I hate Spring...

but it sure is pretty. Why do I hate Spring, you ask?

Because I sneeze about 248 times a day. Seriously, my allergies are killin' me. It's even too bad for the Neti pot. I've taken Zyrtec and Claritin. And Flonase. Someone out there have a secret weapon? Please???

I am sick today and therefore did not even step one toe outside until this evening, when I went to gather some sanity in my garden. Have I ever told you how much I love my garden?? Yesterday we prepped for planting in a couple weeks. We picked the fruits of my some of my labors from last October. I had no idea if these things would actually pop up but they did and it's awesome to have a spring garden. I'm going to make it a new tradition!


So this is what our garden looks like now. Weedless, (almost) and bare. A fresh start. This year's garden will include sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloup, casaba melon, butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, cabbage, strawberries, grapes, cilantro, basil, and hopefully some stuff off of our trees (peach, plum, apricot, pear, pomegranate). Mmmmm...It's almost worth enduring the heat of summer for.


I love having fresh flowers in the house. This was from a couple weeks ago before my allergies went insane and i was able to tolerate them inside. I love how kids simply see a flower as a flower. Whether it's a weed or a blossom, to them there's one simple fact...it looks pretty so lets pick it and take it to Mommy. Here they tore off some of the honeysuckle vines and brought them in for me. So cute.

These bright red Geraniums completely clash with m kitchen. I love them.

And they rest are just boring ol' pictures from the garden. But they are so pretty, no?

What do YOU love/hate about Spring??

Catchup and a Lesson 4

I was gone for 5 days (see here) and spring came.

What the heck! When I left it was cold, blustery, and cloudy. Then I returned to this.

It's SO stinking pretty. This is all in my backyard, too! Plum trees and peach tree, to be exact. Just looking at these pictures makes me have to sneeze. UH. My allergies have been seriously wicked. And I do NOT look cute when I have allergies. I look like a WEIIIRRRDOOO. Plus I sneeze about 500 times a day and people look at me like I'm contagious. But I have been using a little device that has made my life SOOO much better and I have to tell you about it, just in case you suffer like I do. It's called the Neti pot and it looks like this:

http://www.herbspro.com/images/productImg/Neti-Pot-Ceramic-60135.jpg

Yeah, you stick that little nozzle up your nose hole and tip your head to the side and the saline comes out the other side. And it's weird. For probably the first 5 times you use it. Then it's like heroine and you can't go to bed without flushing your nasal cavities. Anyway, I have some generic brand called "Nasal Cleansing Pot" so I don't think it matters which you get. But if you have a cold or allergies, try it! Then let me know how it turned out (you'll be thanking me)

It doesn't get green in Southern California very much but this year we've had a decent amount of rain. So this spring we are enjoying beautiful fields of green where there's normally only tumble-weed dust bowls. Behind my in-law's house there's one of these said fields and I went out to take pictures of my kids/nieces/nephews the other evening. The lighting was gorgeous and they had the best time pretending like they were animals playing in the wilderness and hiding from each other. It reminded me of when I was a kid. And I was a bit melancholy for the days I used to run across the field that divided my house from my best friend's house in bare feet and play until the sun was completely gone and I'd hear my mom calling me in. So I stayed and let them play until it was dark and cold and then we had to come in.
But this leads me to my lesson on the shots most people love and those are sun-flare shots. I have no idea if you can get something similar from a p&s camera. I've never tried. I don't think you can. But shooting into the sun is one of my favorite things to do because you get such varied results. Plus it adds character to your pictures and helps to capture the feel of the moment more. Here are some recent sun flare shots I love:








( I LOVE this shot even though it's not something someone else would look at and think was really great. But because of what was happening. Nolan was trying to get on this big ball and kept falling off. Carter thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen and was laughing hysterically. You can see Nolan's feet at the bottom there. They are always making each other laugh.)

