Summer Photo Project

This is my Texture photo.

Summer Photo Project--Summer Rain

A couple more, taken July 4, 2008.

Saturday Sky

Because the sky looked like this all weekend, though it never really rained hard, it gave me good excuse to stay indoors and knit. I got some 20 something rounds done on my Rona shawl. I'd finished the first nutkin sock several days ago, but am just now getting around to posting a picture of it. I haven't cast on the second one yet.

I also got this in the mail:

Sock yarn in what is supposed to be Dallas Cowboys colors. Chestnut Bay Fibers is starting a sock club in sports team colors. When I mentioned that a sock club would not be the best thing for me, she offered to dye some Dallas Cowboys sock yarn as a special order. I hadn't really intended to order any, but something in our conversation she took as just that. Once she'd actually dyed the yarn, I sort of felt obligated to buy it. It looks better in person, but there is too much white in the yarn. Still, it's not bad yarn.

Despite the rain, I did manage to get out and take a couple more photos for the Summer Photography challenge.

Summer Rain



Farm Animal



And Red Button

In the Strange Dream Department: I dreamed last night that I went to work in a t-shirt and shoes. That's it. No pants. No underpants. I kept wondering why they didn't send me home, but it appeared that nobody even noticed.

Sheesh...
.
.

Saturday Sky

The same flower as the other day, but I re-photographed it with a more pleasing crop.

And we have sock progress to show off as well:

I am past the heel turn and working on the gusset decreases. I did modify the pattern by substituting an eye of partridge heel instead of the short row heel.

Summer Photo Project Topic: Face

The list never specified whose face it had to be, so I chose Monty.

I tried to get Onyx's face, but he wouldn't be still. You know, Dr. Phil says that the only reason we give children middle names is to that they'll know when they're really in trouble. The only snake I have with a middle name is Onyx.

He's the only one who needs one.

.

Summer Has Begun

Summer has begun, and so has Summer Of Socks. I cast on my Nutkin and finished one pattern repeat. So far, everything I've heard about this pattern has been found to be true. The cast on is very fiddly, but looks nice once it's done. The pattern is really easy to memorize. In fact, after the first few rows, I no longer even needed to look at the chart.

The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Sugar Maple colorway.

The Rona shawl is coming along, though slowly.
It'll be hard to take good pictures of it until it's done, because it'll be bunched up on the needles.

I've also gotten a bit of work done on the latest scarf. I like the way the yarn is striping.

I'll be sending this one off to Scarves From The Heart when it is done.

A funny thing happened when I got home from work. As soon as I got into the house, the bottom dropped out and it poured rain.

But only for about 10 minutes. Then the clouds broke up and my Saturday Sky looked much more cheerful.

So I got out and took a picture of a day lily.


This picture was harder to get than I though it would be. Reason being--I am short, and these lilies are tall. Most of them were taller than I am. I did find this one squatty one. Now that the sun is down, the flower is dead, but it is immortalized forever in film--or .jpg as the case may be.

These last three pictures will also be posted on the Summer Photo Project blog.

Summer Photo Project Challenge #1

Photographer's Choice

Since we started the project a bit early, we are going to mark the official start of summer with our first photo challenge. To kind of get us into the swing of things without too much stress, our first challenge will be Photographer's Choice. Go out and take a picture of whatever catches your eye, whether it is on your list or not.

Ah, but there is a catch. You knew there had to be one, didn't you? I couldn't let you off that easy now, could I?

So what is the catch? Just this: instead of running out into the yard and snapping a picture of the dog or the garden gnome and saying you're done, I want you to think about your picture. Really think. How can I make this a better shot? How can I make this picture more pleasing to the eye? Use your rules of composition, your depth of field, and your exposure triangle to take, not just a shapshot of Uncle Fred, but a portrait.

Now I know that many of you have the rules of composition down, but for those of you unfamiliar with them, I will summarize them. For further review, an in depth article can be found here.

The first rule of composition is: Get Closer. When I was in the Navy, i went to one of my schools in Orlando, Fl. While there, I briefly dated a guy I'll call Randy. One weekend, Randy and I went to Disneyworld. While walking through the Magic Kingdom, Randy said, "Sit down on that bench and I'll take your picture."

I sat down and Randy promptly turned and walked to the other side of the park. Ok, I exaggerate, but he did walk at least 50 yards away. That's yards, not feet.

"What are you going to take a picture of?" I yelled. I had to yell because he was so far away, he wouldn't have heard me otherwise. "You won't even be able to see me from that far away. Come closer."

Randy took a couple of steps closer.

"Come closer than that!" I yelled, and Randy took a few more steps towards me.

"Closer!!!" I called again.

"What do you want me to do?" Randy yelled back. "Stand on top of you to take the #@*& picture?"

I gave in and let him take the picture he wanted to take. This is the result:

It's an --eh--picture, but not really a great one. I don't know why people think they need to take a picture from 1/2 mile away, but it is one of the most common mistakes beginning photographers make. How much better this photo would have been had Randy gotten close enough. (I employed a little creative cropping to get this image--thus the poor quality.)

To get even closer to your subject, don't be afraid to turn your camera sideways:

While you are getting closer, don't forget to check your background. Is it cluttered? Is there a light pole growing out of Aunt Rosemary's head? Are there Spongebob eyes peering over the Miller Lite monster's shoulder? That actually looks kind of cool, but in a nice portrait, the only eyes you want to see are that of your subject(s).

Rule #2: The Rule Of Thirds. Divide your photo area in to thirds, both horizontally and vertically. If you have a horizontal plane in your photo, place it along one of the horizontal lines. If you have a vertical object, place it along one of the vertical lines. For a single object, place it at the intersection of two of the lines. For some reason, the lower left intersection seems to be my favorite, as in this picture of blueberries:

Now, I'm not saying you should measure and divide your photo. Just eyeball it and you'll be close enough.

Rule # 3: Diagonals. Positioning your subject diagonally across the photo is also a pleasing composition. Notice in this picture of the polar bear and the picture taker:

the diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right. (Not to blow my own horn, but this has got to be my very favorite picture I ever took.)

Rule #4: Depth of Field. If your camera has a setting in which you can change the aperture, just remember, the smaller the aperture number, the smaller the depth of field. I can get into a long, boring explanation of focal lengths and whatnot, but really that's all you need to know. Why is depth of field important. The picture of the moth I posted yesterday, how cluttered would it have looked had all the details of my front yard been in sharp focus?

Now in some cases, you may want a greater depth of field. In that case, set your aperture to a bigger number.

These are enough to get you started. If you want to read about this subject in greater detail, there are many online photography sites to help you. The Morguefile site that I linked above has some great articles. Do go and check them out.

Summer Photo Project

Enough people have shown interest that I will set up a group blog for this. If you want to join, please send me your e-mail address so I can send you an invite. I'll try to get it set up this weekend. If you don't want to fool with the group blog thing, you are still welcome to participate and post to your own blog.

As of today, there is a link to The List in my left sidebar. It'll be there until the completion of the project.