Claireography

Pumpkin Patch at the Country Mercantile in Pasco Wa

2011-10-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

Meet "Fishy"

2011-10-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

Claire and I were running errands all day yesterday. We found ourselves at Best Buy because I've been needing a new hard drive for some time now. After we got what I needed, I was feel extra generous. I've been wanting to get Claire a Beta fish for a while now. Petsmart is only two stores down so we headed there and got $20 worth of fish stuff. Now we have a cute little Beta hanging out on our kitchen counter! Lets hope I don't kill it now.....

What? You don't put a band-aid on your face when you fall?

2011-10-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

VIDEO: Do you live in a Yellow Submarine?

2011-10-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Claire has started going to a weekly music class five weeks ago with my mother in law. It's easily her favorite part of the week. Every time she comes home singing new songs. Tuesday night, just before bed she was singing me The Beatles, "Yellow Submarine." It was So sweet!

If you're on a mobile viewing device, here is the direct link to the video so that you can watch it.

Yellow Submarine: By Linkie Lueville {lindsay} on Flickr.

I must say that my favorite part of my new camera isn't it's decreased noise sensitivity but the ability to take videos with a 50mm or 85mm f/1.8 lens! This video on DLSRs thing is pretty freaking cool! And I got smart this time and uploaded it to Flickr so that it's viewable on cell phones! lol.

A dress from mommy

2011-10-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Claire and I found some wonderful goodies that I managed to upcylce into a beautiful dress that very same day! We came home with two old yellow valences, some black fabric with different colored flowers, some BEAUTIFUL antique lace and three yellow buttons! That afternoon, I started on a pretty sun dress with some wide pleated straps. I spent about 5 hours on this babe but I think it was worth it. The top fabric has a blue appearance both on camera and off. It reminds me a lot of Snow White.

I just love this photo! I spent much of my child hood next to my mom watching her sew. The serger was always my favorite too.

"Helping" Mom sew.

A date with Mommy

2011-10-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

Claire and I often leave Fridays as our days to hang out and have fun. I tend to not schedule sessions on those days, and I don't have class. Last week, we went to the Uptown and had lunch at some bagels, and went thrift shopping at all of the antique and thrift stores. We totally scored some wonderful sewing materials!

Some Bagels!

Waiting on lunch.

A pizza bagel! YUMMMY!

Checking out her awesome finds. In that bag are some of the pieces that we used to make a dress that day! Pics to come soon!

OH!

2011-10-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Our week in IG photos!

2011-10-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I've linked up with Amy. Most know that I'm an Instagram addict. There such an awesome underground community on there. So here are our best IG photos from this week!

A little photographer

2011-10-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

This is Claire attempting to take photos of me with a random Play-Doh toy during "quiet time." She's not very quiet. :/

Instagram!

2011-09-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

School started this week, and I was busy doing a wedding an another shoot last weekend so I haven't shot many photos of Claire with me real camera. BUT I've taken some instagram photos! username: Linkielueville!

Mommy and Me

2011-09-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

Pool + Apron = Claire

2011-09-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

SUGAR!

2011-09-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

Walkin the Dog

2011-09-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

A Perfect Saturday!

2011-09-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

Exploring our favorite antique store!

Waiting to take some senior portraits.

Headed to take photos.

Posing for a photo

Our Summer!

2011-09-09T16:33:00.001-07:00

Here's a little video montage of our summer!

Lunch in the Park.

2011-09-09T15:36:00.001-07:00

2011-09-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

Breakfast with Daddy.

I'M ON A BOAT!!!

Her new favorite thing.

Good dog, Abram.

A day spent walking.

2011-09-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Abram and I walked 6.3 miles today and we stopped at mile five to let Claire play at the park for an hour and a half. Afterwards, Claire and I headed to a taco truck near our house so that she could experience one of my FAVORITE foods. Quick and dirty taco truck tacos. YUM!

About 1.3 mi into our walk

Mr. Abram

A random persons yard...

About 4.3 mi into our walk

Freakin POOPED!

Ready to do the last 1.3 mi stretch home!

Heading to the car in true Claire fashion to get some taco truckkkk!

Waiting

She LOVED it!

Yummmmm. Jarritos!

And to think we still have half our day left.

Trip to the g-rents in July!!!

2011-09-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

This is a little video that I made back in July from our trip to my grandparents.

Splash!

2011-09-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Today was a fabulous 90 deg outside! Our part of Washington actually gets really hot during the summer, but we have yet to hit 100 this year. The firs time since 1993. It has been such a wonderful summer. Claire and I went to a music class with my MIL this morning after going for a quick three mile walk, then signed me up for classes and came home, and she napped. Then we spent a good hour playing in the pool. I love summer days, I'm going to be sad when they're gone! This first photo is a fake fall. It seems to be her favorite thing to do these days. See how many people she can get to ask her if she's ok.......

Splash Pad.

2011-09-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

Claire and I took some photos of my friends from high school's daughter. After, we played in the water park for nearly two hours.

Runway bound.

2011-09-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

A new take on this blog.

2011-09-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't felt that much attachment to blogging lately. Getting all of the umpteen million photos that I take, and organizing them and explaining them just take far too much time for me at the moment. But, the fact still remains that I have family members who want to see Claire. Since this blog is far more about how I see Claire through my camera, I'm changing the name from "Linkie Lueville" (my internet alter ego) to Claireography. I'll just be posting my favorite photo of Claire from that day with minimal explanation (assuming I pick up my camera that day). Hope the blogging world is doing well!

One of these day's I'll have time to blog again.

2011-06-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

Until then.... enjoy these videos I made last week!

Outdoor fun!

2011-04-29T23:09:00.000-07:00

We spend most of out time these days outside. Our house is small, and hanging around inside isn't for any toddler, or Rottweiler for that matter. It's be SO awesomely warm recently. I'm SO excited for summer to come. I'm not into the winter at all. The cold is just, well, cold.

We LOVE to take walks around our block in the afternoon. It's a great way for Claire to explore, and to work up a little bit of tired before bed time. We live on a small street, and most of the roads around us are low traffic so I don't really have to worry about Claire walking on her own. (Claire's tummy is bloated in these photos because we had just gotten done eating spaghetti.

One of the big things that sold us on this house, is it's AMAZING back yard. It's 50'x100'. Claire can just run, and run, and run to her hearts desire! And it's fully fenced and completely flat. We had to do a lot of digging near the house from major sewer problems last year. Claire gets ridiculously dirty but it entertains her for hours. So I'm ok with it.

Fridays are our "Fun Days." In the morning we head to the Public Library to enjoy a story time and get a little bit of socializing in. Then we usually got to park and go out for lunch. Funds are a little low this week, so we skipped lunch out and had a picnic in the park! Normally, that would be the best option, but there's a sandwich/sushi shop up the street. I generally can't turn down a rainbow roll.

Here are the photos that I took from Claire and I's fun day today!

Then this afternoon we headed over to a neighbors house who owns a local children's consignment store. Her daughter is 3.5 and SO cute! Claire had a ton of fun and we hope to enjoy many more evenings with them. Claire loved the play car that they had, so we're going to have to get her one of her own!

<3 Lindsay

Before and After!

2011-04-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

Shot with a Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.2, ISO 320 and 1/4000 sec shutter speed.

I'm taking advantage of the fact that both of my first two classes are canceled today to join in a little bit of blogging linky fun! I shot this photo yesterday on my daily afternoon walk with Claire. I first edited this photo in lightroom and enhanced the details in the clouds and sharpened it quite a bit to add additional noise. Then I popped it into CS and removed the tree, added a blue color layer on "exclusion" blending mode, and added a texture. There was also quite a bit of other detail edits done in photoshop to get maximum contrast. Mostly with the dodge and burn tool, and some blending modes.

Easter in our neck of the woods.

2011-04-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

I must say that out Easter went off this year without a hitch. At least to our standards. The last two Easters for our family have been far less than perfect. Mostly from Colin and I being unable to put our differences aside and enjoy the holiday for Claire. Luckily this year, we've grown up quite a bit and were able to make this Easter all about Claire. Our morning plans were that Claire and I would let Colin sleep in, and head over to my Mom's for an early egg hunt at her place. I gave Claire her basket from the two of us after breakfast. She got two pairs of converse shoes (on sale at Fred Meyers), some candy (that was mostly thrown away), and bubbles! She was pretty excited and carried the bubbles with her to all of the day's festivities.

After breakfast and our shower, we headed over to Mom's house for her egg hunt and to say "Hi" to My bro. Claire had a BLAST! My Mom hid WAY too much candy than I was comfortable taking home.... so I ~~forced~~ let my Brother take it home with him. He needs the extra calories anyways. Most of what was hidden were little plastic eggs with candy (some had coins in them too, and I quickly told my mom Claire wasn't at an age yet to have coins). At one point during chatting with my Mom and her Husband, my Brother went in the house and was going through all the eggs and giving Claire the candy... so for a while there she thought eggs were candy.

I love the way that she looks in her skinny jeans and converse shoes. My baby really isn't a baby at all anymore!

I had my Brother snag a photo of Claire and I. I'm finally feeling ok in front of a camera again
(as long as it's from the wait up) so I'll be trying to get more photos of us together.

