digital photography

Behold! I have grown something from a seed. This is quite a break from the past since I usually kill plants and seeds never sprout. So this is exciting for me. I like how the bug even showed up really well in this picture as I wasn’t sure it would.

It’s so fun to peak out into the yard. We usually catch at least one bird fluttering around. Thank goodness for the telephoto lens to be able to capture them.

Roses are so beautiful and a perfect gift for Mom. Here is a picture of my Mom’s day roses. I’m adding this photo to the category ’stock photos.’ This is where I file pictures that I’m allowing others to use on their blogs or websites. Just be sure to download the photo.

This work by Lynn Little is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

This lovely flower is called Fuchsia. It’s just one of several flowers my mom has planted this spring. I have planted a few begonias. That’s been it so far. As much as I love flowers, I would plant more.

Taking photos of flowers is so much fun. I just leave the camera on the auto settings and then touch it up in Paint Shop Pro or IrfanView. They turn out so well with such little effort from me. If only all my subjects were so easily photographed.

Sometimes our pets do the cutest things. It’s usually after the fact that we think about snapping a photo. Today my brother’s dog Skittles was introduced to the chicks. He was enthralled. We fed the chicks some bread and then stood around laughing at them. All the time Skittles sat mesmerized by the chicks. So I went and got my digital camera. When I returned, Skittles hadn’t moved a muscle.

I tried to get a photo of him licking his chops but just couldn’t time it.

I was glad to be able to capture one of those cute moments with my digital camera. Usually the mood is broken or is over by the time I have my camera in hand. But not today. Those chicks had Skittles undivided attention for a good 20 minutes. That’s like 3 hours in dog time. Very impressive indeed.

This weekend many parents will be spending it either at an egg hunt or hosting one. Last year we attended three eggs hunts. It was exhausting but a lot of fun. I snapped a lot of digital photos but still never got the picture that I wanted. This is the closest I came to how I wanted to capture the moment -

The problem with taking photos during an egg hunt is positioning yourself at the right place to get a good picture before the child finds the egg. If you make a move to an egg before the child, then you give away it’s location(although last year most of the eggs were just spread across the yard).

This year I plan to do things differently when it comes to taking pictures as an egg hunt. First I will just snap photos for the memories. Then afterward we can stage some egg findings to get that perfect shot. In the picture, I wish I had gotten more of her face. This year I will get my straight on shot even if it’s staged. It will look so good in a picture frame on the shelf.

The greatest thing about digital cameras is having a never ending ability to take pictures. No film to worry about and you can instantly review your pictures.  Since I bought my first digital camera, I take way more photos. Before film pictures were saved for special occasions. Now a blooming flower or a fluttering butterfly is enough reason for me to take a picture.

Old advertising signs always catch my attention especially when they are on the broadside of a building.  Here’s one of my favorite -

It’s so nice to take digital photos. You can capture so much that you can instantly share with others. In our town there are so many buildings that I want to photos because they are getting old and are in danger of being torn or falling down. I wanted to take this photo because I loved the advertising and the claim that Coca-cola relieves fatigue.

Paint Shop Pro is the image editing program of choice for me. It does everything I need done. Plus I took an online class a Virtual University(VU.com) that was all about Paint Shop Pro so it gave me a lot of confidence with it. Too bad I’ve forgotten most everything I’ve learned. But I do like to touch up photos. I just apply the auto settings for color saturation, brightness, and color balance.

Here’s a before picture of Lee Hall at Mississippi State University - the greatest university ever(class of 1993! woot!)

It was a cloudy day and not the best for taking photos but I really needed some of the university. Here is the same picture after doing my three adjustments in Paint Shop Pro:

The color really pops after all the few adjustments. Just a couple of automatic fixes can help those less than stellar pictures become something sensational.

Old man winter has been trying to cut into spring’s territory. Some cold weather have moved in this week - making it unpleasant to take a nature walk. But have no fear. The temperature is expected to rise significantly by the end of the week.

I think this butterfly is a painted lady. Last year we had gotten some caterpillars and watched them turn into painted ladies. So I like to think that this little guy is one of their descendants. I love taking wide photos of butterflies. How the butterfly is in focus but everything else is soft.

Hopefully the cool snap didn’t ruin spring. I’m definitely ready to take more nature pictures.