More of the Photo Shoot

Another shot of Darby...this one was taken in front of a white plastic fence and I liked the vintage look that I got.  The frame and vintage style are from CoffeeShop again.  This was really a cool frame.  You put the picture in the frame and it automatically gave it the vintage look.  I then followed a tutorial on her site about adding a duplicate layer of the texture and using soft light to lighten the image.  I like......


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Christmas word art

Worked up this Christmas word art today. I love what it has to say. Of course I like the song but these words pull on the heart strings.

Hope you enjoy.

Vintage Darby

Another shot of Darby using CoffeeShop Butterscotch Vintage plus her 2020 action.  Love these actions, just wish I knew what I was doing with them.  Hopefully, come January, I can learn to use them and PS. 

These shots were taken with my Sony G and the a700...I really miss this lens and can't wait till I can get it replaced.  The insurance check came yesterday but I'm looking for a good deal on it before I purchase.  It sales for 899.99 but I found it on Amazon the other day for 850. but didn't get it ordered in time.  They only had one in stock and it sold pretty fast.


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No Parking

Another shot that Darby and I took...I love the texture in this big old door.  I plan on going back to this spot with her in different clothes.  I can't seem to get her to wear clothes without writing on them...LOL.  I also wished I'd angled the shot but didn't think about that till I was shooting her in front of the turquoise door.  Next time, I'm thinking a yellow/orange/brown outfit and a slight tilt to the image. 

I used CoffeeShop Texture Pak1 and her Butterscotch Vintage Action.  I don't have a clue what I'm doing with these but kind of liked how the image turned out. I'll read and play some more on her blog.  Thanks for sending me the link.

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On this one, all I did was run the MCP facebook fix and then ran the Butterscotch Vintage Action. I do believe I like the last one best.  Its sharper and I like the action without the texture.

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More Flash shots

Just posting this one to show my Alphauser group the wall that my flash was sitting behind.  I do like the way this lit her hair but I needed to tone the power down on the flash more. I'm learning!  On the two previous shots, the flash was sitting on a bucket in the far corner behind that wall on her left.  The wall was solid boards and I'm guessing the flash was about 6 feet away from her and 5 feet away from me but not in view of my camera. 

In this shot the flash was on a bucket behind her body but still not in sight of the camera.  She is being lit on the front from the window on my camera left and the door directly behind me.

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Using wireless Flash

I have tried and tried to get my flash to work on my a700 but never could figure out how to get it to fire off camera.  It always worked great on the a100 but after purchasing the a700, I couldn't get it to work.  I knew there would be times when I wanted to use it when Darby and I were out.  Especially in these shots....I wanted to stir the dust up inside a barn and get a shot of Darby in the dust.  I put new batteries in my flash, put the camera flash mode on wireless and turned the flash on....nothing!  Then I got to looking at the camera more and saw this button that put the flash on either Channel 1 or Channel 2...hum....what if?  Yep, that was all it took!  Worked like a charm, even when I had the flash completely hidden from the camera.  Now, to figure out how to adjust the power.  Oh, the dust thing didn't work....couldn't keep the dust in the air long enough. 

 

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Hope you aren't getting tired of these.

Love this image.  I have about 100 more to go through and then I'll put them on a cd for her.  Which reminds me....I really should save the PS file,all I've been saving is the jpg file for the blog.  I'll regret this desision cause I always have trouble re-creating an image the same way twice. 

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Darby in Black & White

Just another shot of Darby.  This was shot in front of my red shed and her pink coat kind of clashed with the red.  So...made them both B/W.   I like these ok but they aren't my favorite shots of the day.  Believe it or not, that hair is ALL natural....she gets it from her mom.

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The Turquoise Door Revisited

We re-vistied my favorite door.  She was much braver this year....never even hesitated when I asked her to stand in front of it.  Last year, she complained about all the spider webs...LOL..

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A Vision of Beauty

Isn't she getting beautiful?  We spent the day shooting again and each time, I feel like I'm getting better at capturing her beauty.  It was a perfect high cloud day, so we didn't have to fight sunspots but did have to contend with the wind. She was happy, happy.....had to send a dozen to facebook right off the bat.

