A Theme and a Question

OK then. It's decided. We'll be doing My Best Shot Mondays AND Thursday's Theme. I'm excited. And I might even post the theme in my sidebar each week so we can keep track that way. Not a bad idea.

What about if I were to just give you next weeks Thursday Theme now??? How fun would that be? Want me to? OK...here goes. For our very first Thursday's Theme I would like your take on the word...

Spin.

Anything goes. No rules. Just your own take on the theme. So next Thursday (June 7th) I'll post a spin photo and you leave your link in the comments and be sure to add it to our Flickr Pool if you can.

Now for my big question. Who is going to BlogHer in July?? I want to meet all of you face to face. Say you'll be there. Please!

Themes and Such

Thanks for the feedback. So, let's regroup. I have a thought. Sorry but that's a big deal as I am still in some kind of sloth like funk.

I would like to keep My Best Shot Monday as is. It works for me and I know it works for you guys too. Now, what if I drop in a Theme at the END of my Best Shot Monday posts and have Thursdays be the Theme Link Day?  Does Thursday's Theme sound catchy enough? It would give you a few days to find something from the past or shoot something for the Theme. Even if I had something else to talk about on Thursdays I'd still leave it open for the theme links. It could work, don't you think? And, it'll give you 2 days to share links and sharing is fun.

So, what's the consensus?

Getting Back into the Swing

OK, so holiday weekends are great but they kind of throw the rest of the week off. Not that I'm complaining (or am I?). Why do I feel behind already? It's still that damn PMS, isn't it? No matter, my only point today is to make mention that Best Shot Mondays are rockin' ( I dig them) and I am so loving seeing your work each week. It's a highlight.

I have never really considered implementing a theme for BSMs because to be honest, I can't plan that far ahead of the game. I'm such more into waiting until sometime on Sunday to see what I feel like posting. When I throw my own photo's theme out there and pose a question on Mondays, it's not at all meant to steer you in the direction of the theme, just so you know. IF, and only IF something comes to mind or your photo happens to coincide with my thought, then that's cool (like yesterday's Grace thing seemed to do) BUT, BSM is mostly about sharing ANY photo from the week (or from the more distant past if you so choose) that you want to share. No rules. No themes. Just sharing.

I just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone thought that I want you to join in a theme. It's just about Mondays and having something fun to look forward to. That's my intention.

OK then. Until tomorrow.

BSM Comic Relief

Over at Mama Says Om the theme for this week is Grace. The minute I read the word I felt that feeling...like I was going to have to find an image that encompassed the word perfectly. And as I began to ruminate over the word grace, I got kind of overwhelmed with emotion. I think it's just one of those words that can do that to a person. The last few days have felt rather emotional for me in general. Nothing I can pinpoint really, just exhaustion from the chaos of the whole motherhood routine mixed with a surge of hormones. You know, the perfect cocktail for a breakdown.

Then, I was going through a few photos from this weekend and I found this weeks gem. I'm thinking that if there were any photo that visually captured the antithesis of grace, this just might be it. And it got me laughing. Out loud. At that point, I couldn't resist.

Happy Best Shot Monday (the relaxing, holiday weekend kind). What would you like to share?

Sunday Service

Check out this community of women. Hello. Amazing. The theme for the rest of this month obviously strikes a chord. The lovely and talented Jen Lemen was asked to submit her story. Read it and you'll see why.

While you're over there, be sure to submit an image to their Flickr group. I did. A few times.

And you can even check out the blog. Just plain cool.

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FYI- My Best Shot Monday is still happening tomorrow despite the holiday. See you then!

Mixing up the Focus

As promised I'm addressing Jen's question about where the focus should be when playing with depth of field. Like I always say, there are no rules. You are right in noticing that most of the time the focal point is in the forefront of the image and the blur is in the back when shooting with a shallow depth of field but that's certainly not the only way to do it. I think people get into the habit of doing it but I'm always into breaking the habits and breaking new ground!

