Soccer Boy

Click the pictures to enlarge them...

Today I shot some pics at the school's pep-rally, however, I didn't have any time to download them or PP them at home so I'm posting some from a shoot I did for my dear "comadre."

I present to you my "Ahijado"[pronounced-aeehado]...(Godson). He is Mr. Athlete if you ask me. My girls love having him over to play and I think he enjoys it too.

I shot this in my kitchen with a black background from a kit I had purchased @ ebay. For the lighting I used my AB's 400's. This was my 2nd time using the Alien Bees lights and I wasn't too sure how much or how high (power wise) to have them. Lately, I haven't tried to shoot with them so I can't tell for sure if I've progressed either. I think that in some I underexposed but heck, I'll get the hang of it...I think...

Another problem I had was that he was sitting on the floor, not a problem for me because I could be on my knees or a little chair, the problem was how to position the lights to go that low...hmmm...maybe I should have brought them down (I kept them at about 5 ft high but pointing down with an umbrella). And sometimes I just turned the right side off and I think you can tell in the last picture.

Also, I didn't know whether to use the black umbrella or the silver lining one...so I used both, one on each side...the power being less on one side. Since this was shot at night, I thought the background would be OK...not so...I had to clone out every little single speck of white stuff, because believe me, EVERYTHING shows up...dang it...that was quite a bit of cloning...

And then there's the fact that his head blends with the background...how do I fix that? I tried levels, and curves, but I'm not too good at them either so I just left it alone. I did, however, ran a "glambur" action on all pictures along with a crop. The "glambur" has a USM embedded in it so I think that was it.

PLEASE HHCC all the pictures!!! I really need it!

SPECS: Manual Mode, 18-55mm lens, SS 1/250, AV f/11, ISO 100, AB's 400's with 2 umbrellas @ 5ft (height) on left and right (I think they were at 3/4 (silver umbrella) and 1/4 power (black umbrella) )

BTW, my comadre was happy with them (though I wasn't) and so that was that. It's not like I was selling them or anything...they were my willing subjects/models (I just hope they continue to be as willing next time I need them ...).

TFL!

Nothing but net

Well, it's been almost a week (really a week) since I last posted. And it's not because I didn't want to. It's simply because I spend all day at work and by the time I get home there's hardly any time to post/comment/shoot/etc. So today, I'm posting 2 more water pictures (I know, I know, the "WATER" shots are over but I'm gonna anyway because I worked really hard at them...so here they are...

And then of course, the subject for the week: SPORTS. Here's my first ever attempt at a Basketball game. I followed the advice of the MB and I think it helped a bit. Took my 85 1.8mm lens, no flash, ISO 1600 (lots of noise by the way) and set my SS to @ least 1/400 (as most ladies mentioned would be ideal). Well, I sucked. Truly, royally sucked! I would say to myself: I'm fired! Now go away...

You see, I forgot to take the polarizing filter off the lens (duhh!) and I'm sure I would've gotten better shots if my big head would have remembered to take the hood and the filter off. That just pisses me off! So frustrating...

Ohhh but never fear, there's always soccer, or the girl's BB game tomorrow!

Like Arnold says..."I'll be back"

TFL!

Assignment #2

OK, here's waterfall #2 (and I'm done with waterfalls for now). This one is at the entrance of one of the parks. I used my 50mm lens (on a tripod).

Picture #1- Indie's Rich Color Pop to enhance the color in the rocks, USM and resized for web.

Picture #2 - (Same picture) I used Sweetcheeks BW conversion. I don't know if it's just me, but I think it kind of blows some of the highlights. USM and resized for web.


Anyway, water assignment day #2 done.


On to do other ones.


TFL!

SPECS: Manual Mode, ISO 100, Lens 50mm 1.8, f/22.0, SS 1/8

HHCC Welcomed and appreciated!

Water #1

OK, I'll admit it. I cheated. Well, technically I did (or did I?). You see I shot this while visiting the zoo on Saturday. I figured, might as well get some shots in before the weather changes (again). So here it is. Water shot #1. I'm OK with the results though I think it needs something. I just can't decide what...TFL!

HHCC Always appreciated and most welcome!

SPECS: Manual Mode, ISO 100, AV f/22, SS 3.20, On a tripod.
USM and resized for web.

It's a jungle out there!