So here's my best lesson on getting good sunflare shots with your DSLR. Before you start, decide what look you want the picture to look like. Depending on how much flare you want, open or close your aperture. The more closed (higher number, right?), the more it will look like a sunburst, or like a star. The more open and it will look like a blob of sun (like in my pics. I like to shoot wide open). Also if you want more in focus, close it up. If you want more of a background blur, open it.
It is said that you usually get the best flare with a cheap lens, which is a good thing if that's all you have.
Your camera will most likely have a hard time focusing on someone when the sun is blaring through your lens. Use your hand to block out the sun, focus, then remove your hand.
Overexpose. Usually quite a bit.
Move around very slightly and take a lot of pictures. Move so the sun is peeking out from behind the person's head then move a little more so something else is kindof in the way (like a tree branch), then so it's at the top of your frame. Just try a lot of different positions.
Never look at the sun (shut up, I know I'm not your mother)

And there you have it. I have never used a reflector for sun flare shots but I know some people do. Plus I know of one photographer who wears white to her shoots and lets her shirt act as a reflector. I still haven't tried that one.

Finally, practice a lot. It's taken me a while. But I love the look.

Good luck!

The Little Red Chair

If there's one thing I really, really hate...it's clutter.
My house is tiny and therefore clutter will not be tolerated.
At the end of every day I pick up my house and clear it of clutter.
At least once a month or so I de-clutter closets, drawers and cupboards/cabinets.
I LOVE storage bins/canisters. I have them everywhere.
So I consider my house pretty uncluttered.
Until I read the Bearnstain bears book with my kids about "too much stuff", I think it was. Then it got me thinking. And as I started on a de-clutter rage a couple weeks ago I came across this old chair and thought...why the crud do we have this thing? I picked it up off the side of the road like 3 years ago, fixed it and painted it and my kids never use it. (it was intended to be a "time-out" chair and turned out to be too fun) Plus we have TWO rocking chairs and the new one (gifted) is MUCH nicer than this one. You can see my reasoning.
So when they weren't looking I very discreetly snuck it out to the "curb" (*we have no curb- just pavement) I had set out a few other things from the garage that morning that took no more than 15 minutes to get picked up. I thought I was in the clear.
We did our normal afternoon routine- lunch, nap, movie...and I didn't think about the little red chair again. I was patting myself on the back and happy thinking that thing was LONG gone. Ah...de-cluttered. What a blissful feeling.
Until the kids went to play outside before dinner.
And it was still there. By the curb. I tried my HARDEST to explain why it was there and how life was going to be so much better without that chair (and it was going to improve someone else's life to have it!).
And I was stubborn. There was NO WAY that chair was coming back inside.
Then I saw Carter standing by the fence, just looking at it.
"He'll get over it. It's just a chair" I thought.
I thought he'd get distracted and go play. But he just stood there looking at it like he was going to lose a piece of his heart.
And all the sudden......I gave in.
I told him if he really wanted it, he could keep the (unnecessary) chair.
We pulled the chair back to our side of the fence. Back away from the dangers of the world. It was his again.
And he sat and rocked in it and was happy.



WHY must it always be so hard to give in?

