31 Days of my XTi | Day 3 - Shutter Priority

Welcome to Day 3! The last post introduced creative modes and I talked about Program(P) mode.  After writing that post I read online that someone said "Use P when the moment controls you, use M/Av/Tv when you control the moment". I think that's a sound piece of advice...

Next up is Tv: Shutter Priority. I use this occasionally since I learned what it does, and it is best used when you want to control the motion in your shot and not fuss too much with aperture. If you know you want to freeze an action crisply, set the priority to a fast shutter speed by turning the wheel. If you want to blur motion set it to a slow shutter speed. Since water is readily available to me, I'll use that for an example. BTW-both are SOOC, just sharpened and saved for the web.

This one was taken at 1/1000 f 3.5

This one was taken at 1/15 and f 20(steadied on the counter ledge)

The first one taken with a higher shutter speed "froze" the motion of the water, you can see ripples there. The second one blurred the motion of the water, it looks smooth like ice.

If you have any questions or helpful tips, please feel free to leave them in the comments!

31 Days of my XTi | Day 2 - P Mode

Lets talk about the creative modes! I love these guys now that I know what to do with them, and the good thing is that I think they are pretty universal (at least among Canons). In order to fully understand what's going on with these modes you need to have some knowledge of aperture, shutter speed, and the exposure triangle. Don't worry if you don't though, knowing the ins and outs of those things comes with time and practice. Sometimes I still have to refer to some trusty cheats depending on what and where I'm shooting.

Here are the zones:

To the left of the green box(auto) there are 

• P: Program 
• Tv: Shutter Priority
• Av: Aperture Priority
• M: Manual
• A-DEP: Auto Depth of Field

 I think of P like auto with a little manual mixed in. The camera sets your exposure (aperture and shutter speed), but you can shift them if you like by turning the dial. While you can change this, it changes as a set. So you can't change the aperture independently from the shutter speed. I personally never use this mode, if I want the camera to have that much control I just shoot in full auto. There is the benefit of getting an idea of what apertures and shutter speeds go together in different lighting situations.

You can shoot in RAW, change ISO and adjust white balance so you can still get a taste of manual without knowing the correlation of aperture to shutter speed.

Try it out! Take a shot first in P mode. If you wanted to try for more bokeh(if your lens will allow) scroll to a lower f number and have less background in focus. If you wanted to make sure everything in the frame was in focus you could scroll to a higher f number and the camera will automatically compensate for shutter speed. You also get the same feature with relation to exposure by looking at your shutter speed and doing the same thing. 

One thing that I don't like about this mode is that each time you take a picture the camera re-sets to it's original setting(according to the light where you are shooting). So if you scrolled to another combo, you have to do that again for each shot if you want that, or else go to a different mode and set those values.

If you happen to try this out put a link in the comments so I can see what you get!

Also, if you have a question about any of my posts, please leave it in the comments and I'll try my best to help or point you in the right direction!

Just as a side note, I am doing Kim Klassen's Skinny Mini e-course, where she has lessons over about 2 weeks to help learn photoshop elements. I am half way through and highly recommend it-first because it's FREE, and second because there's no pressure to complete assignments. She also has other course offerings, and if you sign up for her newsletter you get FREE textures weekly in your inbox!

Quick Pork Chop Dinner Recipe

I haven't posted any recipes on my blog before, but this one was fast, easy, and both of my kids loved it! I originally got it from cooks.com, but I made a couple of changes.

FAST PORK CHOPS CASSEROLE

6 - 8 pork chops 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup Seasonings to taste: salt, pepper, garlic salt 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 (4 oz.) can mushroom stems and pieces (drained) 1 (16 oz.) can whole potatoes (drained) 1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen English peas (thawed) Brown chops in oil 3 to 5 minutes, arrange chops in a 13 x 9x 2 inch dish. Combine soup and remaining ingredients spoon over chops. Cover and bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes (note - you can use veg-all or frozen mixed vegetables).

I made 5 chops, just because that's how many I need to feed my family. 
I also used Webers Steak and Chop Seasoning(LOVE that stuff) to season them, and that's it since it has salt and pepper and other goodnesses in it.
 I seasoned generously, but I always say go according to your tastes, not a predetermined amount on these things. 
Then I lightly floured(not enough to make a crunchy coating) and fried in vegetable oil for about 5 minutes on each side.
 While they were cooking I mixed up the sauce- I used one can of cream of mushroom but will definitely increase to 2 in the future, about 1tsp of Worcestershire sauce, 1 can of mushrooms, and about 1/2 bag of frozen peas. 
I omitted the potatoes just because it didn't sound appealing at the moment, and I added about 1 can's worth of water to the mixture to loosen up the soup.
I put the chops in the  baking dish, poured sauce over, covered with foil and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes. Then I uncovered and cooked about 10 minutes more.
 I also made rice on the stove and served the chops and sauce over it, super yummo!