Breakfast in the morning, one of the stuffies my mom got Claire, my cat Leo, and my bro's dog and my mom's
dogs. My poor cat has been banished to live in that boat. He's not allowed to come inside. Colin is SUPER
allergic to cats so he can't live with us for now. However, I've hear that they're refining a cat allergy
vaccine, so soon Colin wont have an excuse and I can be a crazy cat lady one again.

After we were done at my mom's around 10:30, I called Colin to be sure he was awake, and had him meet us at his parents. We all stood around and watched as Claire died eggs! I forgot to give Colin's Mom a text that we were on out way, so the die was all still really hot. I also forgot to bring a long grungy clothes, so she had to wear one of Colin's Sister's old shirts. Claire did pretty well at dying eggs. She managed to dip and remove a few eggs all on her own and out of about 15, only two were dropped on the floor!

Then while Colin's Mom and I cleaned up Claire and got her all dressed, Colin went out into the courtyard and hid the eggs. Claire was a master at it! It only took her a few minutes to find them all. And the best part came after when Colin's Dad opened up an egg and Claire discovered that not all eggs are plastic with candy in them. Her first bite of a hard boiled egg was quickly spat out and thrown on the floor. As annoyed as I was, everyone else found it pretty entertaining. I guess you really can't expect a two year old to behave properly 100% of time. I probably need to get beyond that expectation.

Then we headed out into the back yard to have lunch and play with the big bubble blower than Colin's parents got for for Claire. I didn't really get any good shots of it though. We headed home to our house for nap time since we're only about 10 minutes or less from Colin's parents, and then headed back later in the afternoon for dinner. Claire got to wear her pretty dress that Colin's mom bought for her. All in all Easter went really well for us this year and I'm enjoying the fact that Claire ISN'T a baby anymore. We can have REAL Easter egg hunts, and I get a little freedom now and then! I hope you all had a fantastic Easter and were able to spend it with all the ones you love!

<3 Lindsay

YIKES! What have we been up to? Photo DUMP!

2011-04-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know how to blog anymore! I've opened up a new post SO many times, and never actually did anything with it. As far as the job, we decided as a family, that my photography business was far too promising me to take it. So, I'm going to school full time and doing the photog thing. And it's actually picking up pretty well! I'm excited! I've got 5 weddings and countless portrait sessions already on the books! And I'm finding my "style" even more!

On the subject of weighloss, I'm doing pretty well, my total loss for the last 8 months has been 20 lbs. So not bad! I just need to keep it up! I'm loving livestrong.com and their iphone app! It REALLY keeps me on track. My biggest problem has been keeping my salt intake at a minimum. It seems like EVERYTHING has salt in it. :/

School is going well. I didn't do so hot last quarter, but I passed. So I guess that is all that counts!

I'll leave you with some photos form the last couple of months!

Taken just an hour ago. Claire kept saying, "I dink da wa wa!"

A few shots from our walks to the park.

Flowers on a walk home from the park.

Around the house. (made both of those dresses)

We took a tip to ~~our~~ my dad's cabin.

Played tourists while we were there. (oops, theres a pic up here twice. sneaky picasa)

(made that dress too!) DANG IT! Another double picture.... SEE this is why I don't blog. I'm going to be annoyed by this post now.

Playing in the mud yesterday! LOTS OF FUN!

Ok, maybe a little explaining on this one. Yesterday, I was watering our lilac that is underneath where we had to do all the digging on our sewer system last year (for those of you have been following me for a year now might remember how many times our basement flooded last spring and summer). The poor thing only has a faction of blooms this year. :( The water was pooling up at the base of it because I was trying to give it a good soak. Claire kept wanting to get in the water, so I told her that we would go get her boots so that she could play in it. I've been telling her what boots are ACTUALLY for but she never really got it because well, it NEVER rains here!

So we went inside and swapped shoes and I grabbed my camera knowing this was going to be epic. She had SO much fun, for way too long. Her boots were completely filled with brown water and as you can see she was covered form head to toe in mud. At one point she tried to put the top of her head in the puddle.

Once we were done I tried to get her to come inside, but she wouldn't have any of it! She kicked, and screamed as I tried to get her to follow me. Eventually I had to just pick her up and bring to the back door where I stripped her down naked for a bath. I put her in the house, and tried to grab her clothes and the dog, but Claire was NOT done. She ran out of the house BUTT naked, grabbed her boots from me an hightailed it to the puddle in bare feet. I COULD NOT stop laughing. I was half tempted to put her boots back on her and let her play naked, but it was just a little bit too cold. However, I promise that I'll do a little photoshoot with her naked in only her ladybug boot soon!

And some iphone photos from the mess! During, aftermath and getting clean.

Instagram/tiltshift gen iPhone photos. user name linkielueville.... duh!

More iPhone photos

Calculus

2011-03-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

Readers: Feel free to disregard this post, unless you enjoy math. I have to post this for my calculus class for the "sharing with the public" portion of my project. But, if you feel like going all geek for a few minutes, feel free to!

And, I have to say HOORAY for Photoshop. I had this teacher a few quarters back, and I did the end of the quarter project all by hand. It took me almost and entire day. I did ALL of this in Photoshop, and then printed a 20x30 at Costco and taped it to a 20x30 foam board. In comparison, it took me only four hours from start to finish. That includes driving to Costco and Wal Mart with a sick crabby two year old who was 30 minutes into her usual nap time. I'm mental noting this for any future project in school. Not to mention, it looks 20 times better than if I hand did it. :)

Wordless Wednesday - I'm gonna miss this.

2011-03-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

Headed out tomorrow for an interview at a full time job. Not too sure how I'm going to manage going to school 12 hours, work 40 and then homework. I'm sure gonna miss all the quality time I've had with Claire these past two years.

Claire Dancing!

2011-02-26T16:55:00.000-08:00

A quick little post of my TWO YEAR OLD dancing. Her Aunt Emily got her a Mozart Disc for Christmas, and she LOVES to dance to it in her room!

And, I promise a post on Claire's birthday soon. I'll give you a hint though. We BOTH had a terrible stomach bug that day. :(

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Good night one year old, and good morning two year old.

2011-02-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

Oh MAN! I really should stop having such large lapses in blogging! I'm currently typing this against my better judgment. I have to study for a big Calc test, and write a summary and response paper tonight. Not to mention frost a batch of cupcakes.

However, I figured that for what followers I DO have left after such a large absence, I should fill in on what we've been up to lately.

My typical routine is get up at 5-6, hop in the shower, get Claire up and make everyone breakfast. And hopefully during that time i get to eat my own breakfast, have a cup of tea, read a little bit of the paper, blow dry my hair and put some makeup on. Then at 8 Colin's mom comes and grabs Claire, and I head off to class until one. Then i pick up Claire and we go home and get ready to head out for a walk with Abram. Then come home and Claire naps, I either clean or work on homework. She's back up at 4 and the dinner, bath, story and bedtime routine starts. Then I try and smash out as much homework as possible and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Repeat Monday through Thursday. Weekends are spent running errands doing laundry... that never seems to get put away, walking the dog, more studying and processing photos.

Our one big "announcement" that I have to make tonight is tomorrow I will no longer have a one year old! Claire turns TWO tomorrow! I cannot believe how fast time has flown! It seems that it was just a few weeks ago that I attempted to head to work even though I had been having contractions for more that six hours.

I'm accepting this age with open arms. While I am well aware that the "terrible twos" are looming, and may have in fact already set in, this age means that we get more freedom. Not a lot, but a little more. As Claire is growing and learning and becoming more curious, she's interested in more and more things that Colin and I enjoy.

Anyways, I hope that everyone have enjoyed the last couple of weeks. I can hear antiderivatives, differentials and integrals calling my name. :(

OH! PS. Claire knows her ENTIRE alphabet, (as in if you point to the letter she recalls what it is) and letters 1-9. WHOO HOOOO! And, I threw in some photos from the past four weeks!

Probably my new fave photo of Claire.

2011-01-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

I've been doing calculus ALL day, but here is a quick upload before I head off to bed. Seriously now, she's so darn cute!

I Heart Faces: Innocent Wonder

2011-01-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

Taking a really quick break from my HUGE amount of homework that have to finish before class tomorrow to share this photo of my daughter Claire for IHeartFaces.com. I shot this today, at a church that is just behind out house. We went for a walk around the block, and I brought my camera with me. Once we got here, we spent about 20 minutes playing and just having fun. I shot this of Claire while she was looking up at the sky, in a small little court yard. She's really been into the sky lately, and is always saying, "ohhhh the sky!" It's the cutest thing you've ever heard! <3

My week in cell phone pictures!

2011-01-22T21:17:00.000-08:00

Oh man. I SWORE to Amy that I would take part in this, and I'm just finally linking up now. :( Better late than never right?

1- Last weekend my mom brought Claire a big girl bed! She's slept in it every night since. Nap time is impossible. And she has only fallen out once. It was last night, and I was almost asleep when it happened. She has hard floors, and no rugs. The sound of her head hitting the floor was rediculous!

2 to 4- Sunday, we went to park with another local blogger and photographer, who just so happens to live all of two blocks from us. Danni Meyers.

5- Claire in my shoes

6-My most favorite blanket in the entire world. I've had it since I was in 5th grade. It's a MASSIVE quilt my mom got from a second hand store in the 70's. It's amazing, and all pink. I'm going to redo it sometime soon. Colin and all my friends are pissed. That thing literally has gone everywhere with me. Is it ok to be 24, and still have a blanky?

