The red rock walk #countrykids #springcarnival

last weekend we went off with some friends to find the red rock on Thurstaton common. It is always nice being being with another group, the kids keep each other entertained and they forget that they are actually walking! Also big bonus for us is that there are a couple of older girls who like to play big sister to our little ones, when sometimes their own sisters are not really that interested in watching out for them. There had been some concerns over whether the weather would be okay but we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine. Pretty good for a walk in the woods.

Putting the world to rights..or probably trying to talk her out of stripping off because she has got dirty knees

when we got to the rock it was time for a little challenge for the kids. One of the adults in the group had gone ahead and tied lots of small bits of wool to the trees and the kids had to go and find them. Bringing them back to the rock where the adults were waiting and gaining prizes for their team. It was a great way of wearing them out too!

searching for treasure

then it was time to have a brew. First proper outing for the Kelly Kettle

then a spot of climbing on the huge rock…always hard to get a flattering angle when you are down below!! 😉

Part child, part mountain goat!

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what is RAW all about? #mamarazzi #photography101

This week i thought i would muse on something a little more about quality settings within your camera and details about image file format….

yeah i so know that half of you have just fallen asleep…ha!

Anyways i have been asked about RAW before so i thought i would mention it.

Most of your DLSR’s will be able to give you two choices of what mode you want to shoot your images in, what file format. The standard mode is JPEG, which a really useful file format. Its relatively small, simple to store, uploads into all editing programs, can be uploaded to the internet and sent in email.

So why would you consider something else, if you have this super duper fits all format?

Well a raw file is basically giving you more information in your file and therefore gives you more options of what you can do with your image in post processing. For example you can restore some detail in a blown out image or bring in some light to a dark image, change your white balance or make some more sophisticated photoshop edits.

So why do any of us shoot JPEG then if RAW gives us so much more. Well RAW files are mahoooooosive. They take up some serious space, your storage space is just going to get eaten up with raw files. Ask my OH how many times he tells me to delete some files as the hard drives (and i have three) are getting full. Also you might have to buy more software to be able to process raw files. Software companies such as adobe do not always have the standard format for certain raw files form certain cameras, particularly if you have older software and you are buying a newer camera.

So i guess the thing is to weigh up whats more important to you, space or image data and control. You can even experiment a little as a lot of cameras will allow you to shoot in raw and jpeg. So you can do a bit of both. That will suck your memory cards though. Remember if you have a 4gb memory card then you won’t be able to store as many raw on that card as you will jpeg.

So..how to change the image quality. This is on a canon camera. Should be easy to navigate to on other makes. Im making no comment about what camera is best. The photographer takes the picture remember!

You need your menu, go into quality and you see the icon that looks like a little wedge of a cheese. 🙂

There you can see the options you can go for.

If you are shooting in raw, make sure you have the software to read and use those files. So might be worth shooting jpeg and raw initially. In photoshop your raw file will be loaded into adobe raw, which is fabulous tool for some great editing options without going into full photohsop.

So a little example, this is just to demonstrate what you can do in adobe raw..so im not going to go into photoshop ..another time 😉

so this is my original image….

 

 

then taking it into adobe raw, if you have photoshop the image should open in adobe raw….looking a little something like this, you can see the image, the histogram on the left which shows you colour range through from darks to lights and then your options for editing down the side. You can see where there is red masking..that is where the pixels are blown out. It was direct sun (behind her).

 

on this one i have slid the ‘recovery’ slider which has drawn back some of those blown put pixels, you can see the red masked areas have gotten a little smaller? yes?

The square box is also where i will crop the image to.

 

Then i have slid up a little bit of vibrancy to make the colours pop a bit and used the ‘curves’  to bring a little bit of light into her face.

Ive also sharpened the image up a little.

 

This is the initial result. Now if you did that to a jpeg file, if its a lovely bright image like this where your camera and lens are not maxed out then it would be fine but if your camera is working pretty hard to get the light right and your ISO is high then editing your image may well leave it looking pretty grainy.

 

So what do you think? Have a play with it, see what you can do. Thats the brilliant brilliant thing about digital photography…you can just keep on trying without having to pay to develop a truck load of film.

Let me know how you get on.

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Composition #dadarazzi #photography101

This week instead of covering another technical aspect of your camera I though i would focus on a more artistic look at how we can make our pictures look desirable to the human eye.

Just before i start actually though, thanks so much for all your lovely feedback about these posts. The biggest thrill i get is that people say they are going to go and have a go with their camera. That is my aim. Not to come across as a big know it all camera person. Because I am so not. But just to encourage parents to get out there and capture life as it happens in their families. Like the Fool did last week, experimenting with shutter. This week im re-naming my mamarazzi as dadrazzi in his honour 🙂

Anyway..so this week its all about composition. What is it that makes you look at an image and go WOW.

