Photography Adventures

The next chapter of the Digital Photography Basics book by Kat Eye Studio, is about exploring Exposure. The exercise had us play with moving the exposures up and down and then also learning about bracketing the exposures. Here are some of my favorite photos from this exercise.

This first set of photos, I was playing with the bracketing function with the camera. Basically you end up taking 3 photos and the camera changes the exposure for each one as it is taken.

Exposure 0

Exposure -1

Exposure +1

These sunset photos I did the same thing with the bracketing.

Exposure 0

Exposure -1

Exposure +1

 I started just manually playing with the exposure settings.

Exposure -2.7 

Exposure -1 

I looked over and really liked the way the light was reflecting on the grass and the shadows of the trees.

Exposure -1 

Exposure 0

 I then noticed how the light was shining on the house and walked up and saw it shining through the mango trees. I really love the way these photos came out. They are my favorites from the photo shoot.

Exposure 0

I really like how the light from the sun is peeking through the tree and lighting up the grass to make it look like it is glowing.

Exposure -2 

Exposure -2 

Exposure -3

In these high contrast situations I am realizing I really like them being a bit underexposed.

Photography Adventures

In my July Adventures I mentioned I finally broke down and bought a dSLR camera. I was so excited to get started with this new camera. I opened it up and pulled out the little manual that comes with it, and instantly got overwhelmed by it. I searched the internet for some basic photography e-Books or courses. I remembered that the lady who held the Liberate Your Art Post Card Swap, had some online courses for photography. You can check out her website here. I searched around her site for a course that would work for me being a total newbie. I found she offers a FREE Digital Photography Basics e-Book. I started reading it and I enjoyed the way she teaches the basics. She has exercises after each of the chapters for you to try and understand what you are doing.

I thought I would share my experience with you of going through this book and also just showing my growth as I learn photography. I asked myself why I wanted to learn how to use a manual camera. The first reason is I would like to take better pictures of my paintings and art not only for the blog, but to be able to sell prints. The other reason is I love taking pictures of sunsets and nature, and I thought a better camera would bring better photos.

I have read through the first chapter of the book. It was all about exploring how to find the light. She had us keep most of our settings to automatic and to take photos of the same object at different times of the day in the same spot and then photos in different spots to see how the lighting affects the object.

The object I chose was this little kokeshi doll I have. I ended up taking over 100 photos and these are the best of those 100.

This first photo was taken at about 10 am on the deck on my back patio.

The second set of shots were also taken on the deck but at around 2 pm. It had just rained so it changed the color of the wood to a more warmer color from being wet.

This last set on the deck was around 6 pm where the Sun was pointed on the other side of the house.

I noticed how the light was coming in from the front window and took this picture.

The dog was sun bathing on the floor in front of that same window so I put the little kokeshi doll on the floor to see how the lighting affected it.

I also got a couple of decent shots of the Murphy dog, even though he doesn't care to have his picture taken.

I have this Orchard Spider that has been hanging out in the bushes in front of my house for quite a while now. I love seeing how he keeps changing his web. The first 2 photos were taken right after it had rained. When I went back out to check as the Sun was setting he had built a whole new web.

I really enjoyed these exercises and look forward to continue sharing my photography adventures with you.

July Adventures

Still a very unproductive month on the art side of things. I have been in such a funk lately. I am starting to feel myself come out of it a bit. Looking back I realize this happens almost every summer. By the fall I end up getting my creative spark back. I just need to keep pushing forward.

I do have a few things to share that I have been up to this month.

At the beginning of the month the boyfriend and I decided to try out a new Japanese Restaurant called Osaka. The food was really good. They had these beautiful lit up cherry blossom trees.

Here are all my sky photos of the month. Most of them I shared on Instagram but a couple are ones I didn't get a chance to share.

It has been an unusually stormy summer.

I was finally able to buy the camera I have been wanting. I got a Canon Rebel SL1! I am so overwhelmed by this camera. I decided I am going to give it a little time playing with it. I found some great starter guides from a couple other blogs I follow. When I start feeling a bit more comfortable with it, I plan on doing a photography post, hopefully weekly.

I finally talked the boyfriend into helping me paint the walls in the house. I was getting so tired of the white walls. So 5 years later from purchasing the house we are finally painting.

Here are a couple before pictures. Please excuse our mess, I was starting to pack things up and move things around when I decided to take some before pictures.

Here are the after pictures. We chose a slightly grayish beige color. In the hallways we did a slightly darker color of the same grayish beige color. Then we have these 2 drop downs from the ceiling and I decided to color one yellow and the other blue. I wanted them to represent day and night. If you notice in the before picture you can see a sun hanging on one of the drop downs. I plan on hanging that back up and I need to find a moon to hang up on the blue side. I still have to get all the knick knacks and stuff put back where they belong. It is also pretty funny that I haven't cleaned off the sun I drew on the sliders from my Sun A Day project back in 2011. I think its time to let it go!

I had bought a print of the Almond Blossom painting by Van Gogh when I first moved into the house. I am taking that to go get framed this weekend to hang up behind the couch.

I was trying to get a nice picture of my dog and he didn't want anything to do with it, LOL!

Well I am starting to feel the excitement of fall coming. This weekend Yankee Candle is having their Halloween Preview Party, which means Halloween shopping season is just about here. This is my favorite time of year.

Hope everybody had a great July and look forward to an awesome August.