Since I myself almost always seem prefer my focus to be in the forefront (oh boy, maybe it's time for me to start mixing it up?) I poked around Flickr and found lots of examples of very cool alternative depth of field approaches where the focus is somewhere else and is very effective.

Bird Eye is a master of the super-artistic and he has a way of seeing and photographing light like nobody's business. I had fun discovering his Flickr Stream and want to share shots like Flat Branch, Round Clouds and Flag of no Country with you.

A few from other Flickr members that I find delightful are Tea time for the soul, Spring Loaded and this shot of Luke.

I hope that answers your question Jen, if not in words, by images.

Anything you'd like to share?? Your work? Someone else's? Anything that might challenge the way you might normally shoot? Let's see it.

Backtracking

Did I say I'd be back today with some more answers?

I thought so. Whoops. My mistake.

How about tomorrow?

And thanks Stacy AGAIN for embellishing my DOF explanation in yesterday's comments. God, you're good. Can I keep you?

Exactly Who Are We Focusing On?

Still on the subject of depth of field...

Stacy chimed in yesterday with a fab comment about being mindful of techniques used to insure your all of your subjects are in focus, when there's more than one subject in the image. Great point Stacy! And one I planned on getting to. Really. Because, there is nothing worse (and a big no-no on a paid shoot) to get one or two of the family members in focus while the rest of the group are NOT, particularly when it's obvious that everyone should be in focus. Like when you're trying to take a nice, traditional family shot. One rule of thumb is to shoot at an aperture setting of f5.6 or even f8 if you can to make it a sure thing.

The other trick of the trade is to, as Stacy put it, be sure all of your subjects are on the same plane. Huh? I know, it sounds cryptic. It was explained to me once like this; Pretend your subjects are right behind a window and you are shooting through it. Be sure all of your subjects are pressing their noses against the window to get them all on the same plane. Is that clicking?  If your subjects are all right up against the imaginary window, even at a shallow depth of field, they'll all be in focus together and that makes for some good family portraits! I use this trick now without even thinking about it and it works great.

However, as always, I'd like to challenge the idea that everyone has to be in focus in your images because they most certainly do not. Isn't that the greatest news ever? For a twist on the traditional (my favorite kind of twist) experiment with keeping one of the subjects in focus and let the other(s) go soft. It works wonders for sibling shots. With this tip, I am sharing with you one of my trade secrets. I do that around here from time to time. This one works wonders when I'm shooting pix of my own girls or doing a paid gig. First, choose the easiest child to work with. In many cases these days, it's my oldest daughter. What happens when I pay attention to her and put her where I want her and begin to interact, is that my youngest, the wild child, can't help but feel a little left out. She'll work her way over to where we are and somehow finagle her way into the shot. It works out well because then it's at her own will and instead of throwing a fit about being in the photo, she's quite a agreeable and wants to be in it. Reverse psychology at it's best ladies and gentlemen. Anything to get a shot like this.

Am I right?

The same scenario works wonders when you have a laid back, easy to work with baby (like right at the age they are happy to just sit and smile at you) AND a crazed active preschooler who wants nothing to do with the camera...am I ringing any bells here Kristen?  As soon as you let the older child off the hook and focus on the baby, that big sister or brother will do anything to get in the photo. Perfection. This is a recent favorite of my friend's daughters where I use this technique.

Worked like a charm, didn't it?

I do love to throw those tips in for the peeps that are desperately trying to get both of their kids in the same shot together, but usually have little luck. I do what I can to help. It's why I'm here. Hope that inspires you a little Kristen (although from the look of your photos in this post, you're not doing too bad).

Tomorrow I will be answering Jen's questions from the comments yesterday so come back, kay?