As photographer we can control what the viewer sees in our image. That can be by using things like shutter/aperture and manipulating the light..but also how we present the image is important. Where is the eye drawn to in an image? How is it all coming together.

Here are a few basic ‘rules’ you can follow.

Leading Lines

This principle is based on leading your viewers eye to what you want them to focus on by the use of lines in an image. They don’t need to be straight, just needs to be something that ‘lures’ the eye to the object of interest.

Here are some examples..

you can use so many different things as leading lines..here are some train tracks…

or something simple like a path

doesnt have to be just for kids either..you can use leading lines for anything you want to draw attention to.

fences are really good for leading lines, especially for portraits. get your subject to lean in to wall and then you do the same and shoot 😉

can even be something like a shadow

Frame it up

Im not talking about putting your picture in a frame on your mantel. Although we ALL probably need to do more of that and give our crippled hard drives a break from storing all those images that never get seen! But no what im talking about is using an element in your scence to provide a natural border that draws attention where you want it. You can use anything from the outline of a door or window to a row of trees of cluster of bushes. Basically anything that surrounds your subject will pack a punch.

Look for negative

Not as in, think negatively, but as in think about the power of negative space in your image…nothingness. It really can pack a huge punch. It means an area of your image that has no visual content in it. Intentionally leaving some empty space around your subject can make a huge impact. Works well when following the rule of thirds…

and lastly – for now…

Get off Kilter

So you think that you always have to have your subjects standing up straight and all your horizons level. Well sometimes its good to mix it up a bit and shoot on an angle. A tilted photo can add visual interest to your scene. The thing is to make your slant obviously intentional and not so awkward that your subject seems to be sliding out of the frame. Similarly, incorporating diagonal lines to your photo can aid the eye in moving across the image, giving your image energy.

Here are some examples..

So there are a few pointers, see what you think and if you fancy giving it a go, do let me know how you get on.

 

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The mobility of sleep #motivationalmonday #themondayclub

We have, in our family, five little people. That may be somewhat obvious by the the title of my blog. 😉

So it stands to reason that we have had five newborns, had to go through many many months of dodgy sleep patterns, some no sleep patterns and who the heck cares i just want to lie down sleep patterns.

We went for the pic’n mix approach to sleep. Broadly that meant going with whatever works, results in the greatest amount of sleep and once there was more than one little person in the house, resulted in the fewest amount of awakees.  Over the years we have probably dabbled in all the various ‘theories’ but ultimately it comes back to…a default. Go with what gives us the most sleep. Whether thats having a newborn like the princess and the pea inbetween us on our bed or having a 10 year old who has had a bad dream sleep top to toe with us for the night. It all just works out.

I know there are people who get s-t-r-u-n-g out by the thought of a disruptive night, we are a bit different, well i am anyway. Our four year old has been coming into our bed for about 18 months now, every night, without fail. Got to the point when I was almost saying ‘well done’ to her when she managed to get into our bed without waking anyone up!! I never thought i would be one of those people who could sleep inter-linked with someone else. But its amazing what you adapt to 😉

She has pretty much stopped doing it now, i knew she would eventually. There has been points recently where i have had moments where i kind of miss it just a little bit. Maybe a sign that they are growing up and cuddles in bed are becoming far too babyish. *sniff*

I think over the years i have grown less fond of sleep. I find it a bit of a drag. Like there is something else i could be doing…don’t get me wrong those few minutes before you get up are agony, clinging to the mist of dreams, beaten by forthcoming consciousness normally with the help of a baby shaped alarm clock. But there are times when although really i know that i should be asleep that im busy doing something else, robbing my body of its down time as each extra hour of being ‘up’ without the kids means i can just get one.more.thing done.

In our house at least sleep patterns have been fluid..changing with the times, the ages of the kids and the stages they are at. The ultimate goal is everyone in their own bed for the entire night. When that does happen there is a little ‘holy grail’ feeling about it.

But when it doesn’t it isnt the end of the world either.

What about you, how mobile is your sleep?

On this beautiful bank holiday monday I have yet another beautiful box of sunshine from the awesomeness that is LUSH to giveaway. Please follow the instructions on the rafflecopter and don’t forget to check out my lovely friend Pinkoddy and co-host of motivational monday as she has some giveaways going on too.

The winner of the Lego dictionary is Sally Poole. Congratulations and please contact me to claim your prize!!

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Motivational Monday   Spring Carnival themondayclub  



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