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Baby Rabies

pregnancy & parenting

  • Start Here
    • About Baby Rabies
    • Baby Registry Top Picks
    • Favorite Pregnancy Apps
  • The Book
  • Pregnancy
    • Birth Stories
    • Perinatal Mood Disorders
  • Parenthood
    • Babies
    • Toddlers
    • School Age Kids
    • Parenting LOLZ
  • Photography
    • Photography

      6 Stunning Photos You Would Never Guess Were…

      February 11, 2019

      Photography

      Simple Tips For Editing Snow Photos On Your…

      December 13, 2018

      Photography

      I Wrote A Photography eBook And This Is…

      December 6, 2018

      Photography

      Creative Lighting Ideas To Help You Take Great…

      November 27, 2018

      Photography

      Learn How To Take And Edit Photos On…

      November 19, 2018

  • Reviews
    • Reviews

      The Answer To Last Minute Holiday Gifting For…

      December 19, 2018

      Reviews

      I Was Never A Barbie Girl Until Now

      October 1, 2018

      Reviews

      Finally! Jeans For My Jean-Averse Kids!

      August 22, 2018

      Reviews

      If Your Kid Loves Dump Trucks & Garbage…

      August 13, 2018

      Reviews

      Nobody Tell My Kids ABC Mouse Is Part…

      September 4, 2017

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Thinking Out and Improving Your Photos, Plus a $450 Clickin Moms Giveaway!
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Thinking Out and Improving Your Photos, Plus a $450 Clickin Moms Giveaway!

by Jill July 25, 2012
written by Jill

I get questions every now and then about what settings I use to take my pictures and how I make them look a certain way (bright, colorful, etc.).

The truth is, I very rarely get exactly what I want straight out of camera the first click. I’m just not quite there yet, though that’s my ultimate photography goal. The good news is, in this age of digital cameras, an extra click (or 10) is not going to cost you anything in terms of film, so you can switch up your settings and keep tweaking until you get what you like.

Now, these aren’t the best pictures I’ve ever taken, just some snaps at the kitchen table, but I thought they’d make great examples to show you my thought process before I deleted them from my card.

The first 4 pics I’m going to show you, my settings were 1/160 SS, F 2.5, ISO 800. These images are all SOOC (straight out of camera).

This was the first pic I got of the series. The composition sucked, Kendall’s smack in the middle of the frame, and the box, a big part of the story I’m wanting to tell, is cut off. There’s way too much visual clutter in the background (i.e. my messy house).  Also, that large window above his head is really distracting. I knew I needed a different angle.

I got lower, focused on the box, which made Kendall blurry since my F stop was pretty wide open. I liked the effect, but there was still a lot of distracting stuff behind him.

So I stood on a chair to get a different perspective that would decrease the clutter in the background. I also felt like I could get more elements of the story in the shot with this angle. I was not happy with my exposure at this point, though. I’d finally tweaked what angle I wanted to shoot at, and had to rethink my settings. Again, I was shooting at 1/160 shutter speed, and f stop of 2.5, and an 800 ISO.

I could do 3 things to brighten up my picture (increase my exposure). I could decrease the shutter speed, open up the aperture/f stop (by making the number smaller- so confusing, I know), or increase my ISO.

I didn’t want to decrease my SS much because Kendall was in a state of motion painting, and I didn’t want his hands to appear blurry. I didn’t want to open up much wider because I was shooting very close to my subject, and the wider I opened my aperture, the more of the picture would be blurry.

So I had to increase my ISO to 1600.

Ahhh… that was better. Not so dark-cave-like. You’ll notice Kendall’s face is a little soft and his hands on the box are in focus since I was shooting at 2.5 and I focused on his hands.

Then I took it too Lightroom and did some basic edits, starting with cropping closer.

I also did a quick white balance tweak, decreased some of the noise or grain (caused by shooting with a high ISO), and ran the Clickin Moms Paparazzi Daily Edition preset on it. I love that preset for pictures that I want vibrant colors in.

