31-ish Days of my XTi | Day 20 - Puffer

Source: bing.com via Candice on Pinterest

The puffer is one of my new favorite accessories! I got mine on ebay for pretty darn cheap(about $5), and while I don't know how it compares to a more expensive one, I like the results I've gotten so far.

Here's my example:

The first one was taken without the puffer, the second with. Both are SOOC, just sharpened for web-the second is actually sharpened a tad more than I like but I am far too lazy right now to go back really trying to get this post done.

I think that the differences are pretty obvious, but I also know that images can look different depending on the web browser you use. 

So: The one without the puffer looks more washed out, her skin tone looks very uneven and she has dark shadows under her eyes. The one with looks much warmer, and the dark areas under her eyes are not prominent.

I tried doing this example using one of my son's trucks first because I didn't want to go through the drama of getting MaddieBoo to pose without the drama (strange looks and limb positions that she thinks are cute), but I didn't get the difference I was looking for. So far my experience using the puffer on non-human subjects has led me to believe it's not useful, but of course there is much more experimenting to be had.

For about $5 I save myself some post-process time....works for me. Any thoughts?

Vacation, but not the good kind

Hey folks! Just wanted to pop in here and say a quick little hello, and apologize for my absence!! As I mentioned before, I have gone back to work. Clearly I had overestimated what my energy level would be like in this new endeavor because it turns out I have little to none :(
With that said, I am going to finish up the rest of the posts that I planned and get those out to you guys, and I'll have to play it by ear to see if I can actually squeeze out my original goal of 31 days!
I am soooo not a morning person, so the kiddos and I are off to get ready for tomorrow and bed.
Do any of you work full time with 2(or more) kiddos and still find time to do it all? I could use some advice and encouragement cuz I'm STRUGGLING over here!

I'll leave you with this bit of awesomeness from Pinterest, I made this with roast on Sunday and it was a keeper!

Source: sippitysup.com via Candice on Pinterest

31 Days of my XTi | Day 15 - Auto Exposure Bracketing

I originally planned to include this in my post the other day about exposures, but the fact is I am trying to stick with 31 days, and I still have about 7 days worth of ideas to come up with to meet that goal.  Besides, makes me take more pictures everyday when I am experimenting to get shots to use in these posts :)

This is an excellent function to use while you are still learning what makes a good exposure/what exposure appeal to you. When set, the camera takes three shots at "regular" exposure and two others that you select, for example one stop over and one stop under. This way you are closer to ensuring a usable shot, and you may even stumble upon an exposure that takes your shot from good to wow!

Here's how you set it on an XTi:
-Press the menu button (to the left of the screen) and arrow right to the camera picture with 2
-Select AEB
-Arrow left or right until you get the range you want
-Press the shutter button half way and that locks in your setting

Here's an extra tidbit: if you are already shooting under or over before you go to change the setting it will let you choose with that being your midpoint. So if I am already shooting at +2, when I go to set it my bar will have 2 in the middle and will spread out from there with the end points being "correct" exposure to the left and +4 on the right.

If you try this out or have questions (I'll try to help), leave me a comment!

31 Days of my XTi | Day 14 - Drive Modes

Hey there folks! I am in an extra great mood because I actually checked my stats for kicks, and people besides me are visiting my little bloggy world. Yay! Maybe I will yet become a blogger instead of a person with a blog....

So lets talk drive modes. What's this you ask? Basically it means how many shots your camera will take in a row. Discovering this little nugget a couple of months ago has been awesome for me, so helpful as I try to capture special images of a 1 and 4 year old.  The XTi has 3 drive modes, which can only be selected when you are shooting in the creative modes (even more reason to explore those guys).  They are single shot, continuous, and self-timer/remote.
They are pretty self-explanatory, but lets just go there. Single means you get one picture each time you press the shutter, and you can get up to 3 shots per second. Continuous means you can do the 3 images in a row per second, or a burst of shots (different amounts depending on the image quality that you are shooting in). According to Canon you can burst about 27 large JPEGS, 10 RAW, or 8 RAW + L.
Here's how you do it:
Select continuous by pressing the 2nd button down on the right of the screen and arrowing to the center icon. Then you compose your shot and hold down the shutter. The camera will continue to take pictures until the buffer memory is full, and then it will give you a busy message until it has put those images onto your memory card and has room to shoot again.
And lastly, the self-timer/remote will give you either 10 seconds until it takes a shot once you press the shutter, or just take the shot if you are using a remote.