Depth of Field

OK, so we've all heard the expression Depth of Field and we might be able to recognize it when we see it. A shallow depth of field is when something is in focus, let's say in the foreground of the shot and the rest of the shot, let's say the background, is out of focus. If you use the "portrait mode" of your camera, you just might get these results. And if you're like me, shooting in low light all the time with a fast lens, aperture wide open, then there is a shallow depth of field in almost everything you shoot, by default. You will notice that many shots taken indoors have the shallow depth of field effect mostly because the aperture needs to be as open as possible to get enough light without a flash. Sometimes it's what you want (it usually works well with one subject) but it's not always what you want. Sometimes you want to make sure you get the desired effect without depending on chance (or luck). I get it.

Many of us need to figure out the ways to get our desired results. Especially if you don't want every vacation photo you shoot to have the background IN focus, which can happen quite easily because when you're shooting in the bright sunlight, you're aperture will stop down (in auto mode) as there is plenty of light to get the shot and the aperture that defaults to 3.5 inside will move to 11 outdoors. That's when you need to know how to set the camera to get that aperture open and achieve the more shallow depth of field that you love. And it's not that hard. However, getting a great looking shot with a shallow depth of field is equal parts camera setting AND lens. This is when the talk of lenses we did a while back will come in handy. The faster the lens, the more open it can be and the more open the lens can be for the shot, the more shallow the depth of field. Many lenses (like the "kit lenses") only have the ability to opening up to the aperture size of 5.6 and that is NOT going to give you a very shallow depth of field except when you are shooting those vacation shots and the background waaaaay back there and in that case it will be a little "soft" as they say.

Here's a few visuals I shot during my daughter's impromptu nap to give you an idea behind a few "f-stops" or aperture settings and what the difference is. It's subtle but you can see it. Her fingers are in focus in every shot but look what happens to her face.

This first one was shot at 2.5 (open aperture)

The next one is at 5.6 (stopped down a few clicks)

And the last one was at 11 (stopped down even more)

See how much more in focus her face is at 11? The depth of field is less shallow as your number goes higher and your aperture is smaller in size.

So, if you want to test this out for yourself (which of course I think you should) then find the setting on your dial that will let you only change the f stops (aperture settings) and will allow the camera to compensate for the shutter speed so you don't have to. That only gives you one thing to worry about. On a Canon the dial says AV and you can dial up or down (stop down or open up) that setting and that will give you the variety of the depth of field. Try it and see what happens.

OK, who's spinning? I think I am.

Mother Love

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible." - Marion C. Garretty

I remember many years back my dear friend used to wear a sparkly band around her wrist. It was a kind of quirky simple band (not some kind of fancy jeweled bracelet) that caught the light like a disco ball. Once she commented about it's significance and that it helped her 'remember the magic'. I still think about that sentiment and through the years have attached a meaning like that to tangible things to keep me present. Now, when there is something I want to keep in mind, thoughts that are important, feelings I want to carry with me, I wear something that will help me live in that place. I often wear my Superhero necklace to help me tap into my strength and courage. I have a few pieces of jewelry from my husband that keep his love close. And I have a few necklaces that I wear as symbols of motherhood and that remind me of my daughters.

This bracelet was given to me by my mother as a first birthday gift. Not my birthday but that of my second daughter. It was to mark my first anniversary as mother to Iris and to celebrate getting through a very rough year. I had terrible, often debilitating depression at the end of my pregnancy, suffered a grueling (and dare I say it dark?) delivery and then survived (thankfully) a blood clot that went undetected for just over a week. It felt like the longest week of my life as I knew, no matter what they said, that something was wrong. I was right. It took almost a year (who am I kidding, it was almost 2) to rise from the surreal fog I was lost in. My bracelet reminds me that although you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel when you're in the thick of it, it is there and it becomes brilliantly clear...eventually. I haven't worn it in quite some time but have rediscovered it's meaning now and wear it as a way to honor Kate and her family. It's my own version of the Liam Ben bracelet.

What image would you to like to share this week? Something to remind you of motherhood? Something that captures your own precious children? I can't wait to see it. Whatever it reminds you of...it's all yours. But, I'm glad you're sharing it with us because if there's anything in this crazy world that makes it less crazy, it's knowing you're not alone.