SPECS: AV Mode, ISO 100, SS 1/320, f/3.5, 50mm lens

I present to you Gladys Porter Zoo. I believe this is the only zoo south of San Antonio TX. Having a membership is surely helpful since most of the kids from all over Rio Grande Valley end up coming down here for field trips and more. Plus you can't beat the picture opportunities. Anyway, today was a cloudy day so we went to the zoo with all my camera gear. You should've seen me, backpack with all 4 lenses, tripod, flash, etc. Must say that the tripod is horrible (my dh said "what do you expect for a Wal-Mart tripod?"). Guess he's right. I've already added a Manfrotto to my "wishlist" at B&H. Anyway, hardly any people at the zoo so I took quite a bit of time with next weeks water shoots (I got 3 btw). I tried to get some animals but I don't have all the skills to get razor sharp images just yet. Anyway, here's the best I could come up with.

Please let me have HHCC as I really need help trying to get these shots.

TFL!

SPECS: Shot in Manual Mode, ISO 100, SS 1/20, f/8.0, 50mm lens (On tripod)

SPECS: Manual Mode, ISO 400, SS 1/80, f/8.0, 75-300mm lens @ 230mm (On tripod)

SPECS: Manual Mode, ISO 400, SS 1/80, f/8.0, 75-300mm lens @ 300mm (On tripod)

SPECS: AV Mode, ISO 1600, SS 1/125, f/5.6, 75-300mm lens

School Related

This is one of the major points of interest in our town. UT-Brownsville.

Many people are barely learning about our university down here...but when they do, watch out. It's a perfect school (if I may say so myself) for students who are ready to learn all about the world. For instance, it's just a block away from Mexico (literally). It's so close to Mexico that you can go there and have lunch and come back for your next class (or stay and have another margarita heehaw). And of course, don't forget about Padre. South Padre Island is a world known (exaggerating here) beach that has been seen on MTV and "Girls Gone Wild"videos (OK , that's nothing to brag about or is it?) and it's super crowded for Spring Break (though for me the water is waaay too cold still). And while I'm bragging about UT-B, I can't leave out the academics (of course). We are one of the few schools (actually don't know of any other one) that offers the curriculum of a regular university as well as technical trades, vocational, and occupational programs of study.

Do I sound like an employee/college rep trying to sell our school? I'm not. I'm just a proud alumni who decided to stay behind and give back to ole hometown.

Having said that, I'm off, my margarita is waiting...

ADIOS!

SPECS: Had a hard time with the light since it was dusk. Please let me hear any HHCC that you might have.

Any ideas on how could I have stopped the glare at the bottom of pic #2?

#1 - 50mm 1.8 lens, ISO -1600, SS - 1/200, AV Mode at 3.5

#2 - 50mm 1.8 lens, ISO - 1600, SS - 1/125, AV Mode at 3.5

And here we are...

OK, so I haven't posted since last Friday. Or was it Saturday? It's not because I didn't want to, it's just that we've been so busy. You see weekends are our days off, and as much as I tried to keep up, I just couldn't. Anyway, I'm back and since this week it's all about where we live, I present you two signs on my way to/from work. Nothing spectacular. Exactly like our city. Small town. On the border. By the sea.

TFL!

SPECS: P Mode with 18-55mm lens. Shot during a red light. People looking at me funny. Whatever it takes huh? Resized and auto curves in PS7.

My sunshine

He's compassionate. He's a devout Catholic (more than me for sure). He loves music and math. He well mannered. He's polite (the kind that opens the door for the elderly and women he doesn't even know). He's well versed. He loves to read. He's obedient. He has taken a vow of abstinence until marriage. He loves his sisters (though his sisters are not too fond of him). He's very intelligent. He has high expectations of himself. He doesn't like to quit. He wants to be a Pediatric Cardiologist. He's my son Christopher. My pride and joy. My sunshine...

SPECS: Kitchen window light (natural light?), 18-55mm lens. Black backdrop in "P" mode (couldn't have him sitting for too long since he doesn't like pictures). Picture taken back in summer and PS'd to darken the backdrop. If you pay attention you can see the edges look soft/glowie? This is more obvious in the saxophone shot. That's because I didn't know how to make just the backdrop darker then (I'm not sure I know now either...) TFL!

Hey Coach!

There are few things that I'm truly crazy about: scrapbooking, photography, warm chocolate chip cookies, and purses. Specifically, Coach purses. I'll be the first to admit it, I'm addicted to Coach. Maybe it's the "C's" that match my initial perfectly, or the fact that they have the yummiest colors and styles. The excuse for purchasing one doesn't really matter, "I'll take it". Why? Who knows...I just like them. My dh has it easy though. When he is in doubt about what gift to get me, the answer is simple, a Coach purse. There's no way he'll go wrong there. Afterall, a few good purses, never hurt anyone right? :p

HHCC Appreciated and most welcome!

