i heart faces

I ♥ Heart Faces is a fun blog that has a weekly photo contest. This week the contest is Sports in Action. Here's one of the boy from this past week's baseball tournament. Look at that determination! If you want the details, leave a comment and let me know.

fantastic giveaway!

So, you've heard my blog before about Catching Fireflies. When we lived in Royal Oak I would visit the Berkley store and after we moved to Lake Orion I would hit the Rochester store. Now that I'm in New York, I have to visit the blog and site but, I still get my Catching Fireflies fix and am hoping to make a stop on my trip to MI this summer.

But Catching Fireflies is seriously a great gift store. I can always find just the right thing when I head on over there. Right now April is offering a fabulous giveaway.



Now that summer is in full swing, we've got some great ways to stay refreshed on steamy evenings... 500 smoothies & juices recipe book, funny cocktail napkins, an amusing gurgle pot and ice kabobs ($70.35 value!) Head on over to the blog for all the details and good luck!

just one shot

Sometimes, all you need is one shot. We took a day trip into Philly and as we were walking into Betsy Ross's home, my son pointed out, "That's a big tree." As I was walking, I looked up, snapped the picture and walked in the house.



Fuji FinePix F50fd
Shutter Speed: 1/90 s
Exposure Program: Normal Program
F-Stop: f 2.8
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 8.0 mm (35 mm)
Flash: Fired

Looking back over the photos from the trip, I enjoyed this one. I thought the angle of shooting up into the tree made it look large and looming. I also incorporated the rule of thirds in this image. With the rule of thirds, you imagine dividing the horizontal and vertical into thirds and placing a point of interest at one of the intersections. In this case, the trunk of the branch runs along a vertical third and then the branches run along a horizontal third.



Since I was happy with this straight out of camera crop, I wondered which I would prefer ... color or black and white. For the color, I played with the curves and for the black and white, I added a bit of a vignette. So, which do you prefer?

owego strawberry festival

The strawberries were as big as your head!



Last Friday we made our first venture to the Owego Strawberry Festival. And we had a super time. Kettle corn. Lemonade. Fresh strawberries. Jugglers and magicians. It was a nice family night. Even before we left, I had an idea of taking a photograph to make a strawberry look 'as big as your head.' And I knew just what to do.


I needed to take advantage of lens distortion. Have you seen those images where a dog's nose looks super big? Or maybe you notice that a lot of closeups that you take of your children, they look a bit off? It could be due to lens distortion. The wider your focal length and the closer you physically put the lens to the subject, you get distortion where what's closest to the lens looks larger than it really is. So, I sat the girl down, handed her a strawberry and told her to hold it at arms length in front of her. I lowered the camera so that the strawberry was in line with her face. SNAP.



See how the strawberry is blurred but the background is in focus? I realized that in order to get close enough for the distortion to play into the image, that I got so close that the camera was unable to focus. Your camera (and your lens if you have a SLR) has a minimum focusing range. If your lens is not at least that distance from the subject, the camera will not focus. So, I switched to macro mode on my camera and was able to get in closer. Usually macro mode is designated by a flower.



Okay, now I'm getting somewhere. When I had switched to macro mode, I also turned off my flash. That's because I know from past experience that I do not like the combination of macro + flash with my p&s. It tends to over expose the subject and drastically darken the background. So much that I don't like the results. But without the flash, I needed the subject to be still so I didn't get any movement blur. Since the girl has a hard time being still, I called in the boy.



Now, I had already repositioned myself so that I didn't see the green garbage can in the background, had the boy relatively still, lowered myself so that the strawberry was lined up right in front of his face and SNAP. But, bummer, see the guy walking in the background?



So, I had to take another image. This time I got what I was going for. A strawberry as big as your head (notice that the strawberry had to be held away from his face and I had to get physically close to the camera ... I was at the widest angled and moved myself in ... I did not zoom in the lens as that would not provide the distraction I was going for). Just did a quick curves adjustment in PS to pop the color, cropped and tada.




Fuji FinePix F50fd
Shutter Speed: 1/120 s
Exposure Program: Normal Program
F-Stop: f 2.8
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 8.0 mm (35 mm)
Flash: Did not fire
Macro Mode

new purpose of the blog

Okay, so I've been trying to figure out how I want to use this blog now that I don't have a photography business. I am not enough of a domestic diva to have a 'mom' type blog where I talk about how frugal I am, share recipes, and keep my kids entertained.

I am not a decorating queen and need help! Kendele, why do you have to be so far away?!?

I was thinking of trying to use the blog for some kind of online ministry but I'm just not feeling that either because I'm not sure where my gifts are.

So, what I am going to attempt to do is what I've always done. Photography. And teaching. I've decided that the RRPD of Rebecca Redman Photography and Design will now stand for RRPD meaning Rebecca Redman Photographic Diary or maybe even Photographic Diagram. Here's my thought. The blog will just be little photographic snippets into my life which should keep family and friends updated on the goings on of the Redmans in New York. And in the process, I'll try to explain how I arrived at said picture. What camera did I use. What lens. What other shots were taken in attempt to get "the" shot.

