Days 14 - 31 | Everything Else

Days 14, 15 and 16 were huge learning days for me. I finally understand how to read the histogram for each photos as I take it and how this can help me with my settings for the next shot. Darcy also helped me understand more about exposure compensation - something I had learned a lot about from reading my manual on Day 2.

Day 23 was also a big learning curve for me - I have been playing around with the histogram in my adjust menu in iPhoto and was pretty happy I understood how it manipulated the photos. But it was excellent having it so clearly explained by Darcy once again.

All up I learnt a heap and I think I am taking better photos thanks to this series. I feel more in control of my camera. I feel my camera is not a huge obstacle to overcome to get the shot I am imagining. I feel it is a tool - a very complex tool - to help me get the shot I am imagining.

This weekend is my birthday - its also the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend here (Yay for long weekends on your birthday!). Yesterday, when the boys were up before 6am and my hubby suggested we all go down to see the sunrise (usually its just Nathan and the boys on their sunrise strolls, whilst I stay tucked up in bed) it sounded like a great idea and not least because I wanted to see how I would do with taking some shots.

These are the results. I am pretty happy (though the last few got a  little washed out and I should have notched the ISO down a little at this stage). But I can honestly say, everything I learnt during the 31 Day series really paid off yesterday.

Now I want to get myself a reflector so that  I can take some shots of my boys with a little more light on their faces. All in time....

Meanwhile, these shots will remind me for a long time the glorious birthday I celebrated this year with my family at sunrise.

Sunset

I love seeing the sunrise shots my husband takes in the early mornings when he is out with our 2 young sons. I rarely go to share in their sunrise strolls - its father-sons time (& my bed is too snuggly to give up this last week with the cooler mornings setting in).

But tonight this sunset was peeking in at me through the bathroom window during bath-time and so I shared this sunset with my boys. It was too beautiful not to share - although Noah complained he was cold and needed his towel (I guess summer is over).




I was amazed how in the space of 5 minutes the colors changed so markedly (though I am not sure the color-change is really that evident in these 2 photos).




I love that something as simple as a sunset, something I take for granted so often, can really change my evening around when I stop to take a moment to enjoy it. I guess this was my little moment of Mindfulness.

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