How to achieve perfect focus - A Bloggography tutorial

 Written by my co-host Lolli

Last week, I received a question from a friend and fellow blogger who was wondering why her daughter was not in focus in some of her photos (but the stroller was!). I am asked this diagnostic question quite a bit, and the majority of the time the solution is the same.

Focus on your subject!

I know–sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? Of course you’re going to TRY to focus on your subject! So why do so many photos turn out like this?

Nice, focused fence, horrible blurry kid. Doesn’t do me much good.

The camera automatically focused on whatever was in the center and completely missed the real subject. The fact is that cameras will typically chose one of two spots to automatically focus on: either the center of the frame or whatever is closest to the lens.

But sometimes your subject is not in the center of the frame or closest to your lens. (Sometimes the camera does NOT know best!)

Here are a few tips to help you achieve perfect focus. The best part? You can do this with any camera!

How to lock the focus on your subject:

1. Frame your shot so that the object or person that you want in sharp focus is in the center of the viewfinder.
2. Press the shutter button down half-way and hold it (keep holding it!)
3. Move your camera until you have the composition that suits your fancy (remember when I talked about composition? Try moving your subject off-center every once in a while).
4. Press the shutter release button down the rest of the way to take the picture.

Ahhh–now that’s better! I locked the focus on Twizzler, and now the fence is blurry. Wait! Why is he glaring at me?

One more thing to keep in mind: The eyes are the most important feature to be in focus. Who wants to frame a cute photo of their son, whose nose or shirt is in focus, but whose eyes are blurry? Focus on the eyes!

Note: My camera also allows me to select which spot to focus on (by choosing a spot in my viewfinder before taking a picture). Not all cameras have this feature.

Challenge:

Use the steps above to lock the focus on your subject and show us your shots! For an added challenge, pay particular attention to the eyes. You are welcome and encouraged to add your photos to our Bloggography flickr group. And be sure to visit my co-host, Manic Mother, too!

Beach Trip

I haven’t had much time to edit pictures but here are my favorite four. This was one of our most successful family trips, granted we only stayed one night…. But, still the boys were amazing!

Florida “sand angel”, I have no idea where he got this idea, it was so cute!

5 Months

Halfway there!! Yipppeee! Technically a little over halfway since I highly doubt I will make it to 40 weeks. Ezra came at 38 weeks.

I went in for my anatomy scan today, and got to see little baby man in all his glory again. Little baby man looks great, everything with him checked out perfectly. He also passed the quad screen with flying colors. So a few less things to worry about.

I was told I have partial placenta previa, not the best news but at least it is only partial. In most women with partial placenta previa the placenta will pull away from the cervix as the uterus grows. So I am hoping for that. I will be checked again around 30 weeks to see if my placenta has moved. If it doesn’t move I will have to have a c-section around 36-37 weeks.

Until then I am on pelvic rest….

In exciting news, little baby man has a name! No, I am not going to tell you, its a surprise. We are stuck on a middle name though, any suggestions?

Bloggography Lens Challenge

 

Each week, Lolli and I  pick out our favorite entry into the previous challenge, go check out Lolli’s blog to see who she chose. This week I chose Christina’s picture from Pooh’s Corner. I love the shot, the little girl  and the bright red tricycle are adorable together!

This week we asked you to make the most of a lens you own. Here is my shot:

It was taken with my telephoto lens, I was safely sitting in the dry sand when I took this picture.

We'll be posting some of our favorite shots from this week's challenge in two weeks. Will we pick yours?

Don’t forget to grab a button or link back to Lolli and I on your post . And make sure you add your picture to the Flickr group as well. You don’t even need a blog to participate, you can just leave the link to your picture in the Flickr group.

The MckLinky will be up for one week, so you have plenty of time to take a picture still!

Don’t forget to go check out my co-hosts picture!

Lolli is also hosting a giveaway for some Lightroom Presets, make sure to check that out too!

And now for the sharing of photos!

 

He’s Back!!!

