ok ok ok. I give in. I might need photoshop.

I spent Saturday afternoon/evening up in Arlington, visiting my sister & her peeps. The pics below are some random shots that I took there. One of the reasons that I want to improve my photography skills is to be able to take really great pics that document the everyday family stuff. I want to be able to capture the feeling of the moment, so that, down the road, when we look at these pics our hearts are warmed with the memories of "back in the day" rather than looking at a scattered snapshot.

That being said, I still have some work to do :)

"Arg Treasure"

My little nephew turned two last month, and received this aquarium for his birthday from Grandma (currently being pronounced as "rama"). The first pics I took of this were straight-on... leading to a ghostly figure appearing in the background (me...boo!), so I moved my tripod around and took this from an angle.

"Blur"

It was sooo easy to take pictures of my nephew when he was an infant; he would just lay their peacefully and I was able to get great shots, in terms of lighting and composition. Now, that kid is on the move! Most of my pictures turn out like this...

"Viewfinder"

The little guy loooves any thing mechanical (hmm, wonder where that comes from?) and especially loves my camera! We tried having him stand next to me while I took pictures of the aquarium. That didn't last long - when I would put my eye up to the viewfinder, he would run around to the front of the camera and squint with one eye into lens. funny. (and I am thankful for my UV filter!) My sister gave him is own "camera" and all was well again...

"Blue Kids"

The next activity was visiting the neighbors. Man, shooting pictures of kids is tricky. First, you have to find a spot, then you have to get them to all sit still, and then look in the same direction. Since I am still rather clumsy with the new camera, I overlooked the whitebalance setting. The pic below was shot with a white balance for tungsten lighting and, well, it is rather blue. Will photoshop save this? Can it make it less blue? Hmm, maybe, maybe I do need photoshop.

"Ty"

My sister's little neighbor boys are always doing something active; riding their bikes, riding their quads, just, y'know little boy stuff. When I told them I wanted to take their pictures, they immediately went for the bikes. I figured, hey, why not, it would be a good chance to practice sports photography.

"Ty2"

Yep, my sports photography skills still need some work. I had the ISO way up to 1600, but probably would have had better luck with my tripod & a remote shutter release.

"Teeth"

While the bigger boys were doing their stunts, my little nephew was taking in the show from the sidelines. In order to get him to look up at the camera we asked him to show me his teeth.

"Jeans"

I thought that I would try an artistic approach by focusing on the wooden blocks with Ty blurred in the background. As I was setting up my shot and doing meter readings Corbin decided to help arrange the blocks.

"Jump"

The shot I had planned wasn't going to work out; I think if Iwere lower to ground, maybe? Anyway, here are the blocks for the jump...

"Boots"

This is one of those "last look" shots; I had put my camera and tripod away and had headed back in the house when I saw Corbin's boots. I loved the angle of the boots, and the way the evening light was hitting them. I don't know the story of how they ended up there, or what adventures those boots and Corbin had that day; but, judging by the smile on those boots, it was a good day.