So, I'll try to poast 2-3 times a week and keep it interesting. I really enjoy reading comments so please, don't email me ... just post them here. If you have a question, just ask. And if I find the time, I'll answer.

So, let's give it a go with The Peony.

I'm realizing I'll need to do a post to introduce the two cameras I have but for now, let's just let you know that these were taken with my Fuji P&S (that's point and shoot for all not familiar with the photo lingo!)

First, the peonies were really looking beautiful so I ran out to snap a few pics before the kids showed up home from the bus:



Not bad, but closer is better so I zoomed in:



Then I remembered hearing about how photographers would place a piece of white posterboard behind flowers in the garden so I ran back in and grabbed a white piece of paper. Realizing this would be too flimsy, I grabbed the cardboard photo paper box, too. Ran back out and held it behind the flower.



Noticed that I was having a hard time getting rid of the green foliage on both sides of the peony, I zoomed in to photograph the peony off centered with just the white background. This turned out to be my favorite composition. All I did for post processing (I use Adobe Photoshop) was to clone out the line you see (that's from where the paper did not cover the cardboard box completely) and bump up the curves a bit.



Ta da. Didn't even need to crop this baby. This is an in-camera crop and I am digging it. Digging it so much I even incorporated it into my new blog header!

escalators

Thanks to my sis and BIL for turning us onto Jim Gaffigan. He's a comedian who happens to be funny without being vulgar. How's that for something new? Check out this clip on escalators and if you love that one, be sure to watch the ones on camping and bacon (which is probably my sister's favorite!)



And for all you Michigan peeps, he's performing at Meadow Brook Music Festival on August 7th. If we were still there, I think that would definitely be a date night.

an online workshop

Hey Ladies,

I just registered for this online conference, A Woman Inspired, and thought some of you might be interested too so here's the scoop:

Do you want to know how to begin and succeed in online ministry?

Join us June 8th - 11th!



Modern technology has opened up new doors of opportunity for ministry. Women who were once confined to space and time due to duties at home can now finish their tasks and sit down to a whole new mission field; one that knows no limits. It is the Internet.

How do you begin? What should your boundaries be? Must I Twitter and Facebook? If so then what are the advantages. Are these friendships that you are forming real or imagined? Do you need a blog? How can you branch out?

We have a team of ladies who are very educated in the ways of the internet and online ministry. They can show you how to begin, maintain, branch out, and even how to deal with adversity. This conference is for anyone who is ready to make a difference via the internet.

An online audio conference uses the Internet as a conference venue. What this means to you is that you will be able to access the conference from anywhere in the world using standard browser software which we provide. This software is compatible with all computers including Macs and it is provided by us, to you, with the cost of admission. All you need is a computer, internet connection, and speakers!

The conference will happen in real time but it will be recorded so if you can’t be there then you can still download the sessions to listen to at your convenience.

We are offering a free starter guide to beginning your own ministry online. Everyone who purchases a ticket between now and May 29th will receive the free e-book. Get your ticket for only $12.95! Don’t let time slip away… register now!

If you register, let me know and we can compare notes!

just needed to post

This post is short and simple. Looking back at old photographs, I ran across this series of pictures we used as a thank you for my son's kindergarten teacher. That was the year he learned to read. He sat there reading Frog and Toad and I was just amazed. Three years later and I can still find him lounging on his bed reading.

What a great gift his teacher was able to give him .. the gift of reading.

funny video

So, I've been busy painting and dying to post some pics to the blog but I need to clean up and get the "after" pics so give me a day or two. In the meantime, here's a funny video I stumbled across.

back at the blog

So, it's been 11 weeks. Have you missed me?

Wait, don't answer that. I like to live with the illusion that people actually ready and enjoy the blog.

Anywhoo, I've been thinking about this blog and what I'm going to do with it since I don't have a photography business anymore. But, I do enjoy blogging and feel like maybe I could provide something useful here. So, bear with me over the next few weeks as I try to find my voice. I'll blog about photography, my new home, my lack of motivation and organization skill at said new home, my faith, parenting, other cool blogs, fun videos ... basically anything that strikes my fancy. I'm hoping that after a bit, I'll figure out what I enjoy blogging about the most, what readers enjoy reading the most and try to narrow down the focus (no pun intended).

So, if you're reading and something I write makes any kind of impact on you, please leave a comment. That way I'll know I'm on the right track.

To start, a photography related post.

Want to take a picture of the whole world? Pretty cool but pretty impossible, too. But, we can each do our part and take a photo of our corner of the world then upload it to Earth Mosaic and let them do the hard stuff. They're coordinating this with Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22nd. Just check out their site for all the details. I'll have another post and all who have participated can share.

Earthy Mosaic

I first read about this on Photojojo which has all sorts of fun ideas for DIY projects with photos.

Oh, and I guess I need to post some picture so here's a photo of my two. The reason I'm here at this blog and not at a 9-5 job.