7 to 10- Claire, Abram and I walked from our house to Howard Amon park on Monday (no school that day!) When we got there, I took Claire out of my backpack, and let her walk around. I'm STILL looking for a definitive answer as to how many calories you burn walking/hiking with 35lbs of kid and gear on your back.

11- I finally got a new charger for my laptop after THE FLOOD in the basement. It's nice to have a portable computer again.

12- Copying a few files from my Desktop to my Laptop. Between the two, I have three screens.

13- Waiting in the parking lot at school on Thursday. I've found it's better to get there like 40 minutes before the rush starts.

14 to 15- The kiddos in the car

16 to 17- Claire shopping yesterday

18- The AMAZING Chicken Green Curry I made for dinner last night. YUM

Photography: It’s more than just snapping a photo.

2011-01-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

Good morning!! This is first essay for my English class, and naturally I chose photography. I fell like this is a good paper to share with you all. If there are errors, DO NOT tell me. I've already turned it in....

Zoe, from Hi, Baby.

Photography is an excellent medium to express the way that someone views their world. It’s a way to make small moments last a lifetime. It is not, however, just snapping a photo irresponsibly. A good photographer must be able to deliberately use quality equipment, exposure, composition and emotion simultaneously to create a cohesive photograph. While art is subjective, there are specific rules, limitations, and materials that are required to make a lasting image. The knowledge to utilize those materials, separate the experienced photographers, from the non-experienced ones.

First and foremost, to create the highest quality image, a photographer must have quality equipment. The camera snaps the image. It records the light onto the modern day film, a digital sensor. The lens interprets the light. Different lenses have different focal lengths, meaning some lenses zoom in more, and some zoom in less. The smaller the focal length, the wider the field of view is. So to capture an entire landscape, a photographer may choose to use 18mm. Some even go as far as to choose 10mm, which becomes increasingly close to a 180 degree field of view. This can be quite a spectacular technique when photographing dramatic landscapes. On the other side of the focal length, the larger the number; the more narrow the field of view. Say for instance, a photographer was looking to photograph a bird in the trees. If he were to use a small focal length, the bird would be lost within the frame. He would be photographing an entire tree, and most likely not be able to even find the bird in the photo. If he chooses a larger focal length, say 300mm, the bird would probably now take up 50% of his frame. The other large piece of equipment for a photographer is their editing program(s). These are much like the dark room of film photography, with the possibility of a blank canvas and paints that a painter has. These programs, are very complex and have the ability to edit a photo as raw as one would like or as artistic as they’d like. Being that they are extremely complex, a photographer must be well versed in the options the program offers. An inability to understand how and what needs to be done to a photo in the editing process can leave an image unfinished.

Exposure is an extremely important piece of the photo process. It is the blueprint for the foundation of the photo. The exposure of an image is a mathematical equation consisting of three variables, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Depending on the amount of light present, a photographer must be able to accurately adjust each one of these variables to find an even exposure for that circumstance. Each variable has a particular set of qualities that affect the look of an image differently. A photographer must know and understand these qualities and how to properly match them to the situations in which they are trying to photograph. The first variable, shutter speed, is the amount of time the image sensor is exposed to the light. It can range anywhere between 1/8000 of a shutter speed to 20 minutes and beyond. Faster shutter speeds (i.e. 1/1000 sec and up) are used to capture action. They span over a very short period of time, therefore capturing less movement. Because the sensor is exposed for such a short amount of time, there needs to be quite a bit of light present. If there is not, one of the other two variables must be adjusted to compensate. On the contrary, slower shutter speeds can used in situations that do not have movement or the photographer desires the look of movement. When something moving is photographed at a slow shutter speed, it appears in the image as a smudge. This is called motion blur in the photography world. A common use for this is on waterfalls. When this technique is applied, and the photographer adjusts its variables such that they can photograph a waterfall at about a half a second. The water takes on a smooth and glossy look, as opposed to it’s generally rigid look. Aperture is the amount of light that the lens allows to pass through to the image sensor. It is a physical structure within the lens. Essentially, it is a circle that is able to increase and decrease, allowing more or less light through. The size of the aperture directly correlates to the size of the out of focus points of light. The larger the aperture, the more out of focus the back ground and foreground become. It creates a distinct difference between the in focus plane and everything else. Larger apertures are generally used on portraits, when a photographer wants the focus on the subject. Small apertures are used in things like landscapes, because the out of focus points become smaller, making them more defined. The ISO is the image sensors sensitivity to light. The higher the number, 100, 200, 320 …. 1600, 3200 the more sensitive to light the sensor becomes. This allows a photographer to shoot hand held in low light situations. However, a photographer must be conscious about their use of higher ISO. As the sensitivity of the sensor increases, so does grain. This makes a photo unclear, and can often take away from the image. These three elements are the core of photography. If a photographer is unable to get the exposure right in the first place, all hope is lost for a final product.

Composition is an extremely important element to photography. This is where much of the visual art comes into play. Composition helps to create order, flow and balance in an image. It allows the artist the ability to tell a story without any words. Properly executed composition helps to leave the viewer thinking and wondering what is going on outside of the frame, while still being satisfied within it. There are two main techniques to composition; the rule of thirds, and the golden ratio. There is a case to be made that these three concepts are really the same, just in different clothes. The rule of thirds is a technique in which the frame of the image is divided into three vertical and horizontal columns. The main areas of an image should be divided by the lines dividing the columns. Subjects should lie on the intersections of these four dividing lines. The golden ratio, though mathematically extremely complex, is roughly a 2.5:1 ratio which is extremely close to the rule of thirds 2:1 ratio. It divides the frame in two sections where one is about 30% of the frame, and the other is about 70%. The subject of the photo, should lie on this barrier between these sections. In general, when a viewer looks at an image, initially they will look for the subject. Once they have determined the subject, the viewer try’s to decide what the subject is doing in the photo. A photographer, who is able to execute the golden ratio well, understands that the direction of the subject, as in the way they are looking, or the way their body position opens, needs to point in the direction of the large section of the frame. If it does not, and it points in the opposite direction, what that subject is doing is cut off. This is not an intuitive way to compose a photo, and doesn’t allow for the eye to wander within the frame, thus leaving the viewer unsatisfied.

The last, and possibly most important tool for a photographer, is the ability to evoke and capture emotion. This is most prevalent in portrait photography, due to the fact that it is photographing people, and we are emotional by nature. Key parts to creating an emotional portrait, are posing the subject well, and finding a good balance between candid, and not. It is debatable as to whether or not the ability to make people comfortable in front of the camera is a learned skill, or a naturally occurring skill. It does seem as though people who generally tended to be outgoing, make the best portrait photographers. They tend to be the best at engaging people, and coaching them. Either way, this is the element to a photo that captures the viewer, and helps them to feel an emotional connection. It is what triggers, the tears, awe’s, and gasps, and is most certainly the essence of a good photograph. An inability to achieve this is the inability to create an image that anyone is ever going to want to look at. Creating an image that is intriguing in the main drive behind being a photographer

Photography is most certainly not as simple as taking a photo. It is an artistic process, not to be taken lightly. It should be respected and viewed much like painting. It is a skill, and takes years to perfect. There are an infinite number of possibilities and techniques, and there are not enough years in a life time to learn all of the tricks of the trade. But as long a photographer realizes that they need to consciously work towards improving and understanding these aspects, they are well on their way to becoming an experienced and well rounded photographer.

Shake the Dust

2011-01-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

"So when the world knocks at your front door clutch the knob and open on up, running forward into it's wide spread greeting arms with your hands before you your fingertips trembling, though they may be." -Anis Mojgani

To those English lovers, I'm probably slow in posting this. But my brother just brought this poet to my attention. To be honest, I don't pay that much attention to poetry, but when I do those words hang heavy in my mind for months.

In Love

2011-01-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

I realized that I should have entered a different photo for the I Heart Faces "winter wonderland" theme. But, I think this might fit EVEN better over on Jhen's blog. (and OMG I spelled your name wrong last night.) :(

Nikon D200, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8

ISO: 125
Focal Length: 85mm
Aperture: 1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/640

This is one of my best friends, and her boyfriend. If she looks mini, it's because she is. All 5' 2" of her. We shot these photos in November just after Thanksgiving when we had snow for about two weeks. I just LOVE the way this turned out!

I pretty much, officially have a big girl.

2011-01-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

I'm just shocked. My mom called me on Thursday saying that one of her co-workers had walked in asking if anyone needed a toddler bed. My mom quickly spoke up for me. (yay!) she brought it to our house yesterday, and helped me set it up. I was kinda learly of putting Claire in it, and yesterdays nap did NOT work. She kept comming out for about 45 minutes, and I had things I needed to do. So finally I just threw her int he crib.

But last night, (for those that follow my twitter, you totally got a play by play update) she did it! And only came out ONCE. I kept looking in on her, and admiring how grown up she looked. She slept all the way until 6 am (on the dot). While she was sleeping in her crib, she would wake up for about ten minutes around this time, but if we were really quite, she would fall back asleep. This morning however, she cried for about a minute, and then screamed, "MAMA!!" Most likely because she realized she was sleeping on the wrong side of her room. Then I could hear her walking around her room, and then I saw walk out into the living room, all confused, and so grown up. After that, she crawled into our bed, smacked me in the face, and said "Awweeee, Mama!" Fabulous alarm clock, I tell ya.