In your opinion, did I give this a slight green cast?  It had a red cast SOOC and I'm wondering if I took it too far on the green side.  I absolutely love taking pics, just hate to edit them.

We've decided that Darby is a bad luck charm....or maybe its me...or the two of us together....we had stopped right on the main drag of our small town and ran back behind a building to take a half dozen shots.  I had switched my G lens out  with my 90 mm so I wouldn't have to back up so far....in the less than 10 mins. that we were behind the building, someone opened my back door and stole the G....I was sick, mad and pissed...all at the same time.  Mainly because it was the one time all day that I forgot to lock the door and also because it was in broad daylight, on the busiest street in town and we weren't 25 yards from the vehicle.  I'll get it replaced because I have all my equipment insured but I hate to go through the whole process...reporting to police, filing the claim and then ordering....I just want to hit the person/persons who did it or better yet, run them over!  I'm so sick of the low life's in this world....

BTW....I think what you are doing on the practice blog looks great....I can't go back in there without another invitation and all I did was look and then backed out....now it says I have to have another invite.  But...I can't see much that I would change.  I just wish we could use the whole screen, instead of just down the middle.


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Betty Crocker muffins

These are the muffins I made this morning.  I've not figured out how to melt and drizzle chocolate chips and make it look good so these are not too pretty but they are heaven to eat.  Learned this recipe from a client on my route and have made them a couple times now.  I have way too much of a sweet tooth!  I'll eat desert first at a buffet so I have plenty of room to enjoy it...LOL.


Anyway, super easy to make and wonderful to eat...

Betty Crocker  Mini Chocolate Chip/Rollo Muffins


I pkg. Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie mix
24 Rollo candies
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate chips.

Prepare cookies per directions on package. Spoon into mini muffin pans.  Press a Rollo into each muffin. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes.  Remove and add 3 miniature marshmallows to top of muffins and place back in oven to 'melt' the marshmallows.  Takes around 3 minutes.
Meanwhile melt chocolate chips and then drizzle with a folk on top of the muffins.

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edited to add:  I do NOT put these in papers.  Just spray the mini muffin pans with Pam and the muffins slide right out. 

Just a few more Fall shots.

Just another shot of the red tree with an orton effect applied to it. 

And the last of the mums....all the other ones are faded down to tan.  I guess these were kind of sheltered from cold and frost.

I call these my yellow tears....not sure what the name of this plant is but its still hanging in there and as you can see, its still blooming.  This sets under the front porch roof, so its still living.  My begonia on the porch couldn't survive the cool nights but it hasn't seem to stunt this plant at all.

Just thought I'd add this shot too....since the very first post on this blog was of this shed and it was green, thought I would like to document the change in color.

All for now!

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Fall Fire...

I was so glad to get to see these trees transform into their beautiful Fall colors.  Most of our trees just dried up and dropped them but because I was literally pouring the water to this front yard to keep it green, the trees got to benefit from the moisture too.  They began their transformation one day last week and since we were 'finally' getting some much needed moisture, I decided it was time to get my shot.  Unfortunately, the breeze was just enough that they shot isn't sharp but at least I've captured their beautiful color.  Too bad the flowers underneath are a bit ragged...LOL...can't have it all! 

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Retirement Package!

I received this last week....the absolute, most wonderful, important, exciting package I have or ever will receive in my lifetime. In fact, it was so special, I thought it deserved to be framed and hung on this blog of our lives.  I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get home to open it up and examine it from front to back.  It's taken 39 years to see this day and there were times when I didn't think the day would ever get here.  But....on the other hand.....I can not believe how fast those years have flown by.  I had a lady postmaster tell me about 6 years ago, that the time would go by fast and would be here before I knew it but I was hesitant to believe her...it was easy for her to say...she was retiring the next week, I still had 6 years of work!  But, if I ran into her today, I'd let her know how right she was....the time has flown.  Now....with only 7 weeks left...I'm looking forward to this next chapter in my life.  What will it hold for me? Who knows but I hope to continue learning and living life to the fullest. I'm ready to continue this book of life.

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Subway Art......November

Subway art for November........ Enjoy!

Linked to WhipperBerry Friday Flair Link Party.