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Mia and Manang Tiana
Mia’s Manang Tiana is visiting from Hawaii this month, along with her Auntie Jane. This is one of the first photos I took of them together.
GPOMW - First Week Photo Edition
Now I understand why so few photos are taken during the first few weeks of a baby’s birth. First off, the baby is often asleep. Seriously, there are only so many photos you can take of a sleeping baby. I suppose you can take photos in various outfits, but nonetheless, they are still sleeping. The second reason so few photos are taken is that you - the parents - are really freakin’ exhausted! So when your baby is awake, and you have your camera ready, capturing the moment in a photo is a gem.
This photo of Mia was taken on July 8, 2010. At this point, she was one week old. She was very active for a few hours before falling asleep once more.
GPOYW is GPOMW to Me
GPOYW - Gratuitous Picture Of Yourself Wednesday - is a tumblr tradition I’ve never participated in. But I think I’ll start, but change it up to be GPOMW - Gratuitous Picture Of Mia Wednesday. Let’s be honest, I’ll post photos of Mia anyway. So why not make it an every Wednesday occurrence?
For the inaugural post, I’m using a few photos. The above series of photos were taken in Mia’s newly built crib on July 13, 2010. Mia’s cousin Kayla help me put the crib together earlier in the day. So we placed Mia down for a test run. In a few photos, she is laying next to a Bee flash card, which represents one of the nicknames we gave her and often call her by.
Mia Izobel
Mia Izobel was born at 10:16 am on July 1, 2010. She weighs 7 lbs 12.2 oz, is 19 1/2 inches long, with a thick head of hair. Mommy and baby are doing great!
Baby Shower Weekend
We had our baby shower this weekend in Cuesta Park. Luckily the day was warm and sunny, a welcome break from the unusually raining weather we’ve been having here. We cannot say thank you enough to our family and friends who helped put this party together. They did so much work to put this amazing celebration together.
We are equally thankful to our family and friends who were able to share this day with us. You can find tons of photos from the party here. If you need the password to access, please email either Farrah or I. Or you can send an email to feedback [at] janella dot com.
Celebrate!
Steak and corn for dinner tonight!
To celebrate the nice day outside, I decided to throw a couple of ribeye steaks and corn-on-the-cob on the grill. Farrah is making bibingka as well.
How do you take your steak?
New Year, New Photos
I haven’t done well with my goal of completing past dailyshoot photo assignments, as I had hoped to in a recent post. But I did have a chance to take photos yesterday. We met up with Yen and Timothy at Valley Fair Mall. It’s amazing how much Timothy has grown. I was able to take a few photos of him, but boy does he move a lot. Of the 40-plus photos I took, only half were usable. But that’s a good thing.
I’m trying to get into the habit of pressing and holding down the shutter release button. If I have the camera in a certain mode, it will take a series of three-to-five shots at a time. With an empty 4GB memory card I should be able to take approximately 170 or so photos in RAW format, at least that’s what my camera says. Unlike film, I shouldn’t worry about taking too many wasted shots, when seeking that one that captures a moment. After all, it’s difficult to take non-flash photos in low light, a situation I often find myself in. Using this method, if I’m lucky, one of those three-to-five photos should turn out. I guess I could get a faster lens or start using flash, but a better lens costs money and I don’t often like the results with flash.
I wish I got into this habit earlier. I think it would have come in handy on some of our travel photos.
A Bunch of Photos
Kaleb!
I’ve posted a bunch of photos on our Smugmug account. The four new albums are: Visiting Kaleb on Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Getting Together at South First Billiards, and Genentech Holiday Party.
For me, taking photos has been a bit more fun the last several weeks. I’m not sure if it’s the holiday season that has gotten me snapping away, but I hope to have more updates in the New Year.
Also, I’m evaluating a few programs from Nik Software, so some photos may look as if they have better post-processing than others.
As always, most of the albums are password protected. If you need the password please contact me. And, as always, if there is a photo of you that you want me to take down, let me know as well.
Shooting in Low Light
My photography background consists of taking a few classes at the local junior college, and what I’ve read online and in books. All of these resources have helped me along my journey in photography. I’ve taken a handful of photos that I really enjoy. But I still lack the ability to take decent photos in low-light situations.
Kayla’s volleyball game.
When I shot on film, using my Nikon N90, I was always anxious when shooting in low light. I would dread that the photos I took would develop and show nothing at all. Shooting digitally I am less anxious, but I’m rarely happy with the end results I achieve.
I know part of the solution is having the right tools. If you don’t have a fast enough lens, then shooting action in low light will be a challenge. The photo above is from one of Kayla’s volleyball matches. I used the fastest lens I had, a Sigma 30mm / f 1.4. From the looks of it, the photo came out as best as it could. But the lens is wide, so close-up details are not possible. I wish I could move closer to the action. I guess I need a longer lens.
Kaleb sitting.
I used the same lens to take this photo of Kaleb in very low light. I shot this at ISO 800. You can see some blurring, as I had the aperture wide open. I didn’t take into account the depth of field I was working it. I need to pay more attention to this aspect of photography. I was simply hoping to get a photo without using a flash. I worked on the photo a bit in Photoshop, but it could have been much better if I had just a little more light.
So what do I know right now about shooting in low light?
- If you have a fast lens, use it. As I understand it, a fast lens is f 1.8 or lower. If you have a kit lens it may not be suited for this task.
- Use a higher ISO. If you use 800 or higher, you may get some grainy photos, so don't be surprised.
- If possible, use a tripod. A tripod may not work, especially when your subject is moving.
There are plenty of good tips out there. I just need to read them and keep shooting. As they say, practice makes perfect.
Ketchup with Pepper
I don’t know when Farrah starting putting massive amounts of pepper on her ketchup when we have fries, but now I can’t eat fries any other way.
When I met up with some friends at Yahoo! for lunch at the local In-N-Out, I notice Gloria did the same thing to her ketchup. I forgot to ask her where she got the habit from. I’m curious, who else do I know that does this? If you do this too please leave a comment and tell me how or why you started doing this? I’m just curious.
Camera Fun
I have had about five digital cameras. I didn’t enjoy the Sony Cybershot DSC-T1 as much as I had hoped. Daytime results were good, but anything indoors or at night was very problematic. I bought it before a trip to Hawaii. This is when I learned to never buy a camera right before a trip, as you may not be happy with the results. I was happy with about 60% of the photos I took.
One of the features I liked was the ability to take these consecutive shots and have them as one image. I like this photo I took of Ernie when we met up for dinner one night.
Changes
I forgot to acknowledge several accomplishments on the blog. Kayla graduated middle school this year, and Jonathan graduated high school. Congratulations to you both!
I also forgot to mention (probably because I haven’t blogged in some time) that I have changed jobs. It’s been about a month now since I left my previous company and started working at the new one. It was a tough choice moving on, but change is good, right?
In my new job, I’m exercising a few different skill set then my last position. It is both scary and exciting. Needless to say, I am up for the challenge.