Lesson 3- understanding lenses

Is everyone bored to death by now? I sure hope not.
Here's a quick post on lenses. While a good camera body is seriously important in what your pics turn out like, what you mount on that body is equally as important (or more!). Now, like I said before, its up to you how awesome you really want your pictures to look, what's in your budget, what you'll be using your camera for, lalala...Most people won't be able to tell a huge difference between a lesser DSLR and lens and a professional body and lens. I can and anyone with experience can as well. So here we go with lenses....
There are a few classifications you need to know:
Superwide angle lenses
Wide-angle lenses
Normal range lenses
Telephoto lenses
Macro lenses
These are your basics and here's the cliff's notes on each one. (btw, each of these kindof overlaps the next and depends on the size of your sensor- whether it's cropped or not. So there's no definite boundaries.) Superwide are like a fisheye lens. They are popular when you are trying to catch a group of people (like at a wedding) but really distort the image and gives it almost a swirled effect. So you certainly don't want to use this for portraits or people will look really weird.
Wide-angle lenses are in the range of about 18-50 on a lens. It means you'll capture a lot of picture with that lens. Imagine you want to take a picture of the Teton mountains with the snake river and all the pretty scenery. You'll want a wide-angle lens for that to get it all in there. If you don't have a wide-angle lens you'll just have to hop in the car and drive further away to get it all in the picture.
Normal-range lenses are kindof like how we see things with our eyes. My 50mm lens is like this on my un-cropped sensor. If I put my camera up to my eye it looks like what I see without the camera. Now on my cropped sensor it looks closer up than what I see with my eye-almost like it's zoomed in. The range of these is ABOUT 40-70mm.
Telephoto lenses are those longer lenses and they go from about 85-300 or more. These are what you want to take on an African safari so it seems like you were right next to the lions but really you were far away. Or a sports game. Or if you don't want your kids to see you and you can take some candid pics. But be prepared to be sitting across the yard because any closer and you'll be getting some sweet nostril shots.
Finally, macro lenses are special because they can focus SUPER close-up. All lenses have a certain distance they can focus at and marco's blow them out of the water. You want to use these to take pics of bugs or hairs on bugs. They are also good for food pics and to show textures and things in food.
There are two ore classifications of lenses you MUST know before you fall asleep and they are 1) zoom lenses and 2)prime lenses. Prime lenses do not zoom. This is really weird for people who have grown up with a p&s because it's hard to fathom not being able to zoom in on the camera. Some people love them and some aren't so big on them. They certainly take more work and you have to move a lot more because if you want to zoom out, you have to walk away from your subject. And vice versa. Obviously. But they are sharper. So there's the pros and cons. I have one zoom lens and one prime and I like both of them. You'll have to try them both out before making your decision.
Okay, I think that's it. In response to Michelle's question about a good all-over lens, it really depends on what you want to capture. Get a wider-angle lens for a vacation. Get a 50mm prime or 85mm prime for a great portrait lens. Get a telephoto so you can feel like a super-spy. Plus they look really cool and in Canon's line go white when they are especially expensive. Ooohhh.....Ahhhh.....
Hope that wasn't too painful!

Lunch Today

I've been noticing, not by really trying, that most of my lunches are vegetarian. And I have LOVED it. Like today's lunch of roasted veges. They were amazing. So amazing that I had to take a picture and put it on here with the recipe. And I might have eaten 1/2 of a cookie sheet full.
Doesn't this just make you drool??


Here's what I did...
Cut up cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, red pepper, and onion and coated in a large bowl first in a little water. Added EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil) and tosses. Spread on foil-lined and greased cookie sheet and sprinkled with dried basil and a bit of dried parsley, pepper and natural salt. Roasted uncovered 375 for 45 minutes, stirring a bit 1/2 way through. When done sprinkle with parmesan cheese and put back in the oven for a minute or two. HHHHHHOOllllyyyy moley. You'll ♥ it.

YAY!- and LESSON TWO

Okay, I'm really glad everyone liked that lesson one-- minus you, Mom. I had a feeling you wouldn't get the picture (*snicker...snort) (okay, we all know I'm a dork)
I'm going to clarify a couple things in lesson two about cameras, what a DSLR is and what makes it better and what you should look for and....whatever else I throw in there.
Here we GO!
A DSLR is different than a typical point and shoot camera because you have different lenses that you attach to the body. (btw, the "D" in DSLR simply means "digital" instead of "film") Here's an example of a "body".