Tonight wasn't quite as successful because I started to clean the bathroom, which included running the bath tub. That sound got here really interested and she kept coming out looking confused. But, she's asleep now, in her bed. And I officially have a BIG GIRL!

I Heart Faces - Winter Wonderland

2011-01-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

For those of you who follow my blog, you should have known!!

I shot this photo of my daughter Claire in November in our first snow fall. It wasn't until about last week that she stopped talking about the snow. This is hands down one of my all time favorite photos of her!!!

Shot with a Nikon D200, and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
ISO: 100
Focal length : 50mm
Aperture: 1.8
Shutter speed : 1/1000

To see more, head on over to I Heart Faces!

A walk almost alone

2011-01-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

WOW! It feels like it's been nearly a decade since I blogged!!

I've been spending the past few weeks schooling. I really need to focus on it this quarter and will only be doing "meaningless" stuff when I actually have time. And to say I currently have time, would really be lie. I've got two sessions to finish, and a mountain of homework for this weekend. Never the less, I had an extremely fun walk yesterday at one of my favorite place. It was just Abram, the family Rottie, and I. I sent off my Border Collie Lucie, with my Dad last week. I hurts, quite a bit, but managing two dogs, a two year old, a photographer business, school, and a house that usually has more yard and house work than I know what to do with was really taking a toll on me mentally.

Anyways, back to my walk. I've really been feeling like I'm forgetting me, and the things I used to love. Lucie and I used to spend hours every single week, walking in places that helped me to get away from it all. I generally had my my camera in toe, and we just went. We would come home as the sun set, and I've never felt that free since Claire was born. I like to go for walks where the path in minimal, and nature is at a maximum. This is darn near impossible to do when you're pushing a stroller. Not that I HAVEN'T done it before, it's just not as enjoyable. And to be quite honest, I just want to get the f*ck away for a couple hours and not have to worry that someone is warm, changed, and fed.

Yesterday, on Colin's day off, I put both of them down for a nap. Ok, I put CLAIRE down for a nap, and Colin just to happened to be napping as well. (jealous) It was a beautiful sunny, near 60 day, and I was yearning for that feeling of being free. I leashed up Abram, grabbed my camera, and we drove down to Chamna Natural Preserve. It's massive. Probably a good 300ish acres? There are trails spider webbing all over it. It's a hikers dream! Abram and I just spent about an hours and a half frolicking.

I want to have a session here so bad!

my new favorite shot of him

dogs are dreamers too

We spent about 20 minutes in a pretty field (that I don't think we were actually supposed to be in) sitting, and taking pictures. Some pretty big clouds started to roll in, and they looked like the could bring in some rain, so we started to head back. That is when I took this photo:

While I was shooting it, Abram was off to my left in some bushes. All of the sudden, that smell you just don't ever want to smell came. It was a skunk, and I was down wind from where Abram was at. Out he came rubbing his face, sneezing, and shaking his head. By some miracle, it ONLY hit him IN the eye. I got on my cell and gave Colin's mom a call, because she's the expert on pretty much anything you'll ever need to do in your life. She headed to the store to grab a few ingredients that she had use once on their dog. Abram and I quickly walked about a mile and a half back to car. But not without taking a photo:

As soon as I pulled into the drive way, Colin's mom pulled in behind me. We ended up having to squirt eye drops in his eye, and bathed him with this concoction. The worst was on his face and today, I really can't tell that he got sprayed. So It must have worked. I gotta say though, trying to squirt liquid into a 105 lb rottie, is IMPOSSIBLE!

Good bye 2010, Helllllloooo 2011!

2010-12-30T23:15:00.000-08:00

Oh my. Twenty ten. What a year it has been. My first born turned one, I started going to college, and I started a photography business. Saying this year flew by would be an under statement. I really just don't know how this year slipped between my fingers. All in all, it went well. I accomplished a lot both "physically" and mentally. Something tells me that twenty eleven is going to be my year though. I can feel something big just around the corner.

Resolutions? I'm thinking the normal lose weight. Hopefully for reals this time. I'm just not meant to be a fatty. Then from that, embrace Colin more, and be wayyyyy more organized in the running of our house hold. Starting Jan 3rd (monday) I've got an english 101, world civilizations, and calculus. I NEED to get organized.

As far as my photo business, it's go big or go home for me. I'm ready for the whole shebang!! I would love to be looking for a studio space by August. We'll see. I've come to terms that all GOOD things come with time. I want to last in this market, not just be a "one hit wonder."

As you probably could have guessed, I've attempted to pick my favorite photo of Claire from each month of 2010. This was DAMN hard. A couple of months almost got two but I weeded it down to 12 photos. I've been brainstorming these pictures in my head for about two weeks now. (except the last one... that was shot like five days ago) so enjoy!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Things my BFFs know about me.

2010-12-21T22:48:00.000-08:00

I like to hop on the bandwagon.....

Hi, I'm Lindsay Myrlene Giberson.

My middle name come from my Grandmother I never got the chance to meet.

I hear she was awesome, that must be why I'm so cool.

I'm 23.... 24 January 5th. {ewwww}

I'll never change my last name. Even if I do get married. I am a Giberson.

I DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, believe in organized religion. I think it's hogwash.

I go to school, and I'm studying to be a civil engineer or something.

I think math is cool and FUN.

My dream is to be an architect.

I made this:

all by myself.

I am addicted to Diet Coke, Green Monsters (like the drink...) and consume about two pots of coffee every day.

I am certifiably ADDICTED to anything leopard print. It's unhealthy actually.

I'm loud, as fuck.

My parents got divorced two weeks before I graduated from highschool, my mom married a bum from Germany, and my dad is still in limbo. It's extremely difficult to talk about even 5 years later.

I was on the road to go to Washington State University, to get a degree in architecture, until my father's business went bankrupt and my college fund was spent. That was in 2004-2005

I started working for Ritz Cameras the summer of 2006.

Met my boyfriend in September of 06 (we worked together) and two and a half years later we had Claire.

As painful as all that was to go through, I've now come to terms with it. Everything happens for a reason. Claire simply would never have existed had I not gotten that job at the camera store in the mall.

I've owned one version or another of photoshop since 1999. It's pretty vital to my survival at this point.

I love darkkkk eye makeup.

My dad owns a cabin, in Klickitat Washington. Its the family jewel. I spent my highshool weekends there, NOT partying like a lot of my class mates. I spent summers hiking, hunting, and riding my quad. I cannot wait until Claire is old enough for us to spend time there again.

I grew up on 7 acres in South East Washington State. And contrary to popular belief, is doesn't rain in ALL of Washington. In fact, about 40% of it is desert.

We had horses, llamas, cows, birds, cats, dogs, and all kinds of weird little rodents.

I hated kids when I was younger... and I now I can't imagine my life without my amazing Daughter.

I used to drive a 92 VW Cabiolet... and miss that damn car every. single. day. period.

I think the Olduvai Theory is something everyone needs to understand, and think about.

I curse.... probably too much, but I don't give a DAMN.

I believe in peace and love. And if you're wondering, my dream car is a 1964 VW bus.

I don't really like drinking. only on very rare occasions.... and Melissa Devine pretty much HAS to be present.

I think the Tri-Cities sucks, and I'm getting the hell out of here as soon as I finish my AA

I think that faux-togs are an epidemic.... and it needs to be stopped. Photography is art, and not some quick way to make some cash.

I'm TOTALLY addicted to CoastalScents.com. omg.

I like to spend my days outside, listening to the sound of nature. Just like and other wild flower.

I'm trying to start a photography business, but feel as though I'm drowning in a sea of photographers.

Linkie Lueville is my internet alter ego. It stems from my childhood nickname Linky.

My daddy calls me Linzer Binzer. And at 23, it still makes me feel happy.

And now, I'm tired. thanks for reading.

Pretty sure i grabbed the wrong button... but it was the only one that i could find. :(

Touch up Tuesday: A snap shot

2010-12-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Claire and I headed out to meed with my mom to help her shop for Claire's Christmas present. Being that my mom is now approaching 60.... she's really lacking in her "fashion sense." Not like I have any myself... I chopped off about 10 inches on Wednesday and this was my first reall attempt at styling it. So I figured since mom is all cute lookin, we might as well take some photos. For this reason, I think I need to have a photobooth set up in our basement permanently. These pictures turned out AWFUL on my point and shoot. But with a little LR ans CS I was able to make them look halfway decent.

Lightroom edits:

Photoshop.

-I duplicated the layer, and then set it to screen, added a layer mask, and then went to image>apply image>set the layer to merged

Basically what this did is made it so the screen layer only applied to the highlights. (you can see it in the layer mask

Then I did a simple Adjustment layer with levels to enhance our eyes, filled the layer mask with black, andthen painted our eyes with white.

Then I used my favorite skin smoothing technique, that you can find here: link

And yeah. I hope that everyone is having a great week!

My Bokeh Babe

2010-12-19T14:29:00.000-08:00

The last two days have been a little stressful in the Pinkerton/Giberson house hold. Friday night Claire's cold came back in full swing. The same one that has plagued our house for more than a month now. Bed time, and nap time have been stressful, and I've spent about 50% of my time wiping snot off of here face.

On Friday Claire and I put up the Christmas tree. Yes, all SEVEN DAYS before. The only real reason I wanted it up was to get a few Christmas tree bokeh shots of Claire. Colin and I have agreed to not get each other gifts, because we really don't need anything, and Claire's main gift is a MASSIVE play kitchen that is still boxed in here room until Christmas morning. So all that there really is to put under the tree are the few boxes of clothes we also got here. Unless.... Claire and I decide to go do more shopping. That's a definite possibility.

