear the clutter, trying to have a nice backdrop where I could when I was trying to focus on people! There was so much clutter with the stuff, when I was trying to concentrate on the kids or other people and capture the moment, so it’s just something I have to remember to watch for. Check (for the most part). Background blur. Check. (the one was of the son cooking ribs and I should have gone across the street to have a better background on that to take the shot from the other direction, plus my focus was off.) Natural facial expressions. Check! Nice light. Check!

Background blur was the next assignment, so your focus is more on your subject. In this case I had a higher f setting so that I could focus on more people.

The next challenge was telling a story, and that’s something I wanted to show too. The before (live crayfish), during (kids playing with them), and after (time to eat!)

And so I met the challenge!

Now I have to meet my deadline. Off to work! Have a lovely, fun, storytelling day!

Terry

Happy St. Patrick’s Day & Say Cheese!

Mar17

St Patrick's Day Bear different background 900

Or not! In Click Love Grow, the photographer talked about natural expressions. Here, baby looked up and saw me smiling at her and I was talking to her. She was so focused on trying to crawl up on the slide, or back down it, that when she looked over, she was tickled to see me there. But these are the kind of expressions that are great. Nice and natural. In the other, she was smiling at her momma. She was having a ball. Talking to us, laughing, smiling.

The photographer recommended having the kids hold something, getting them involved in the photo set up, catching them when they’re playing or doing some other activity, rather than have the standard mug shot. Playing word games, mixing up stories, so that they don’t make sense, bribing, are some of the ways that photographers get the kids to smile genuinely. Even with Keira as young as she is, if I say, “What does the cow say? Mooooo,” she smiles. Or if I sing her one of the songs like “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” or “Row Row Row Your Boat,” she’ll also smile.

I love to sit with her on the floor and while she’s playing and talking away, I take pictures. Hopefully with using better settings for a moving baby, they’ll turn out better.

Tomorrow’s prompt was nice background blur so that the child stands out against the background.

Off to work on the story! I got word count!!! And now just continuing to edit and write. It’s amazing as I’m going along, how I’ve changed the story as I write, and have to return to the beginning to reflect those changes! The butterfly effect…

Have a lovely St. Patrick’s Day! Potatoes, corned beef, cabbage, and carrots on the menu!

Terry

Stop that Blur!

Mar16

Next lesson on Click Love Grow was to grab sharper images. Since baby is so active, I often have moving body parts, hands, head, legs, even her dress a blur as she moves around and I’m trying to capture a perfect shot.

First, light, light, light. Then no lower than about f2.8-3.2 or better. I was shooting on a 50mm at f1.4 and that was giving me a lot of baby blur.

I had my 300mm for these shots and baby is swinging toward me, or back, her momma giving her really good swings and grandma struggling to get a focus on baby’s eyes as she’s in full swing mode. But as soon as I’d get it, she was swinging back and a blur. Normally, I would have had a blur of her hands, feet, and head, the way she was moving about, even on the slide where her mom was holding her. Same with her mom because she was moving and talking! lol If you saw a continuous group of pictures of the baby when she’s holding onto the slide with her foot and hand to avoid sliding, her foot and hand kept moving. But because of having faster shutter speed, it stopped that motion, so you can’t see it from picture to picture.

The photographer suggested going no lower than a shutter speed of 125s for people. And around 250s for kids playing. Now, that can mean upping the ISO to let in more light, and that brings in grain. In the pictures here, the baby in the sunlight had less grain. In the shadows, more grain. I had to denoise the pictures, too much grain, and that meant the features were softer. Sooooo…..light, light, light. The photographer said that you could overexpose a little bit to avoid this.

The problem was all we had to deal with was harsh sunlight and deep shadows. Normally, I would do this on an overcast day, somewhere that we didn’t have such deep shadows. Or earlier in the day or during the golden hour as the sun is setting and the sunlight isn’t as harsh on the subject. So lighting wasn’t optimal. But it was the only day I saw baby this week to take pictures and the park is so shadowed, it doesn’t make for the greatest lighting. But the action, and baby having a blast, was what was really important.

And that’s something to remember! The kids should be having fun. If they’re not, stop the picture taking!!!

Hobby Lobby is having a deal with post your pictures taken in their flower department. Great idea for marketing! And some kids, and adults, were having a great time. But one 18-month old boy wasn’t having a bit of it. It’s an adorable picture, but his mom said he threw a fit and had a temper tantrum right afterwards. lol So the kids should be having fun, or do something else.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk about natural expression. Say cheese! And we can get wildly exaggerated, clenched-teeth smiles.

Besides having fun with photography! I’m working on the story. Wrote 4,000 words yesterday and reached my word goal! Now I have to wrap this baby up.

Have a great, smiley day in a natural, un-gritted teeth way!