Do you see what I see?

Curls! Blonde wispy little boy curls. Sweet boy is back!

 

He just doesn’t seem complete without them. We went to the beach over the weekend, and the boys had a blast and were so good, it was amazing!

More pictures to come later this week.

* I wonder if little baby man will have curls?

Please Tell Me I Have Not Lost My Mind

Later this month, my family and I will boldly go where we have never gone before.

The open road…. We will be loading my boys, my husband, my pregnant self, and half of our belongings into our trusty minivan. This is not just any road trip, but a really, really long road trip. A little over 1,500 miles, 24 hour drive time (not including pit stops). We will be driving from Florida to Minnesota. Reading that back to myself, it sounds crazy! Completely insane…. I keep picturing this:

I have done this drive a handful of times, and its not so bad. But I have never done it pregnant and with 2 small children. Last time I did it I had a Pomeranian and a cockatiel in tow. How life changes…..

We plan to leave in the afternoon one day and drive through the night, to make the most of the boys sleeping while we drive. We will be making long pit stops every few hours to let the boys burn off some energy. We hope to not have to stop overnight, but are being realistic about the probability as well.

I will be bringing these two items with me to make the trip a little easier on me….

Have any of you attempted road trips this long before? Any words of wisdom?

Have I completely lost my mind…?

The Best Lenses for Your DSLR, Bloggography

I get asked quite frequently what lenses I use, or what are the best lenses to buy, so I thought I would do a post on what I have learned so far about DSLR lenses.

I know when I first started looking into buying lenses I was so overwhelmed! There are so many choices and so many brands.

What to take into consideration when buying a lens:

Focal Length

Lenses come in different focal lengths. You can see this written on the the lens in terms of “mm”. The mm number represents the length or distance from the front of the lens to the camera's sensor.

This also means that depending on the focal length of the lens your subject is going to need to be a certain distance from your lens in order for the lens to focus. The smaller the mm number the closer your subject can be to your lens. If there is a larger mm number your subject will have to be further away in order for the lens to focus.

Aperture

The aperture of the lens will also be written on the outside of the lens. If the lens is a zoom lens you will see something like this 1: 4 - 5.6. This number refers to the widest aperture available for that lens. The lens in the example above can be opened up to f/4 at the widest end but only f/5.6 at the longest end.

Generally speaking, you want to purchase a lens with the largest aperture (smallest number) possible. This will allow you to take pictures in low light situations without the use of a flash.

However you should be prepared, larger aperture lenses mean more glass in the lens, which means more dollars you will spend!

Other things to consider

Does the lens have image stabilization?

Do you want a fixed focal length or a zoom lens?

How much are you willing to invest?

Does the lens have auto-focus?

Wide Angle Lenses

Most DSLR cameras come with what is called a “kit lens”. Generally that lens will be a 18-55mm lens. This is also known as a wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses are great for capturing a whole landscape scene.

This picture was taken with my kit lens, at a focal length of 18mm.

This is the Nikon kit lens I have. (If viewing this in reader, please go to my blog to see my links to lenses)

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also have Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8. I bought this lens to mainly do portrait work.  I took this picture with that lens. I was really glad to have it with me, since I was taking these pictures in a small living room, I didn’t have a whole lot of room to work with. With this lens I didn’t have to be really far away from my subject in order to get it to focus, nor did I need a lot of light.

 

You do have to be careful with wide angle lenses, especially when doing portraits. They can distort peoples faces if not shot properly.

Fixed Length Lenses

Otherwise known as “prime” lenses. This means that the lens has one focal length, there is no zoom to it. You are the zoom!

I have a 50mm f/1.8 lens. This is still my favorite lens of all the ones I own, it also was one of the cheapest! I love the shallow depth of field I am able to obtain with it, and the bokeh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken with that lens.

 

I have found and read that usually prime lenses deliver crisper images than a zoom lens. Although it is a lot more work to be the zoom, especially when photographing young kids!