Like I said, not an example of award-winning photography, just some every day snaps.  I could have used a variety of settings to achieve a similar exposure, but the results would have all been different. I was happy with this final product.

A year ago, I had no thought process when it came to taking pictures. It was all spray and pray. Every now and then, I wound up with something great, but I missed out on a lot of good shots because I just had no idea how to improve upon what I was taking.

Clickin Moms, my official Blogher 2012 Sponsor (yay!!!) made this amazing image for me, and I’m so excited to share it with you all. I never realized how far I’ve come in a year until I saw all this, side by side.

When people ask me if Clickin Moms is really worth it, I have to tell them it totally is. Yes I know, I have a business relationship with them. But, that relationship didn’t even come about until I completely fell in love with their forums, saw my photography starting to transform, and then professed my love to them. I WANT to be a part of that awesome, and I am HONORED to be working with them. It’s really a dream collaboration.

To celebrate our partnership and them sending me to Blogher this year, I am STOKED to be hosting this HUGE $450 giveaway, including:

One full participation seat in Clickin Moms’ Shooting 101: The Best Darn Beginner Course Ever, taught by the fabulously talented Lyne Rigby (Course starts Sept. 10, 2012, $300 value)
One year membership to Clickin Moms ($50 value)
$100 Gift Credit to the Clickin Moms Store

Anyone can enter to win, even if you’re not going to Blogher this year! CLICK HERE TO ENTER

I’ll be giving away some small prizes during Blogher, so keep an eye on my Twitter and Facebook pages for more details on how to win those August 1st through the 5th.

July 25, 2012 19 comments
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BornFree Sends me to #Blogher11, A Giveaway, And GLITTER!

by Jill July 27, 2011
written by Jill

It’s that time of year again, when I get to abandon my children with my husband and escape to a place where other women (thousands of them) all come together in the name of blogging and overall geekiness, dressed up with fancy parties and glitter.

It’s Blogher time.

(I can hear the collective “Ughs” now.)

Okay, I’ll try not to innundate you with all the details this year, as I get that most of my readers don’t really care. BUT, I will be forced to share with you all anything super awesome and hilarious that happens, like that time I sprayed my boobs pink last year and cried to my roomies to “GET IT OFF!”

Also, I think you’re ALL going to want to know how to win this sweet giveaway from my sponsor (for the 2nd year in a row) BornFree!

In honor of us teaming up for the conference again, they’re giving away one prize pack, valued at over $500, that includes:

1 Summer Infant Baby Touch Digital Video Monitor
1 Summer Infant Prodigy Infant Car Seat (new to the market, not available until September)
1 BornFree gift set 

Here’s the coolest part: ANYONE can win this Blogher swag, even those of you at home. Even those of you without a blog! I’ll have more details on how to enter to win next Thursday, August 4th, so stay tuned. I think we’ll also try to do some more #homeher giveaways this year for those of you on Twitter who can’t make it to Blogher.

How awesome that I get to represent them again?! We use and love their safe feeding products (and pacifiers!) more this year than ever before. BornFree bottles + momma’s breastmilk freezer stash + a daddy who can rock the single parenting thing for 5 days = a mommy who gets a much needed escape!

I leave next Wednesday and have a panic-inducing list of things to get done before then, including the following:

Get hair cut and colored for the first time since last October
Mani/pedi so I don’t cut anyone with my rough and gnarly nails
Purchase shoes coated in glitter for 2 very glitter worthy parties

In other words, Blogher has turned into an awesome excuse to finally stop looking like a troll post-baby, and possibly an excuse to dress in clothes covered in craft herpes (if you don’t get it, I promise that link is worth clicking on).

Also going down this weekend????

NEW BLOG DESIGN. Finally, finally, FINALLY. It’s been a year in the making!

It’s going to be a pretty epic couple of weeks around here, so if I’m slow to respond to an email, tweet, or comment, please forgive!

And with that, I’m off! I think I shall make it my mission to find my glitter shoes tonight. Oh yes, these will be mine. ::crosses fingers Kohls still has them in stock::

 

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July 27, 2011 11 comments
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