I'm not going to bore you with the details of how the camera body actually works, just know it involves a mirror (you see in there), a prism, and a sensor. Once a picture is taken you can see it on the back LCD just like your point and shoot (from here referred to ps, not to be confused with P.O.S) to see if you got a good picture.
The lenses attach to the front there simply by aligning the red or white dots on the body there with the red or white one on the lens, depending on which lens you use, and twisting until it clicks in place. No sweat.
You want to protect this opening as much as you can- either always have a lens on or the cover. Change lenses as quickly as you can and preferably indoors to prevent dust and crud from settling on the inside and on your sensor, which can show up on your pics sometimes. Luckily, most DSLRs now come with "sensor cleaning", which means that when you turn the camera off, the sensor shakes a bit (you can't feel/hear it) and attempts to shake off any dust that could have settled. My better camera (Canon 5D) is an older model and doesn't have this and therefore, I have to clean it every once-in-a-while, which totally scares the crud out of me every time. So sensor cleaning is a good thing to have, although not completely necessary.
Now there's always a strange snootiness that goes on with Canon and Nikon users- each usually thinks that whatever they have is the best and is willing to defend their decision with violence, if necessary. Lemme explain about this...Canon and Nikon are neck-and-neck when it comes to cameras.
Like Honda and Toyota when it comes to cars.
Like Breyer's and Dreyer's when it comes to ice cream.
Like McDonald's and Taco Bell when it comes to nastiness.
Like Paris Hilton and Robert Pattinson when it comes to over-ratedness.
Get the idea? Each just has different settings and features but they both do the same thing. In my opinion, I wish I could combine the two. Canon usually has better color. Nikon usually has more frames/second. Canon has an awesome array of lenses. Nikon has a better focusing system. Nikons are a bit more expensive.
So which to get? Do your research and see which you think you'd like better. Or go to a camera store and hold them (think Fry's) and have them show you the ropes. Or if you know someone who is nice enough to let you come over and try it, great! For a beginner I recommend the Canon Rebel model XSi or up. There are a bunch of Rebel models and I think they progress like this: Rebel XS, Rebel XTi, Rebel XSi, and the newest Rebel T1i. Each jumps up in megapixels and the bodies also change. The Rebel XSi is a great little camera, user friendly, large and bright LCD screen, has lots of automatic settings if you are too wussy to use the manual ones, and is 12.2 megapixels. Basically that translates to larger files, which means you may want to think about an external hard drive to store pics on if you shoot in the largest file size (you can choose smaller files if you want so they don't take up so much room). But the good thing is that if you want to make larger prints they come out nice and crisp. I have NO idea what the Nikon equivalent is to this camera and don't really care because I got this one and loved it. I'm sure the Nikon is lovely.
Unless you get a "professional" camera, your DSLR will be a "crop" camera, which means that the sensor is smaller and therefore results in a bit of a "crop" or smaller picture for a particular lens than you would get if you strapped that same lens on a "full frame" camera (which is considered "professional". The only reason this would be an asset is if you are using a long zoomy lens (think wildlife pics) then you can actually see further with that lens than if it were on a full-frame camera. But unless you want to go pro, a crop camera is just grand and you'll never feel deprived. Now that I have a full-frame camera, thinking of going back to a crop camera makes me squirm. But if you don't know any better, you won't be disappointed :)
So you need to figure out what exactly you want to use your camera for when you go looking for one...if you want it for shooting sports pics, birds in flight, wildlife on the move...you may want to look for a camera with more fps, or frames per second. When you get your first DSLR, 3 may seem like way more than you'll need, but if you want to get great action shots 5-8 may be more like it. Some Nikons can get 8fps with a battery grip, which is a battery pack that attaches to the camera and holds 2 batteries at once (btw, 8 fps is CRAZY fast and you can hardly push the button without taking 2 at a time. Way too fast for me) The Canon 50D gets 5, i believe. Don't quote me.
In the way of nicer Canon cameras it starts with the 10D and works its way up as follows...20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, 5d, 7D, 5DMark II and then all these 1D cameras that I don't know much about. The 7D is new and I haven't used it. Its a crop sensor and therefore not considered "professional" but it has more megapixels (18) than the 5d, which is a full-frame camera and it shoots 8fps. I have the 5D and love, love, love it. The 5D Mark II is am amazing camera which also includes high-definition video. The 7D and the Rebel T1i also have video, but honestly, i don't know much about that. I just stick to the photography side.
So there are a few things you a going to need along with your camera...a bag, memory cards (SD or CF depending on your camera) and UV filter that fits your lens to protect the glass. Don't forget to take these things into account when adding up how much you can spend on the camera.
People ask me what I would recommend to a beginner and here's what I have decided I would have gotten back then, knowing what I know now. For someone who just wants good pictures of their kids and wants to use a DSLR, I would look for a Rebel Xsi body WITHOUT the lenses that normally come with it in a "kit". Kit lenses are usually not very good. One lens you will love as a good portrait lens and a GREAT indoor lens (wide-open aperture!) is the 50mm f/1.8 lens. Its about $100, which is SERIOUSLY cheap for a lens. I have the better 50mm lens which opens up (smaller number, wider opening, remember?) to f/1.4 but I've heard a lot of good stuff about the 50mm f/1.8
The Rebel Xsi body will cost you about $485 on Amazon.com. (If you wanted the lens that comes with that camera (18-55 f/3.5-5.6) you could just find it on craigslist or something because everyone wants to sell it because it's not very good.) If the investment makes you cringe, I TOTALLY know what you are feeling. It's HARD to dish out that much money for a camera (and even harder to get your hubby on board). If you learn to use it and use it often, you will love it and be happy you made the investment.
WHEW! We made it through lesson 2. And just because I loved this picture, here's my little guy eating Ramen Noodles.