Today we spend about three hours, playing with play-doh, coloring, and dancing JUST so mom could hopefully get some nice shots.

I'm pretty sure this is the only one where she's looking at me.... but I'll take it! Even if she is eating!

Btw, I found a new program to make tutorials!!! :D So if there is anything you're looking to know how to do in your editing, PLEASE let me know! <3

I'm flopping this into the Paper Heart Camera Show and tell.

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday!

2010-12-17T00:19:00.000-08:00

Ok. So I just have to get out my frustration... I recorded a WONDERFUL video as I processed this.... but unfortunately camstudio "couldn't save it." I will try my best to explain in type what I did. And I'll be looking into getting a new program here soon!

Original can be seen here.

Lightroom 3.0

Temp: +29

Exposure: +.14

Black: 2

Vibrance: +20

{Tone Curve}

Darks: +43

Shadows: -31

{Detal}

Sharpening: 17

{Lens Corrections}

Lens Vignetting, Amount: -100

Local Adjustments:

My own Iris brush on the dude's iris and then my own eye whites brush on the dudes eye whites

Photoshop CS5

-Duplicate Layer, Set blending mode to multiply, add layer masks, paint over subjects with black

-Adjustment Layer, Gradient, Radial, uncheck line with layer, place in upper right hand corner, set to 150%, then set blending mode to soft light, pick layermask, paint black on subjects.

-Flatten image

-Duplicate layer, pick the burn tool, set to shadows, and opacity at 7% then burn in the detail on eye lashes,

-Flatten image

-Duplicate layer, set blending mode to multiply, hold down ALT the click layer mask (or layer>layer mask>hide all) the pain with white brush on man's hair. set opacity to 40%

-Adjustment layer, Solid color, pick an orangy color, set blending mode to soft light and opacity to 10%, pick the layer mask, and paint with block on the subjects (this has to be pretty exact)

-Flatten image

-Added Florbella's Attache B&W texture form the first collection. Set blending mode to overlay, added layer mask, painted with black on subjects, set opacity to 30%

-Created new layer, and with a very light yellow, I painted with my "Linkie Lueville's Bokehlicious" photoshop brushes that are still in the testing stages... but will be for sale in the near future!

So, that is essentially everything that I did to this photo! I hope for find a new recording program in the near future so that I can get back to doing videos!

This one dog named Carl....

2010-12-17T00:18:00.000-08:00

One of Claire's first book was a hard back copy of "Good Dog, Carl."

claire's first copy

It's an ADORABLE story written by Alexandra Day, Of a little baby girl, and her Rottweiler, Carl. In the story, Mom heads out to do some quick shopping while the baby is sleeping and leaves Carl the Rottie in charge. As soon as mommy leaves, Carl helps baby get out of her crib, and they run wild through out the house. It's so accurate in describing the gentle demeanor of a rottie what has been made a real member of the family.

Her first copy that was just a standard hard cover with paper pages, didn't even last to her one year birthday. About 60% of that pages are still there, and I plan on framing a few of my favorites to go in her room. When I was looking into replacing the original, (Colin's mom ended up getting a board book copy from San Fran, where his sister lives) I found out that there is an entire series of good dog Carl books! So Claire is getting to add four copies to her collection from Amazon.com! These were all the board books that I could find, but know that there about five more books that are only in hard back. We'll be buying her an entire collection once she is old enough to respect books with paper pages!

Oh, and have I mentioned that we don't have a Christmas tree this year? Because SOMEONE is the Grinch himself? Yeah. I'm bitter. It's retarded. The stand to our hand-me-down fake tree is missing, so tomorrow, Claire and I will probably be headed to Lowe's to see if there is some type of generic artificial tree stand. And we'll just set up the damn tree on our own!

Happy Holidays to all you NON humbug people!

Two Moms Made a Photo Challenge - Week #17 A Christmas Past

2010-12-16T23:44:00.000-08:00

WHOA! It's been like 4 weeks since there has been a TMMaPC....

We're just gonna pretend like that didn't' happen. OK?

This week's theme is A Christmas Past.

{hit cntrl+a and then cntrl+c}

Melissa's example

My example

The rules YO!!!!

Your photo must be posted between 9 am Friday and 11:59 pm Monday.

The photograph must be taken by you or "composed by you," no exceptions.
Your photo must be with in the boundaries of the weekly theme.
Your photo must be appropriate for all ages
Only one submission per person
You MUST include the above badge in the post to qualify.
Include the PERMALINK to the post containing your photo in your linky.

{failure to meet any of this criteria will result in an automatic removal from the competition.}

Also, be SURE to subscribe to Melissa's page as well. She will be announcing the winner!

Don't forget, a grand prize winner announced every month will win a hand made item by Melissa or me.

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!

Bloggy baby gift swap!

2010-12-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

As you clearly know, there was an epic blog baby gift swap secretly going on the last month!

Laura and Ryan over at Me and Mine, got Claire this SERIOUSLY ridiculously cute apron set, and some play food to go along with her *cough* Santa *cough* present. I'm so tickled by how cute it is! It took darn near every ounce of self control that I had to not just open up Claire's kitchen to get photos of her "cooking."

Not only do Claire and I want to thank Lauren and Ryan for the sweet gifts, but I just want to give Lauren a public shout out. This girl has a BIG heart of gold. I've been through some rough last few weeks, and she's but into the wee hours of the night Facebook messaging me. I know that one night it was until one in the morning. Seriously girl, you kept me sane that night! If you don't follow her blog, you really should! Lauren is one of the sweetest ladies I've "met."

while i took these photos, claire tried to "eat" every piece of food.

I heart Faces - Pets

2010-12-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to lie, I was kinda excited to see this weeks theme over on I Heart Faces. I love my animals. I especially love this guy. His name is Abram. Named after the tank, because lets face it, he's a tank. I entered him last time the theme was animals as well. What can I say? He photographs really well! More proof? Check him out on my Flickr stream here, here, here, here, here and here.

I'm sure that I'll get a ration of crap for having a pure bread Rottweiler with a near two year old. And to those, I say go google, "Good Dog, Carl." There is a reason that there is an entire series of children's books dedicated to this breed. They really are AMAZING with children. The one who find themselves in the news, are the ones who have fallen victim to irresponsible owners. I'm firm believer that it's the handler not the dog. If you want a dog that you can leave outside in a kennel, get some kinda lame lab. But if you want an amazing dog that will become a TRUE member of your family, get a Rottie!!!

Abram, April 2010. Passed out using my school bad as a pillow. This is a classic Rottie move! <3

Oh, and some info on this photo, because I know that so many of you follow my blog because of my photography. I shot this with my Nikon D200 (that will SOON be replaced with either a D300s or D700... i'm coming to terms that my clients will not benefit from full frame, just me. so it will most likely be a d300s. and i want the video) and my beloved 85mm 1.8. I used a texture that I found for free off of Flickr.com ages ago, and I couldn't tell you what user made it. The edit was one of my own. My "perfect big of vintage" curved adjustment, that is being held hostage on my laptop, who's charger got fried when our basement flooded this summer. Sad day, it's was a fabulous curves preset.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

OH OH OH!! AND! The frame is a Florabella Vintage Frame that I bought in a set here. I plan on doing a video tutorial on how to use them in actions, to make using them simple!

The Paper Mama Photo Challenge.

2010-12-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

I saw Melissa post her Paper Mama Photo Challenge this morning of the photos that I took of her two girls, two years ago, and I decided to get in here and put in an entry myself! This is Claire last year, December 23rd to be exact. Please disregard the terrible quality. I'm not sure what I was doing. I KNOW I shot this in manual, but for some reason my shutter was at 1/750 when it should have been more like, 1/450. But whatever! Anyways, this is her ten month picture. I made the tutu, and we shot these in my make-shift studio that was in the basement and i have yet to fix back up after our flood this summer.

I used one of the Florabella Vintage Frames on this. I LOVE them, and they really are a steel of a deal! I'm planning on doing a tutorial soon on how to make and action, to help you quickly use them.

And also, I recently hooked up a small monitor that I got when I worked for Ritz Cameras. It serves as my Facebook monitor, AND allows me to have my big 24 inch monitor to myself, and Claire can watch snips from Yo Gabba Gabba while sitting on my right knee. Literally, this is happening RIGHT now, as I type this.

Things have been a little crazy for me that last 3 weeks, and I've really missed blogging, and connecting with all you other mommies, and photogs. Fall quarter is over, and I'm planning on spending some time, digging deep, to keep myself motivated and organized. I'm also going to try and attempt to lose some weight, again. We'll see. And yeah, JUST as Christmas is upon us.

Also, if you haven't yet, PLEASE check out my Photography Blog! (http://lmgibersonphotography.blogspot.com/) This month I'll be making a full transition from running my photography website (lmgphotog.com) to JUST having my blog, and running everything off of there.

SNOW!

2010-11-23T23:28:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that you all know the PNW got DUMPED ON! With it went my internet!
The only thing that Claire has been saying is, "It noooo-ingggggg!" It's about the cutest thing EVER!
Here are just a few photos from the last few days:

Fall has come and gone.