 I know this would be more convincing with a photo, but it got eaten before I even thought to post about how good it was. Maybe next time I make it I'll get a picture before it disappears...

31 Days of my XTi | Day 1 - Dioptric Adjuster

I bought my Canon XTi in March of this year, and I love LOVE it. I was given a Canon powershot SX20 IS for Christmas, and got such great shots of the kids! I already knew quite a bit about photography(I had a 35mm SLR a few years ago), and I absolutely love bokeh so to widen my options I upgraded. Turns out I can actually do manual on the SX, but the push button lens control just doesn't do the trick.

My XTi (with the 28-80mm lens)

So let's start this thing off. I am by no means any sort of expert, so let me just say I am simply posting things I learn that help me use my camera better, and not in any particular order. Anything that is posted by me is subject to not be the best/only way to do it, and if you have a better/more efficient helpful hint, please share! I decided to do this 31 day project because I am in the portfolio building stage of my business, and this is relevant to my everyday life so I'm more likely to actually stick with it.

So for Day one, here's a super basic thing that has helped me a lot...the dioptric adjuster. I wear glasses, and what a pain in the butt to keep bumping my eye against my glasses lens against the viewfinder. Roll it up and down, and presto, I can see what I'm shooting without glasses!

Keep an eye out for day 2: Creative mode overview

She's so crafty!

I think that was the title of a craft show that came on non-cable tv, the girl was always making kind of cool new stuff out of old stuff and she drove a sweet classic car...anyway point is I'M so crafty!! Here's my second craft project completed, the DIY camera bag. I was schlepping all of my gear to my parents to do some lovey-type pictures and there just wasn't enough room in my little standard bag(I probably could have left some things home, but you just never know...). I had seen tutorials for these in a couple of places, and then Joann's had a TON of coupons a couple of weeks ago so I got the foam and fabric for less than $10 (I already had the bag from a purse party, and the glue gun, and I got a cardboard box free from the grocery store).

I made some adjustments to fit my needs as far as compartments go, and also left room to be able to stick my hand in the side where there are pockets(already made into the bag) for lip gloss and room to slide my wallet in there.

I had some trouble with the measurements as far as making the sides big enough to stand up but small enough to fit inside the bag. I've got no pointers on that either, it was just kind of trial and error with my starting measurements being that of the actual bag. That part and the covering the foam with cloth took a lot longer than I anticipated. Maybe because I am a perfectionist, but the total time from cutting(and re-cutting) the foam to done was about 3 hours.

This bag was originally kind of a hobo style bag, so I glued some cardboard to my outside and floor foam to give it stability before wrapping in fabric. I also did not make the inside dividers attach to anything, they fit together pretty snugly and that way if what I want to carry changes I can move them around or make another "wall" to fit what I want. I also used 1 inch thick foam instead of 1/2 inch, for more security and to give it shape.

While I'm not the original creator of this idea, I'm happy to help anyone with questions about doing their own!

31 days of something....

I saw that Darcy at my 3 boybarians is participating in this 31 day thing that looked pretty cool. Since I am trying to challenge myself to be involved, I thought I'd do it but then had to come up with something that I can post about everyday for 31 days of October. I recall a while ago(who knows actually how long) I said I was going to start a 365 project, but clearly that is not yet in the works which is sad because it simply involves taking a picture everyday(which I do anyway) and posting it. But...I guess but is all I can say. I'm just lazy busy with other things. Soon, though.  I definitely plan to pop in and follow Darcy, I started 31 days to a better photo that she did last year, and she's doing 31 days of photo tips this year.
So something that will keep my interest that I can post about 31 times...I'm going with 31 days of my Canon XTi. Not groundbreaking, but it keeps in line with my life right now since I am starting my business. I do not presume to know all of the ins and outs of my camera yet (even though I've had it long enough to know everything by now), but I am making a goal to learn something about it and what I can do with it everyday for the month of October. Maybe someone else will come along and learn something they didn't know yet too! I'm linking up with the 31 day directory, go over and check out who else is participating. There are LOTS on any subject you can think of!!

Admitting the Problem is the First Step...

Hello, my name is Candy and I am a Pinterest addict. My husband goes to bed alone some nights while I sit in front of the glowing computer screen until 1 or 2 in the morning, and then try to slip into bed before his alarm goes off at 2:30 and he realizes I've done it again. But JEEZ, the awesomeness to be found there is just unbelievable! I have a board called craftyness, and I actually have the supplies to attempt to make at LEAST 4 crafts from my board. After the crochet hat I'm going to make a homemade camera bag(originally from a guest poster on Ramblings and Photos), and then one that I am REALLY excited about, but not telling just yet because it's so awesome, and I believe in keeping the good stuff private and making a grand reveal. All I can say is if it works out I will be able to stay home with the kiddos a good while longer!!  Here's some pics of the finished hat...it's a little slouchier than the pattern but I used a different yarn because that's what I had on hand and I wasn't sure I could actually crochet.

Happy Thursday...what crafts are you planning on doing soon?