Taken with 50mm lens. Camera settings ISO 1000, f/1.4, 1/640

Me on a Soapbox and...LESSON ONE.

*disclaimer- this is LOOOONNNGG. I'm sorry. Read until you fall asleep and pick it back up after your afternoon Diet Coke.

First and foremost...I think every mom should have and know how to use a good camera (a DSLR...keep reading).
I think we deserve to catch the moments we want in the ways we want. Seriously, it's our WORK.
We work hard.
I work hard.
And I want to document it.
I invest a butt-load of time on my kids. I take my pictures for ME.
It's a short ride with these darling little pipsqueaks and I don't want to look back at my pictures in 20 years and think "EEHHH!" and have the best pictures I have of my kids be of them in some stiff studio pose with their hand perfectly under their chin and head tilted just right. I'm not going to be saying at that time, "Oh, I love how my little girl always laid just like that on her tummy with her head cocked to the side and her feet crossed behind her. That was just like her."
It will be a cute picture with almost zilch personality. Basically, this is what your face looked like when you were 4, honey.
This is what drove me to photography. I wanted to escape that stinking HOT JCPenny studio with my 20 minutes of allotted time with some teenager rolling her tongue obnoxiously (think the highest pitch "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!" you can) and trying to make my kid smile by tickling his nose with a pink feather duster. ECHHHH. And then she'd miss the smile EVERY TIME. I wanted to go, "JUST GIVE ME THE DANG CAMERA AND GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Seriously.
Can you get more torturous? No wonder I was a stressed-out, sweaty, disgusting mess by the time we left. No wonder the baby hated it and cried and had a red face for every picture.

Using a DSLR really doesn't take that long to get used to and you'll love the pictures you get. I'm going to do my best to convince you to get one (and I don't even work for a camera company!)
I ***HATED*** the crappy pictures I would get from my p&s. It drove me to get my first DSLR. It's a great investment.

*note- from here on in the post is all about using a DSLR. If you have NO interest in this, even after reading my soapbox section, stop here :)

Alright- the responses for photography 101 were kind of pitiful. But nevertheless, here I go...
The first thing you need to know about using a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera is that its kind of like playing a game. The goal of the game is to have a good picture. What makes a good picture? One that isn't too dark or light (and then the creative elements, which we'll get to later). This was the weirdest thing for me to get used to- that I had to manipulate my camera to get a good "exposure". I would want to catch a moment and quickly pick up my camera a shoot away then look at the pictures in the play-back and they were all pitch black.
All little point and shoot (ps) cameras do the calculating for you. They take into account all the light coming through the lens and calculate what settings it needs to use to get a good exposure. Most SLR cameras have both automatic settings (like sports, portrait, macro...) and manual settings, where you manipulate the settings to get the exposure you want. There are three of these "settings". They are:
1) shutter speed
2) aperture
3) ISO
If you want to learn photography, learn these things and learn them well. Understanding what they do and how they affect how your photo will come out is crucial. (for a great book check out "understanding exposure".)
So first we will tackle...hmm...I guess we'll go with shutter speed.
All three of these things make up the formula for a properly exposed photo. If you change one you are going to have to change another. Shutter speed is how long your shutter opens to let the light fall on the sensor. It is expressed in fractions of seconds like 1/125th of a second. Or 1/8000 of a second (or anywhere in between). Or it can be opened for 1-30 seconds. When it's open longer, like 1/125 rather than 1/250, it lets in more light. If its open too long you'll get a "blown out" or over-exposed picture. Sometimes it's just completely white. Not a good picture. If its open too short you get a dark or black picture. Yuck. And then your moment is lost. And no one likes that. BUT you can also use shutter speed to convey motion. Opening the shutter longer results in blur if something is in motion. Opening it a very short amount of time (as in 1/500) freezes motion. Here are two examples, properly exposed but using different shutter speeds.
Here the shutter is open longer, resulting in blur as I moved the camera along with the movement of her swing (called "panning"). This was taken at 1/60 of a second.