SPECS: 50mm lens, AV Mode at 7.1, SS 1/25, Available light - I know the lighting sucks but I just wanted to use my new lens :(

These are for you

My birthday brought about the same festivities as always, but one of the sweetest moments was afterschool. Afterschool, I went back home and Daniela came running to meet me and tolds me "Mommy, I have something for you" so I followed her and she handed me these little purple flowers that she picked from our backyard (you know the ones that grow in the wild). Her little hands a bit dirty from playing in the yard, yet she still had wanted to give me something. I hugged her and kissed her and then ran and grabbed my camera for a shot (of course) of my gift.

These are for me... TFL!

First love

A little more about me...Here's my first love. Or at the very least, the reason I landed at 2 peas. I love scrapbooking. I love buying tools, paper, rub-ons, paper, flowers, stamps, paper, embellishments, inks, oh, and did I say paper? Because of this addiction, I ended up going to different conventions and meeting many talented gals. I think it is well worth it. Not to forget that I actually DO scrapbook, not just socialize...though sometimes I just like to socialize, and that's OK too. Anyway, here's two walls of my scrapbook room at home, or what I call...my creative spot. TFL!

-Nothing worth any technical merit. Shot in auto mode (yes, shame on me) with built in flash, 18-55mm lens, but I can always take the HHCC that you're willing to dish out!

PS- Now I want to scrapbook digitally but I don't even know where to begin...any ideas?????

Straight out me.

Today was my first day back to work (in-service at school) and I thought I was going to be able to go home early and do my shoot but that wasn't the case. Didn't get home until about 6pm which is the reason I'm posting so late... Why did I choose this picture? Well, because I have very wavy hair (not curly) and my mom had a cow when my younger sister decided to "straighten" out my hair last night....This is the first time ever that I do that and believe me, it's not happening again (takes tooooo long). So there you have it. My straight hair once and for all.

Anyway, this week is all about me, and that's just great since my B-day is Wednesday! So here's my bio (or a small portion of it). My full name is Cristina Isabel and I'm 35 years + 363 days old. I'm married (Jaime) with 4 kiddos (1 boy and 3 girls). I'm High School Math Teacher (and so is my hubby) and working on my Master's in Curriculum and Instruction (M. Ed.). My hobbies are to scrapbook and take pictures, though I take pictures faster than I can scrap them. The bad thing is that my husband thinks my scrapbook room is just a wasted part of our house (I secretly agree with him but will never admit to that). My favorite color is probably blue (though I always say it's pink). I say this because both my scrapbook room and my classroom are both painted in blue...so go figure!

My parents brought us from Mexico when I was 13 years old and it was a bit difficult to adjust to our new life but we got through. After high school I joined the Army for 2 years and then went to college. I've been teaching now for about 13 years and it's something that I truly enjoy and I think I'm good at. I am child #11 in a family of 12. So I do have a humongous family (sooo totally Mexican - 9 sisters and 3 brothers) and I love them all (you should see us during the holidays!). Most of my brothers and sisters are teachers too and they're all over the state: Georgetown, Round Rock, and Houston TX. and I really miss them! What else? Hmmm, I'm good at math (obviously), I was a computer science major before I changed over, and I have a minor in English. I'm very patient and always in a good mood. To me, family is the most important thing followed by education. Last, for my birthday, I'm getting the 50mm 1.8 lens (yay!), since my husband would not buy me my "L" lens or my Canon 5D...(though I still have both items listed in my wishlist at B & H), but I won't compain, at least is one more lens. Well I think that's all folks! TFL

CIAO!

Reflections

It's been a rainy, overcast, day here. I personally like the sunny and bright ones better, though I know that this type of weather is not very helpful for photography. Anyway, we took the girls out and looked for puddles of water to reflect on for my POTD. Unfortunately, this is the best I could do. My dd were not in a cooperating mood and the only one that wanted to do as instructed was my baby Andrea (see pics). It didn't help either that dh was rushing me to hurry up with the pictures because we were parked on an abandoned's house driveway and the neighbors were looking at us funny. Oh well, my shot is done here. TFL.

HHCC always welcome and appreciated.

SPECS: Canon digital rebel, 18-55mm lens at 49mm, ISO 1600, SS 1/3600, f/5.6 in program mode. BW conversion and resized for web viewing.