2010-11-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

:( Almost all the leaves are gone. And we're about in embark on the cold, deary, depressing winter. I hav\te the dark, I hate the cold, and I hate the snow. I'm a sun kinda gal. I have a feeling that this winter is going to be a tough one for Claire and I. But I welcome it with opened arms. Change is good, and change is necessary. You can't change others, but you can change you. It might be hard, but these are the moments that shape who we are. I've been through a lot of things in my life, and see no reason to slow down. By January, I'll most likely be a single mom, student with 18 credits, have a part time job, and still trying to be a "professional" photographer. Come spring time, there will be new flowers, new leaves, and hopefully, a new life for me.

<3 Lindsay

VIDEO: How to use Layer Masks

2010-11-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! This is my first video with my new microphone! :D If you have any questions, or suggestions on things you'd like to see in the future, please leave a comment below, or e-mail me at linkielueville.blog@gmail.com <3 enjoy!

And as always, click on the lower right hand corner to view it larger in youtube!

Me and my Babe

2010-11-13T18:48:00.000-08:00

This fall I took senior photos of this killer miss. Hattie. I met her mom when working at Kits Cameras. We stayed in touch through Flickr, and e-mail. Fall came around and it was time for us to do her senior photos. Her and her mom asked me if she could do her senior project on me, and my lil photography business. I was flattered! It helps that they're a total ball! This afternoon we went to my favorite place to take photos, and I left my camera home. Hattie did all the shooting, I just coached her on posing, and things that should be going through her mind as she's taking photos. This girl is a freakin natural! I asked her to snap a couple quick shots of Claire and I, because there just aren't that many good ones. I'm either pissed off, or in pajamas, and my hair's in a pony. This is the ONLY good one, because Claire was far more interested in jumping in all the leaves that sitting down to take a couple photos with mom. But I gotta say, it's CUTE! <3 And if I do weddings this summer, I know where to find my second shooter. :D

HEY!

2010-11-12T17:53:00.001-08:00

I got a microphone so making these videos is going to be a lot easier! So, what would you like to learn?

Two Moms Made a Photo Challenge - Week #16 Smile

2010-11-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme is SMILE!

I'm a little late posting this week, so lets just get right to the point!

from a family session i did this past weekend.

The rules YO!!!!

Your photo must be posted between 9 am Friday and 11:59 pm Monday.
The photograph must be taken by you or "composed by you," no exceptions.
Your photo must be with in the boundaries of the weekly theme.
Your photo must be appropriate for all ages
Only one submission per person
You MUST include the above badge in the post to qualify.
Include the PERMALINK to the post containing your photo in your linky.

{failure to meet any of this criteria will result in an automatic removal from the competition.}

Also, be SURE to subscribe to Melissa's page as well. She will be announcing the winner!

Don't forget, a grand prize winner announced every month will win a hand made item by Melissa or me.

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!

How to MAKE your own watermark brushes!

2010-11-11T14:21:00.000-08:00

I recently saw someone post up to their photography face book page, some blanket bushes to copyrighting your photos. Charging, for something that took them all 5 seconds to make. Call me crazy, but I believe in free trade of ideas. Of course, they're probably not dirt ass poor as I am.

So here is a little tutorial on how to make your OWN photoshop brushes in photoshop. You can make it as fancy, or simple as you want. I'll be getting a mic here in the near future so that I can voice over what I'm doing to make everything simpler..... for me. (click on it to view it larder on youtube)

Oh, and you can clean out the brushes in the box, so that it's just the one brush you made, but that will be tutorial for when I get my mic. I don't want to write all the boxes on how to do that LOL!

I heart Faces Orange

2010-11-08T06:38:00.000-08:00

I shot this on Friday of my God daughter Zoe playing in out leaves. He spent Two hours taking photos, and rolling around. (see all here) I think this would have probably been better for the fall story submission last week, but ohhhh well!

Check out Iheartfaces.com for more wonderful orange photos!

I may or may not have enhanced the

BAM!

2010-11-07T21:14:00.000-08:00

linkielueville.blogspot.com is officially linkielueville.com

I thought so.

MY FIRST ART SHOW! :D

2010-11-06T00:20:00.000-07:00

I had mentioned a few weeks back about how I was going to be one of the feature artist in the local art walk where I live. Well, it happened last night. Not really what I was hoping for. Total including about 15 of my friends and family, there were about 30 people that showed up. I guess there are usually between 75-200 people. I'm sure the fact that it was November played into the low turn out. But, my photos will remain up through the month, and the salon has my business cards if anyone like my work. {fingers crossed}

Big or small turnout, it still feels good to officially be a displayed artist. That, and I can stop stressing out about this now!

"OH CRAP! I DELETED MY MEMORY CARD!"

2010-11-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

So without thinking, I formatted my memory card yesterday to take photos of my art show (blog soon to come). I forgot that there were some photos I had taken of Claire going to bed on it until I went to upload them last night. No worries, I retrieved them. If you DON'T know, there are a multitude of programs out there that recover lost data, deleted, or formatted. Stuff is never fully deleted, until a new photo of files is re-saved on top of the old one. So an oops can quickly be corrected. I recommend Sandiscs RescuePRO $40, and retrieves basically all files. Including raws. SO worth it. Buy it now, so when you're in this situation, you're not panicking!

And while the quality of this photo is crap, the memory is priceless. I can now stop hovering over her crib every night telling her how precious she is, and how I want to remember these moments forever. Who am I kidding, that won't stop.

I {heart} Fall

2010-11-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure that you all know by know, I pick up Zoe (eldest of Hi, Baby) on a regular basis. A, she's awesome, B, I live down the street from her school, C, I'm her God Mother and D, she's just a blast to chill with. We always try to do something fun. Today when I picked her up, she asked the usual, "Can we go to the park?" Usually yes, I'd love to take her to that park and burn off some of that pent up energy. But today, Claire hadn't had a nap yet, and was literally falling into little pieces. Plus, I had a master plan. I told Zoe we were gonna go jump into the leaves in the back yard. Little did she know that involved raking them first.

So, we got home, put Claire down, and headed out to do some work. Ten minutes later we were jumping and rolling in a bunch of leaves. And rather than bore you with words, I'll just SHOW you what we did.

{i've been dying to blog this for the last ten hours}

Ahhhh yes. THIS is why I'm glad we're home owners. I'd die in an apartment. (after like two hours Claire got up and joined)

I'm entering the first shot of Zoe in And then she Snapped photo challenge!!

Two Moms Made a Photo Challenge - Week #15 Light

2010-11-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hey, Hey, HEEYYYYY!!

It's Friday, meaning you want to celebrate with a photo challenge right?

This weeks theme is LIGHT!!

I'm sure you all know I love me some yummy, yummy light!

So show us your best interpretation of LIGHT!

After all, Photography is painting with light!

Try and find a photo where the lighting really MADE that photo.

Either indoor OR outdoor light.

Here is my example:

The rules YO!!!!

{failure to meet any of this criteria will result in an automatic removal from the competition.}

Also, be SURE to subscribe to Melissa's page as well. She will be announcing the winner!

Don't forget, a grand prize winner announced every month will win a hand made item by Melissa or me.

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!

Happy Halloween!!!

2010-10-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween today! full of lots of tricks and treats!!

Claire was PEBBLES for Halloween.

And I have to say, I don't think there's ever been a ~~better~~ cuter pebbles. She rivals the actual pebbles. In my opinion... The costume idea was from Melissa originally. Who saw this costume on Kidlet Blog. I then googled to try and find as MANY Pebbles costumes/pictures of pebbles as possible. I didn't find ONE cute costume on the internet. Some of them, were quite possibly the most hideous costume's I'd EVER seen. {exhibit a} I was determined to make it damn near perfect. So, we headed to Joanns, and I got one yard of Kelly Green cotton, and two thirds of bright blue, and then a remnant of black. I made the shirt off of another one of Claires shirts, sewed on the black triangles, put a snap on each strap, and then some cool "pebble" looking buttons I found. The bottoms were going to be a diaper cover, and then I was going to put her in some grey ankle warmers, but being that she's nearly two, I thought I'd make it a little less baby, and a little more toddler. That was a list minute decision, and after I was done, I literally had a piece that was 6"x1" left over. After purchasing the turtle neck to go underneath, I spent ten bucks total! Pretty sweet! I'll be making a few of these in a few different sizes to sell on Etsy next year!

I fully intended on going to the local mall here, for the usual mall trick or treating, but they apparently stopped doing that two years ago. Now they have crafts, and they were yesterday. Lame right?!?! I was kinda pissed. Not gonna lie.

So, Claire and I made the best of it! While Colin tried to sell his last few cars of the month, (he got two out btw!) we made our rounds to my family that lives in town, and the we met up, and went to his parents.

It was a relatively simple evening, and we avoided having to pass out candy! Now if only I could figure out what to do with this bucket of candy sitting on the kitchen table.... :/

I'm way behind on this blogging thing!

2010-10-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Between here, and my Photography Blog, I'm a failure in the blogging word!!!

Anyways, these are the photos from my little mini shoot that I had with Zoe, that you can read more about here.

Two Moms Made a Photo Challenge - Week #14 Compotsition

2010-10-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

ACK!

How long has it been since we had a TMMaPC? :/ oops! lol!

Hey, we're mom's and students! Give us a break!

I'm gonna make this short and sweet so I can get it up, and onto drafting up NEXT weeks challenge!

"Composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients

in a work of art, as distinct from the subject of a work.