Here she was still moving but the shutter froze the motion and I didn't move the camera while shooting. This was taken at 1/500 of a second.

Get the difference?
K, let's move along to aperture. You've probably noticed the pictures you take with your p&s don't have that beautiful background blur which sets DSLRs apart. The aperture refers to the size of the hole letting the light hit the censor. Depending on the lens you use, your aperture can either open way UP (a SMALL number, like 1.4), letting in LOTS of light, or narrow way down (a large number, like 22), letting in a little bit of CONCENTRATED light . Think of it like your eyes when you squint cuz you aren't wearing your glasses. The more you squint, the more the light is concentrated on your "censor" and you can see clearer from you to wherever you are looking. If I was going to take a picture of the beautiful mountains with the orange groves in front and wanted it all in focus, I would choose a small aperture (written as an f-stop like f/22) to get everything in focus. This is what most p&s cameras do. Then don't have wide apertures. There are several things that can affect the amount of blur, but usually if you want MORE blurred background you LOWER your aperture (or OPEN it). Here are examples:
This was taken at f/2.8, the widest this particular lens will go. LOADS of blur before and after the focus point. (btw-sorry about the sucky pics. But they get the point across)


This one was taken at f/5.0 (not as blurred before and after focus point)


And this a 9.0. (clearest front to back)


I could have gone all the way to f/22 but that gives a leetle teeny opening for light, which means the shutter has to be open longer to let in more light and the movement of my hands would result in "camera shake" and blurry pictures (ever turn off the flash on your p&s and it gives you like a little hand that's saying you'll get camera shake? that's why! the shutter will be open longer so set it down on something or put it on a tripod for the picture)
The last thing that affects your exposure is ISO. In film cameras you'd have to change your film in dark-light situations to get a decent picture. Now it takes about 2 seconds to change on your camera. Your p&s even has an ISO setting.
I once read it explained as the amount of worker bees you have working for you to gather the information the lens is seeing. The higher the number, the faster the information is gathered. That's a good thing, right?? NOPE. With a faster gathering, each pixel doesn't have the time it needs to get all the color, so your camera kindof "guesses" what some pixels should be and you get more and more grain as you get higher ISOs. I discovered this the hard way. I took a bunch of pictures of my sister-in-law at ISO 800 and got them on the computer and was like, 'WHAT THA!!" because they were unclear. So the lower the ISO (100 is good), the better. But then you have less worker bees and therefore have to have a slower shutter speed or a wide open aperture (or both!) to let enough light in to make a good exposure. And sometimes that slower shutter speed (usually anything under 1/100 of a second) will give you camera shake. So you have to make the decision of what to do- up the ISO or open up the aperture (or add light-use flash, open a door/window...)
Making a good exposure balances all these things. The picture of my neice with on the swing with the blur was taken at a f/13 and ISO 100 because I had so much light coming in because of the longer shutter speed that I had to narrow the aperture and lower the ISO. The other picture of her had a fast shutter speed=less light=open the aperture (f/3.2) and up the ISO to 200. Each lighting situation has a different formula. But as long as you are in the same lighting (like shade or indoors or bright light) you can just shoot without changing your settings. But once you go indoors from being outside you'll have to change.
So that's it. Now you are a pro, right?? Oh, one more thing...your camera has a light meter inside of it which tells you pretty accurately when your shutter speed (ss), aperture, and ISO are making good exposures. It's not just trial and error. You can see when looking through the viewfinder (yes, old-school style) if it's going to be over or under-exposed and then you can fix it from there. So you aren't completely on your own.
Good luck. Let me know what you think. Shall we continue to lesson 2??