June Adventures

Another month has gone by and it was very unproductive in the art department. Before I went to Tennessee I had gotten some blood work done. The doctor's office called me and wanted to see me regarding my cholesterol levels. I went in towards the end of May and my numbers were very high. I had been eating bad and stopped going on my morning jogs, so this was to be expected. I got back on my medications and the boyfriend suggested we join Planet Fitness because it is only $10 a month, so that we both can get healthy. We started at the beginning of June and have been going 3 days a week for just about a month.  I have lost 3 pounds and I am starting to feel better. With this change of schedule I am trying to figure out how to add back in time for art. At first I was super tired but starting to feel like I am coming around with the new schedule. Look for some art coming up this July!

Another thing that I was using as an excuse is when I got back from my vacation. I piled a bunch of crap on top of my drafting table that I use for my art. This is such a horrible excuse, but I finally cleaned it up. This is what it looked like before I cleaned it.

I have some photos of the few flowers I have on my back porch. The frangipani finally bloomed and it is so pretty.

I found a recipe for a cold brewed iced coffee on pinterest from the blog tablefortwoblog. This comes out so delicious I have made this my go to way to make coffee. I love iced coffee compared to hot coffee!!!

Summertime here in Florida is our rainy season, so plenty of storms blow in. Here is a before the storm picture and the amazing sunset afterwards.

Most of the photos I share is from my Instagram account. If you would like to follow me find me at creativelytara.

I hope everybody had a wonderful June. I am looking forward to a more productive July.

Happy Fourth of July!

Wishing Everybody a Safe and Happy Fourth of July!!!

2013 Catalog Covers

I am working on the Cover for our Catalog at work for this year. I realized I never showed you guys the cover from last year. Here is the Cover for our main library catalog and our english language learners catalog.

Tennessee Trip - Part 2

The next day we headed downtown to the Nashville Visitor Center because when we went by the day before it was closed. We went down there and bought some souvenirs.

We decided that we pretty much saw everything we wanted to see in the downtown area so we headed back to the hotel. On the way back we noticed this church with gargoyles above the threshold.

We had bought tickets to go to the Grande Ole Opry that night so we got dressed and headed over to the Opry Mills Outlet Mall to do some shopping before heading to the show. While at the mall we ended up eating lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and got to eat by these guys.

After spending way to much money we decided it was time to go wait to go in the Grande Ole Opry.

Me and my sister hanging out waiting for the doors to open.

I am not a huge country music fan, but I do like a few artists. The show was really neat. There were 8 artists performing and each played 3 songs. Most of the artists were up and coming artist, from my understanding. They were all really good. First up was Tyler Farr. He has a song on the radio called "Redneck Crazy," which he played.

While the bands were breaking down and setting up for the next, there was this great announcer guy. I just loved his voice.

The next person up was Terri Clark. I remembered her from when I first listened to country in the 90s. She was great and told a story about Reba McIntyre and did an exact voice impersonation of her.

Dailey & Vincent came out and sang the song "Home" originally made popular by Phillip Phillips. The last song they did was an acappella christian song. It was beautiful.

Then there was Dustin Lynch, it was his birthday and he was so appreciative for being able to play at the Grande Ole Opry.

Eric Paslay was up next and I enjoyed his music probably the most. He had a bit of rock n roll mixed with his country style. He played his hit "Friday Night". After his set was over he just found out the single went gold. He came out and showed us the gold plaque. He seemed like a very humble guy.

The last act of the night was Gloriana. I really enjoyed their style also.

After the shows were over we ended up going to Dave and Busters for some dinner and video games. We had a blast playing games like Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, Mario Kart and more.

The next day was Wednesday the day we needed to start heading back to my sister's house, to get ready for my nieces graduation. We had planned to make a couple of stops on the way out of town first.

I had been wanting to see The Parthenon for awhile now, especially since seeing it on Percy Jackson. This building was amazing. On the bottom floor there is an art gallery with some beautiful paintings.

Upstairs there is this huge statue of Athena, that is absolutely beautiful.

Then we headed to the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. They had these huge sculptures of different bugs made from wood.

This little train set was really cool. They had 2 trains running through the tracks and one was Thomas the Train.

This little tree house was awesome.

I don't know why but I love this photo of this flower.

Ants marching on. If you look closely to the background there are 2 more ants marching along with this one.

The mansion just gorgeous.

View from the back portico.

This was another cool sculpture made of twigs of wood. It was really spectacular to walk through.

After we were done strolling through the gardens, we headed up to the restaurant and ate lunch. Then did some shopping in the gift shop.

We headed back to my sisters house. Driving back down the mountain was a bit tense because it was raining and the road was super windy. We had talked about maybe stopping in Lynchburg to visit the Jack Daniels distillery but decided against it because of the rain.

The next day was graduation day. We ended up doing a bunch of running around getting food and decorations for the party. The graduation didn't start until 7:30pm.

They were going so quickly with the names I couldn't get a good picture of her walking.

I made this little paint bucket for her for her present and hid some money inside for her. It was something I saw on pinterest and thought I would try it out. I bought Jelly Belly Beans in her school colors. I took the cardboard piece of a toilet paper roll and cut it to fit in the middle and then put the beans around it. Then put the money in the middle of the roll. I think it came out cute.

Another pinterest idea that my sister found, little caps made out of Reese's peanut butter cups and Hershey's chocolate. We also made chocolate covered marshmallows which were amazing, you can see them in the background of the picture.

Cap and Diploma - I am so proud of her!

My beautiful niece!!!

I don't have any children of my own so my niece and nephew are like my kids. I have been there for all their big moments in life. I love them both with all my heart.

I stayed one more day and my sister and I just hung out at the house all day. I helped her set up her new computer, she decided to become a Mac person. Then we went through her photo albums and scanned in some pictures of us as kids. That night we sat down relaxed and watched "Frozen" which was a perfect movie to watch with your sister.

I got up the next day and headed home.