It can also be thought of as the organization of the elements of

art according to the principles of art." -via

So this week is all about your best display of composition!

So remember your rule of thirds, and triangles!!

You can use an old photo, but I encourage you to take a NEW

photo this week! Push you photographic eye!

Go out with the purpose of taking a well composed photo!

dang, i use too many exclamation marks! <-shit.

here is my example:

The rules YO!!!!

{failure to meet any of this criteria will result in an automatic removal from the competition.}

Also, be SURE to subscribe to Melissa's page as well. She will be announcing the winner!

Don't forget, a grand prize winner announced every month will win a hand made item by Melissa or me.

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!

Flashback Friday {Halloween edition}

2010-10-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

In honor of Halloween weekend, I'm using a photo of Claire a year ago in her Halloween costume for this weeks flashback!

If you don't know, the thing that sealed the deal on Claire's name, was that we could call her Claire Bear. And you better bet that's what she's called all day long! If you follow me on twitter (which you really should if you enjoy random vomits of pissed off curse words) I generally refer her to "The Bear." So last year, there was no question as to what she was going to be for her first Hallow's Eve. A BEAR, duh!

I went back and forth between sewing it from an old pattern that Colin's mom had for when her kiddos were young, and just buying one. Finally, we found a cute one at Freddies. But it had a blue bow tie! :/ I removed the bow tie, and put a super, super cute pink bow on top, with just the perfect amount of off center. It was ABSOLUTELY adorable! We headed to the new pediatrics center in Kadlec Medical Center for their grand opening, and Halloween festivities. I paired the bear costume with a pink tutu I had made a few weeks before for her 8 mo. photos. Unfortunately, I'd managed to forget my camera that day. :/ I promise you it was the cutest thing EVER!

So, here is my cute little Claire Bear, all 8 months of her!

And she looks ridiculously exhausted in this photo. I'm pretty sure this ten minutes into her nap time. That and I was using my continuous lighting kit that would get REALLY hot! This also is reminding that with winter on it's way, I need to set up my basement studio again!! EEEK! I'll do a post soon on how to set up your own studio! This white back drop was created with all white faux fur fabric I got at Joanns for about $15!!

oh annnnd Claire's costume this year, is a surprise! That, and it's not finished yet. :/ I guess I better get move on!

Head on over to The Adventures of Christopher and Tia for more Flashback Friday photos!

Wordless-ishy Wednesday

2010-10-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

Processed with my new free action Strawberry Vintage

Zoe from Hi, Baby on our photo shoot a couple weeks ago. I love this girl more than she knows. <3

More more wordless Wednesday hit up

It's been far too long since I gave you guys an action!!!

2010-10-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

I'm calling this one Strawberry Vintage!! Click the here to download and enjoy! I'd really appreciate it if you could link back to my blog when using it! :D

And if you use it, and post it, be sure to link up with the linky. Only because I love to see my actions on other peoples photos!

ps-this will only work on CS. :( i think.

Acceptable in the 80's

2010-10-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

I'm just taking a quick little walk down memory lane. Remember when these were cool?!?!

I mean really? There just no excuse. And if you haven't heard Calvin Harris's song Acceptable in the 80's. You must.

Horrible terrible confession:

2010-10-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

I've heard of this happening when you "go pro." But I never saw myself actually being one of those photographer moms. As soon as I started to pursue being a professional photographer in August, photos of Claire almost 100% dropped off. I used to take my camera with me at all times. And I pretty much got one good shot of Claire every day. Now I only have like 5 a month! So, I'm pledging to once again haul my magnesium alloy big ass camera around with me, and my nifty fifty.

BAM!

because doesn't everyone love a good before and after?

2010-10-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

I had a KILLER weekend! Met up with some of my favorite NW blogging mommies, and spent some fabulous time with the Rohr/Devine Family. A good break from all my editing, homework, and the stress of getting ready for my art show on the 4th. (If you find yourself in the TC and bored that afternoon, PLEASE come see me at Muse Salon!)

I just finished this session for last week. I just gotta say that I LOVE senior photos. They are always SO much fun! I wish the season lasted a little longer. Here's a quick before and after before I hit the hay in preparation for a Trig Formula exam tomorrow at 6:50 am. Gross. Not to mention I left ALL my school stuff in Seattle today at my friend Melissa's house. I had one of those stomach-drops-out-of-your-bottom feelings today as I neared two hours into the three hour trip home. :/ Not sure how this week is going to go. But luckily Melissa is doing the kid swap thing, so she'll get it to her girls dad who lives here, Friday night.

Night!

Worless-ish Wednesday.

2010-10-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

I still have three and a half hours in my time zone!

This was shot on Saturday. I took Zoe and Claire out for a photoshoot all by myself. With a full load of props and all. It was pretty stinkin stressful, but I capture a handful of photos that I'm going to cherish for the rest of my life. I sewed both of their dresses to coordinate. This image isn't perfect. I know. Try hauling two chairs, reflector, camera, big wooden box and a few other items YOURSELF while trying to wrangle these two! Claire would NOT hold still, and had to keep her puppy with her the entire time. I have to position my reflector and take the photos myself since I have yet to invest in a reflector stand. I still think it's a fantastic image. I'm probably going to make a 16x20 canvas out of it to hand somewhere. I just love it.

To see more wordless-ish Wednesday photos, head on over to The Paper Mama!

:(

2010-10-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hello you guys!

I'm sorry again for my lack of quality posts. I've just really been busy with school, Claire, and REALLY trying to get my photography business going. It's a lot more work than I could have ever anticipated.

I do have one exciting update to share with you. I recieved my business cards from Vistaprint.com today! And yes, that's Melissa's beautiful family for Hi, Baby! They are absolutely STUNNING and I totally recommend their printing services!

sorry about the pooey cell phone pic. :/

Zoe=♥

2010-10-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

On Mondays I pick up Zoe (eldest daughter of Hi, Baby) from school. It's always fun. Good for her, good for me and good for Claire. We usually try to create something, because both Zoe and I, are creative guru's. Well, yesterday I had hung up her dress that I sewed her in the living room from a hook in the ceiling, so that when she walked in the house she's be totally surprised. Well, she was! She started jumping up and down like a kangaroo on steroids. I probably should have filmed that one! We quickly had a snack and then headed out the door for some photos, and a little play time at the park.

We packed up all my favorite vintage props, Claire, Zoe, and my camera, and then went to a side street in West Richland that's near my house. I took this impromptu photo of Claire there during the summer. I was pretty bummed to see that the grass was dead and mowed down, but it still made for a great little country road. This was my favorite shot from the little shoot, and probably one of my favorite shots EVER! I'm for sure going to be printing this big and hanging it SOMEWHERE in my house! I'll be posting the rest on my photography blog in the next few hours. Ya know, when Claire's NOT pulling at my shirt.

And on Saturday, Zoe and I will be having a special "God Mother/God Daughter" evening where we go and take photos and go to dinner, just her and I. This was shot all 15 feet from my car, with Claire in her car seat, windows down, radio on, yelling "MAAA MAAAAA." If that doesn't distract the "creative juices" then I don't know what would!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Tuesday!

<3 Lindsay

Blogging: What?

2010-10-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

I'm so not in the mood for it right now! But, I'm trying to bust a record number of photos/senior sessions right now, and I'm basically done. I just checked my twitter, and saw that Amy is blogging as I type this. So, I figured, and I can't do it because?

So, this blog will basically be a photo with a tinnnnnny story.

I sewed a dress for Zoe, the daughter of Melissa last night. I based it off this vintage dress that I found on Etsy a few weeks back and FELL IN LOVE WITH! I've started picking up Zoe on Monday's now, due to the epic failure of her hired baby sitter. Thank goodness I live just down the street from Zoe's school, or who knows what would have happened that day. Anyways, I showed her this dress and asked her if she'd like me to make a similar one for her. She said yes, of course. And somewhere along the way we decided it was a "city dress." We'll be going out on a photo excursion, just Zoe and I, very soon.

To construct the dress, I found a dress shirt at Wal Mart on the clearance rack for 3 dollars. It was juniors size small, and had the pleats already in it, along with a nice draw string at the waist, and sleeves that rolled up and buttoned. The lower part is two yards of a fabulous chiffon snow leopard print that Zoe and I found on sale at Joanns for $5 per yard. Then I picked up about 2/3 of a year of some cheap white satin stuff for the skirt liner. that was all of $2. So if you're counting, this dress cost me $15. Now how much was that Etsy one? ;P

This was a total blast to make. I think the best part was Friday (watched Zoe for a few hours that day) when I had the shirt all taken apart and had to pin it on Zoe to alter it. Brought back some not so fond memories of my own mother pinning clothes onto me, and then taking them off while laughing at my whimpers as I got poked with all the pins. Honestly, this sewing stuff isn't for the faint of heart.

So, I present to you, Zoe's City Dress:

{changed the photo to a comparison}

Oh, I love it! And this photo was taken in Claire's relatively cute room, that's still in the works, some 8 months later after I started. Once I get the base boards, and crown molding put up, and a few pictures hung, I'll be sure to post some before and after photos! It's gone through quite the change. Soon, I hope to do our bathroom as well!

<3 Lindsay

I still love you guys!

2010-10-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

I promise, LL & crew will be super active one again. I'm just feeling a little drab on material right now. BUT, hears a GREAT before and after from a shoot I did with my childhood bestie last night!