Busy, busy, busy

I didn't really have much time to shoot today, and when I did, I decided to use those shots for next week. Anyway, in order not to fall behind, I'm posting a picture anyway. Here's attempt at reconstructing a shot I saw from Tara Whitney somewhere. TFL.

BTW - This one was taken last Summer so I really don't have the specs :(

I do remember that the lens was 18-55mm and it was shot in auto mode with natural light. The inside of the lens part is converted to BW (poorly) and the rest remained in color. Framed and resized for web viewing.

Ready, set, exercise!

OK so I'm ready. I'm going to exercise. Last night I bought my new shoes, laid out my workout clothes (shorts and t-shirt), and set my alarm. Then I thought, what the heck, I'll just start on Monday, which is when I go back to work. Isn't that terrible? It's just that I HATE exercising. I'll do it because I know I'm overweight and I don't want to risk developing diabetes like mom and dad. Plus, we want to go to Disneyworld over the summer and I don't want to be puffing and huffing the entire day. The worst thing is that I've been paying for a gym membership since October. And to top it off, we bought a threadmill for Christmas (which is still sitting in a box in the garage). OK, so I promise...I'll do it on Monday. Really, I will. Twice. I'll go at 530am (as usual) and then at 430pm (afterschool). But for now, I'll just keep my new and fashionable tennis in their box...

SPECS: Natural light, 18-55 lens at 53mm , AV mode at 4.0, ISO 200, SS 1/60 (camera resting on table) in RAW. Shadows and slight saturation increase, cropped and resized for web viewing.

As good as it gets

So I tried. Honestly I did. Somehow, things didn't go as planned. I told Jaime (dh) to go out by a railroad track so that I could do my POTD, but before we even got there it started drizzling...arghhh. So mad. I said to myself, ni modo (Spanish for "oh well" or something like that), I'm going to shoot regardless, even if it's for 5 minutes. Well, I got the girls down and started shooting away...thinking to myself "just set it in AV mode and open it to 1.8 and that should do it"(I was shooting with the 85mm lens). I shot the tracks. I shot some pics of the girls, I shot the trees around the area...all without looking at the LCD because I didn't have time for it. I didn't want to get my camera all wet either. The girls were not too happy and soon enough they started complaining. So we went home. I got home, happy because I was sure I got my POTD, and what I saw when I downloaded was not really what I wanted. 2 pics were OK and the rest were trash. In those 2 I don't know what happened. I thought I had set the focus on my dd Lorely but I guess I didn't.

I don't really know what's wrong. Well, I know it's me and my not knowing how to work the 1.8 AV yet, but I don't really know how to make sure it lands where I want it to. Anyway, here are the results of today's adventure. Go ahead and let me have all the HHCC that you want to dish out. I'm always receptive to learning and trying new things. TFL!

PS- I learned how to do the copyright stuff after messing around with it all afternoon!

SPEC: Lens 85mm, AV Mode at 1.8, 1/160 and 1/200, ISO 200
Images PS'd with USM, color pop action, web resizing, and vignetting.

A focused child

Meet Daniela Sofia. Our third child. She is very determined and loves to wear hats and boots regardless of the occasion. Lately she's been bored and asking when is going to go back to school. Not knowing what else to do, I sat her outside with her easel and gave her an "assignment" to do in order to entertain her. Needless to say she was happy and very determined to do as her "teacher" had instructed. If only my students were just as determined...

SPECS: Digital Rebel, 85mm, ISO 400, AV Mode at f/4.5.

#1- 1/125, #2- SS 1/500, #3- SS 1/100

USM ran on all 3 pics and web resizing as well as a color pop action.

HHCC always welcome and appreciated.

Here it is!

Stayed up very late...or should I say I went to sleep very early???? Anyway, since I was up, I went ahead and shot a few pics right before/during sunrise. Without further due, the first sunrise of the year.

Here's to hoping we continue to see the beauty of each day this year.

Happy New Year!

Barely getting up from our midnight festivities, Jaime and I sit and decide what our goals will be for 2007. Our list varies as we speak and ultimately, we agree on a few things:
1. Have a healthier lifestyle (in other exercise more and try to eat healthier).
2. Remodel our kitchen, living and dining.
3. Visit Disneyworld (with the kids of course).
4. Stop spending money on scrapbooking stuff (which I hardly use now) and use that towards my photography equipment or Jaime's computer stuff.
How will we fare? Who knows, but ultimately, we'll keep on dreaming.

CIAO!

PS- I'll be back to post my first POTD for 2007!