Both of my sources seem to suggest changing your Auto Focus mode if you will be shooting continuously, especially if your object will be moving. I'll get to that in an upcoming post, but for now try it out!
 I was thinking of maybe trying to learn to make one of those cool little movies where you put a bunch of stills together, but I think that will have to wait until I have more time to spend in the digital darkroom. However, if you have made one and posted about it, or know of a source that has good instructions please leave me a link in the comments!  Also, if you have any cool ideas for others who want to try this out and just don't know what to shoot leave that too!

31 Days of my XTi | Day 13 -Exposure

Exposure is such a subjective thing, what you may think is over-exposed (too light) someone else sees as perfect.  Which is exactly the reason that you should play around with it! You may discover that you prefer to shoot a click over exposed in certain situations, or under exposed in others. Or you could take a shot and realize that it is too dark, and rather than change aperture and shutter speed you could just adjust the exposure. The only creative mode that this doesn't work in is Manual, because if you remember the little meter is an indicator then, and not adjustable-except by bringing in more light or taking it away in your environment.
You can see the meter on your screen and in the viewfinder, if you have not played with it (and are not in manual) the little bar should be right in the middle.  If you want to change it, hold down the Av button (top right on the side of the screen) while turning the dial either way. If you turn left you will make your next shot darker, if you turn right it will be lighter. Here are my examples:

(All of these are SOOC, just sharpened and saved for the web)
The center picture is the "regular" exposure, taken at 1/40, f 4.5
Top left is one stop underexposed (-1), top right is two stops underexposed (-2), bottom left is one stop overexposed (+1), bottom right is two stops overexposed (+2)


If you notice when you are taking your pictures, the camera will show you how each stop changes your aperture and/or shutter speed, depending on what mode you are in. I took these in Av, so my shutter speed got faster as the picture darkened, and slower as it lightened.

Like my cool little storyboard? That came from Rita at The CoffeeShop Blog, and was free as is most of her stuff. It was easy to install (once you get the hang of installing actions) and pretty easy to use, it took me about 35 minutes to get it web ready.

Go give changing your exposures a try, you may find a totally different way of shooting that you love!

31 Days of my XTi | Day 12- Zoom it in!

Okay, this may be totally obvious to some, but I literally just found out on accident yesterday that you can zoom in on an image after you take it. I have been able to do this with every other digital camera I've had, but I guess I thought you couldn't with this one because you can't use the screen to compose...don't ask me why I thought these two things were connected.
Here's how:
Hit the "play" button (3rd down on the left of the screen) and select the picture you want to see. Then just push the zoom buttons on the upper far right.  Not really sure what I thought those buttons were for anyway, but this has changed my life already lol!  Since I have been experimenting more with my camera I am finding that images I thought were great are really not so great once I get to PSE...many not in the focus I want. I think I need to upgrade to a camera with a bigger screen...but how to convince Hubs....
Anyway, this zoom tool is not really practical to check every shot, but if it is important I know I can check before I get to post-processing.
Later today I am going to be an editing fool, so I should have something to show photo-wise for the last couple of weeks coming soon.  Speaking of, anyone have any suggestions on learning Lr? I am brand new to it, and after opening it yesterday and blankly staring for a few minutes I gave up (could have been the 2 glasses of moscato while cooking/eating dinner, but so be it I love that stuff). I am off to the bookstore to try and read up but would love some help in the meantime, just leave me a comment!

31 Days of my XTi | Day 11 - Purchasing a new lens

I have a few lenses, and while looking into getting another I found out a piece of info that is actually kind of important when you are investing this kind of money. If you know already that you plan to upgrade your camera to one of the professional ones, you have to pay special attention to the lenses you buy. I am told that you cannot use an EF-S lens on a Canon 5d mark II. So that kit lens...no go. I suppose by then you will be investing in more expensive equipment all around anyway, but I'd like to make my money stretch.
EF-S lenses line up with the white square on the front of the camera, and EF lenses line up to the red dot, so if you are actually looking at a camera body and trying to decide if one or both types of lens will work, look for those. If there is only the red dot the EF-S lens will not work.
I looked up why this is, and the answer is a lot of technical stuff that breaks down to the EF-S will damage a professional camera because there is a shorter distance between the lens and the sensor.
If you plan to upgrade to a 7D both types are compatible, so you don't need to be as concerned about that aspect of your purchase.
I hope this info is useful to someone, because I know I had no idea that all canon compatible lenses don't actually go on all Canon cameras!
If you have any tips or extra info please leave it in the comments!