If you guys have any fantastic post ideas for me, leave a comment! I need some material! Oh annnd. This quarter I have a 6:50 in the morning pre calc II class. UGH!!!

OHHH! And leave a comment with suggestion for up comming TTMaPC themes!

My good little eater.

2010-09-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

I'm a firm believer that children's taste buds are conditioned. If you feed them PB&J, chicken nuggets, and macaroni, that's all they'll like. While I do occasionally feed those items to Claire, he meals are more like what we had for lunch today:

Mini Pizza's w/

Hummus

Feta

Fresh Spinach

Kalamata Olives

Red Onion

EVOO drizzled on top

It was amazing, and she at every last bit of it. If you have a young toddler, I encourage you to add new tasted to their diet. It makes meal time simpler, and going out to eat a breeze!

And the hummus BTW, was HOME MADE! My own garlic, sun dried tomato hummus! It's soooo good!

A serious case of the crafties.

2010-09-20T14:52:00.003-07:00

I need some help. This is unhealthy.

Claire modeling a few of the things I've been making.

Do you Chuck?

2010-09-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

I do. And tonight is the Season 4 premier.

OMG! I'm.So.Excited.

I'm sorry, I just have to gloat.

2010-09-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

My daughter is gorgeous.

Ok, I'm done. Sorry.

And, looks like this TOTALLY fits into this weeks Paper Mama Photo Challenge. HOLLA!

javascript:void(0)

L.M. Giberson Photography BLOG!

2010-09-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

I made a new blog for my photography today. Well, it isn't really all that new, I've had it up for like months. Actually years I believe. Yeah, I know that I created it before Claire was, uh, "created." But I hadn't put one post up. However, I did the rough design today. Not sure if I can REALLY manage TWO blogs! Ekk. I guess this one won't take very much work. So, here it is!!!

The L.M. Giberson Photography Blog!

I Heart Faces - Fix it Friday! {video coming soon!}

2010-09-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

Then a couple of after the fact edits. one with a simple curves adjustment to brighten up the image, and then on with a texture added.

{click on the images to view them larger}

Love this weeks photo for I Heart Faces. Mostly because there was a RAW file!

I honestly don't know how I survived processing JPegs! You're stuck with what you got!

Anyways, because I'm terrible at explaining what I do to my photos, I've made a video with Cam Studio, and I'm uploading it youtube as I type this. It's a 1.5 gb file though, so it's going to take about and hour. :/ So, stay tuned, and you'll get a video that shows this edit from start to finish! <3

A couple key elements of this edit were the desaturation of the oranges, duplicating the back ground layer multiple times and setting the blending mode to overlay. Then using a layer mask to remove parts of that overlay. then a solid color adjustment layer in a lighter blue/periwinkle color at 10% blending mode set to exclusion.

The video:

Will someone PLEASE hand me a tissue?

2010-09-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

So, as I'm serving Claire lunch today, I go to put her in the high chair and she yells, "NO, NO, NO, NO!" while reaching for the table. She's previously eaten at a table quite a few times, but this time I grabbed her booster seat/travel high chair. She was totally, 100% content sitting at the table like a big person. I think it's time for a permanent switch from the high chair to the dinning table. Now, I'm having my pathetic, mommy sob, moment where I'm wondering where my cute little, chubby, baby that sat in a high chair went?!?!

With that said, I like this older age quite a bit more just because of the the amount of freedom you have in comparison to having a baby. And for comparison sake, the first photo was taken on Nov. 2nd in 09... so Claire was about 8 months and a week. The other photo was taken today, about 15 minutes ago, (yeah, she's still at the table eating) and she's nearly 19 months now. *sniffle (looking at that photo now, i think it's time to give her bangs a trim.)

I'm now preparing the high chair for basement storage. To make room for something else, or just have some empty space.

Case in point: Take lots of photos, because before you know, your baby is going to want to sit at the table, like a big person, NOT a high chair.

Two Moms Made a Photo Challenge - Week #13 Dance

2010-09-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

YAY! It's Friday! Which means it's, Two Moms Made a Photo Challenge time again!

If you're new to Me or Melissa's blog, TMMaPC is as weekly photo challenge but on by the two of us!

It starts every Friday usually at 9am and lasts until Monday night at midnight!

This week's theme is DANCE!

Here's Melissa's example of dance:

Oh man, this is actually a photo that I took at Zoe's recital some three? years ago.

That was a crazy night. I'd forgotten to bring my camera with me, but luckily I

worked AT A CAMERA STORE, and begged my boss to let me borrow

a D80 and SB-800. FEW!

Here's my expample:

Another one of Zoe. This is the ONLY thing that I had that would fit into dance. It's a photo I took of Zoe

on memorial day weekend, dancing in the living room. the quality is poop. :/

The rules YO!!!!
Your photo must be posted between 9 am Friday and 11:59 pm Monday.
The photograph must be taken by you or "composed by you," no exceptions.
Your photo must be with in the boundaries of the weekly theme.
Your photo must be appropriate for all ages
Only one submission per person
You MUST include the above badge in the post to qualify.
Include the PERMALINK to the post containing your photo in your linky.
{failure to meet any of this criteria will result in an automatic removal from the competition.}

Also, be SURE to subscribe to Melissa's page as well. She will be announcing the winner!

Don't forget, a grand prize winner announced every month will win a hand made item by Melissa or me.

Good luck, and HAVE FUN!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

This was taken 7 weeks ago when Claire and I visited Melissa. It was impossible to get all four girls looking at the camera. But to get them all NOT looking, that was a sinch!

Some new buttons

2010-09-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

For TMMaPC winners and honorable mentions. If you're a winner fell free to swap out your badge is you'd like. And if you've even been an honorable mention, grab the Melissa, and Lindsay love my photo button!

Random Pretties

2010-09-15T11:24:00.001-07:00

Work out, number one. {insert fear of pushing the publish button}

2010-09-14T00:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so I did it. I went to the gym for the first time in more than two... err three years.

I ran for 35 minutes on the elliptical. An equivalent of 2.7 miles. I burned 370 calories. Though I never actually trust those things. I USED to run for 50 minutes and got in about 7 miles. So, I have a ways to go, but I could have gone another 15 minutes. I just don't like breaking them up. Not sure why. But tomorrow, I'll try for 40 minutes, and a 5 min cool down. YAY!

I'm looking at losing a MINIMUM of 50 pounds. But 70, would be MUCH better. This is what I currently look like. eww.

And, I'd like to look like this again.

This is about 160 pounds?

In general, I eat pretty healthy. I love salads, chicken, and wild rice. But I have a weakness for sweets and effing Panda Express. Every few weeks, I go and get a BIG ASS two entree plate from there. Lemon Chicken, Kung Poa Chicken, and Chow Mein. It's about 1000 calories. OMFG. sigh. Every two ish months, I'll go to a McDonalds, or Taco bell. Ok. There. I said it. And I feel a lot better getting it off my chest. I'm think about posting a "fat picture" and a "skinny picture" on the fridge and in the car. Motivation to eat a salad right? I'm so ready to be healthy again. I used to hike and walk all over the place. I wanna be THAT Lindsay again.

I'm looking at starting a blog hop with another Washington State blogger, Amy over at A Good Life. It will be aimed at helping us mommies stay on track, and get healthy! So, to start it out. Here's a linky. It's not really totally set up yet. But if you're already tracking your progress feel free to link up!

We'll have more details soon! AND we're working on a cool name and badge. Anyone have any nifty ideas on a name for this blog hop? We're thinking a weekly blog hop. Like a post, being as honest as possible, about how you stuck to your plan for the week. Sorry, this is just a random midnight ramble. :/

I'll be buying a scale for the house in the next few weeks, and maybe take some official "before" pictures.

Here's the linky to put in your post!

How to enhance the light in your photos!

2010-09-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a video on a technique that I often use to enhance back lighting in my photos. I'm using the gradient tool. You can also use this with a yellow, or gold tone as well. (be sure it's more of a tinted white, straight yellow will come off as a yellow blotch.)

To view it larger, watch it on the youtube site, here.

I Heart Faces - Week 37

2010-09-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of my boyfriend Colin, (taken October of 2007) and his 2008 WRX, that only lived for about 5 months. Yes, he wrecked it. What do you expect when you give a 24 year old a car like THAT? We took this photo just out of town while we were on a photo excursion. Those were the days. The days HE still enjoyed photography. :(

He now has a 2004 WRX STI, that can be seen here. It LOOKS cooler, but being that it's an STI farrrrr less comfortable. The suspension system is SO stiff that after trips, your back hurts. I'm trying to get him to trade it in for a more, family friendly vehicle. Needless to say, my efforts have yet to pay off.

Head over to I Heart Faces for more vehicle entries!

The better part of the day spent craftin'

2010-09-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

And this super, super cute headband came out of it!

I found some tutorials on how to make these flowers on youtube. and went at it while Claire was sleeping. They only take about 10 minutes per flower. Less for the smaller ones. Very soon, I'll be purchasing myself a heat gun, and trying a few like this.

These are all the ones I made today:

Here's the close up of Claire's new head band:

And a few more of her wearing it:

omg! i almost forgot! two mom's made a photo challenge is up!

this week's theme is your favorite photo!

This is why we have children isn't it?

2010-09-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

We're about to head out the door and pay some bills and visit daddy for lunch. But I just had to share this. Cause seriously. It's freaking cute!