Terry

Let in More Light–Photography

Mar15

I have a new reason for doing composites. A photographer hobbyist like me was giving me tips on how to take pictures of moving objects without the blur. So we’ve become friends on FB. She wanted to tackle composites. But it wasn’t working out for her. So I took the princess picture of her daughter and created a composite. And my reward was getting a video message from her adorable princess thanking me. There you have it! Another reason to play around with composites. I used the new AI Photoshop clip and mask feature that made it so easy to cut her daughter’s princess picture from the original, which was a messy background. 🙂 And I put her in a princess’s castle, mostly made-up background, but I added butterflies to give it more depth and interest.

I’m also in the challenge from Click Love Grow Photography to capture certain kinds of images with children. And of course it’s spring break, so I don’t have baby here to practice on. Not that taking photos is my main goal when she’s here. Sometimes she’s so fussy because she’s teething that picture taking isn’t happening. Holding, walking, comforting is about it.

But one of the tips is Lighting, Lighting, Lighting. Without it, pictures can be awful. Yep, how well I know. So in this challenge, open a door and have the subject gather the light from the outside that way. No baby to model for me, though I had already done this earlier, by accident. The dogs wanted out. The baby was in a box, and I opened the door, and all this beautiful light came in. But just to test it with a set-up situation, we were supposed to be outside looking in. I did one of the dogs. Max, the white havanese, doesn’t like his picture taken. Tanner, always is ready, eager, photo bombs me when I’m trying to take pictures of baby or my daughter’s dogs. I created a backdrop so they were isolated from the room, which would make a busy mess of chair legs and table legs. I used a sheep’s wool lap blanket (that’s the underside), clipped it to the side of the playpen, and voila! Insta backdrop. So here are the pictures of baby in the box watching the puppies playing out back, and the puppies on their cot in place. You can see the catch lights in Max’s eyes. I need to have Tanner’s face trimmed so you can even see his eyes. lol

You can do this with window light, opening the garage door to bring in light, yeah, I know! The worst sort of backdrop, but just hang something behind your subject to make it appear that you are in the best natural lighted studio in the world. I wanted to say that with natural light, the dogs look much more their natural color. When I take pictures of them inside without natural light, they often are not the right color. Don’t you love Tanner’s flyaway hair? He did that just for the photo.

The next topic was creating sharp images while the child, or other subject, is moving. I’ll share that tomorrow.

I’m only 4,000 from word count, still have a lot to write to finish the story, and the dreaded dental appointment! I have to keep reminding myself I have to go today.

While I’m listening to the awful sounds of the tools whirring sharply in my ears, I want you to have a wonderful day! You know, if that stuff didn’t make so much eerie noise, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad!

Terry

Sights in San Diego

Mar14

gnarled trees along the waterfront 1000 San Diego

reflection of marina in glass San Diego 1000

go-cart on street through San Diego 1000

Some fun sightings in San Diego–gnarled trees along the waterfront, a go-cart driving down the street, and the reflection of the sunset and the marina in the glass of the hotel.

These were taken a couple of years ago, and I haven’t ever shared.

Hope you have a fun day!

Terry

Garlic Chives and Onions

Mar13

Garlic chives and onions flowering, pretty and edible!

Off to write before I get together with my daughter and her baby. It’s spring break this week so she has off, which means trying to catch up on a million things. I don’t have spring break. I have a looming deadline, but I still want to take spring break too. lol

Have a wonderful day!

Terry

Cardinals Having Breakfast

Mar12

Female cardinal is trying to figure out which seed will be the best. The male has already grabbed his. And the cardinal was sharing the food with a sparrow.

I only have 8K left to write on the book!!! Lots more to do, but that’s the word count anyway!

I’m in a photo challenge, using light from a doorway to take a photo of your subject. I did it with my granddaughter a couple of weeks ago. So I’ll try a new one with me standing outside. I was trying to take pictures of her in my box of fur and I had to let the dogs out. When I did, I realized how much soft light entered the room. Plus the baby was fascinated with everything going on outside and she still couldn’t figure out how to get out of the box to join the puppies. 🙂 <3 The light streams in from outdoors, but a patio cover keeps it from being harsh.

But for now, I have to get back to the story!!!! Do you ever notice how slowly the time goes when you have a vacation coming up? And how fast it goes when you have a dreaded deadline coming???

Don’t sweat the small stuff! And keep on going with the deadline stuff! Have a great one!!!

Terry

White-winged Doves and Cardinals

Mar11

Edits are done for Billionaire Wolf Christmas! And just turned them in. Playing with photos this morning!

The male cardinal was feeding the female. They often have nests this time of year!

Tried to capture a photo of the woodpecker, but by the time I removed the lens cap, he took off. He’s warier. I think it’s a younger bird.

No more goofing off with pictures! Back to the current book. The days are running out before I have to turn it in! I get so wrapped up in the older story, for edits, that I have to get my mind back on the new book. Which I’m eager to do and wrap this puppy up.

Have a beautiful day!!! 🙂 <3

Terry