Other fixed lenses that I have read good things about (and are on my wish list).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Telephoto Lenses

Telephoto lenses are great for when you want to to take pictures and not be seen! They are great for catching wildlife, weddings, sports, or when you don’t want your kids to know you are taking their picture.

I have the Nikon 55-200mm lens. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took this picture with it.

 

I really want the Nikon 70-200mm next, but its just a tad expensive! I rented one once from Borrow Lenses, and I fell in love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken with that lens.

There are so many more types of lenses, I just wanted to cover the basics in this post.

Make sure to check out my co-host Lolli’s post as well, it will feature Canon lenses.

The Challenge: This weeks challenge is to make the most of a lens you own. So if you have a wide angle lens, try a landscape shot. If you have a fixed lens with a large aperture, try a shallow depth of field picture. If you have a telephoto zoom lens, see what you can get a picture of in the wild. Be creative!

Say Hello To My Little Friends

I will admit, I love watching birds. We have been feeding the birds for 5 years now at our house, and have gathered quite a following. We have seen so many species of birds right in our own backyard.

My favorite to watch though are my little friends, which have returned this spring with a fury!

Little Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. They are so amazing!

These are all pictures of males, they have darker heads and a ruby throat. The most fascinating sight to view is a male hummingbird fight. They have been fighting constantly, I guess they are having turf wars.

Here they are deciding whether to risk a sip of nectar, or chase the other away. Usually they do not share a feeder.

They decided on a split second of truce before they chased each other off.

Is it wrong that I really want one to carry in my pocket and perch on my shoulder…?

Here is a hummingbird nectar recipe:

4 parts water, to 1 part sugar

Bring to a boil and let cool before putting in your feeder. They do like fresh nectar though, I change mine every 4-5 days.

Happy bird watching!

Wisteria Lane

My neighborhood is actually a far cry from Wisteria Lane, but it does still bloom here! It blooms every year in our backyard. And I guess because we had a really cold winter, it had a longer dormant season, and it is blooming like crazy this year!

I love the wisteria, it one of my favorite things about Florida.

My whole backyard smells amazing right now! See Ro is even giving it a sniff over.

The most amazing part of these pictures of Ro, I didn’t Photoshop his eyes at all! I can’t believe they are so blue. Handsome little devil.

What’s blooming in your yard?

Too long to tweet

I don’t have anything specifically to blog about today so instead I thought I would share some random thoughts and ideas floating through my head. Normally this is the kind of useless drivel I would share on Twitter, but it won’t fit into a 140 characters…

• Why don’t they sell sippy cups in pieces? Seriously, a top will get gross or lost, and instead of just having to buy another cup, I would like to be able to just buy a top. Don’t the makers of sippy cups know that there is a vortex that sucks cups, and pieces into it? Help a Mama out!

• Do you watch Hoarders…? Wow, that show never fails to amaze me, or make me feel slightly less insane. Have you seen the one with the cat lady? Where they found 70 some cats in her house, and only about 30 will still alive? Ew….I am convinced they will find the same thing next door when crazy cat lady kicks the bucket.

• My husband and I are having a hard time coming up with a name for little baby man. I have a name I really like, but he doesn’t like it. I am only through the P’s in the baby name book, so hopefully we will find something! If not, I think I should be given complete name picking power since I am giving him a third son….what do you think?

• I really dislike hair. It really grosses me out. Not hair still attached to the head, but hairs gone astray from their owners. This is something I really should have taken into consideration when dyeing my hair dark. I now see my hair everywhere, and it makes me gag. At least when it was blonde I couldn’t see it, and my ignorance was blissful….

• Don’t let your husband fool you when he complains about leaf blowing. It is oddly self fulfilling and fun….try it, you’ll like it.

• Glee is coming back on April 13th! I looove that show, it gives my inner musical loving geek a warm fuzzy.

• I seem to fixate on a new fruit every month, this months fruit is grapes. Grapes are amazing, specifically red grapes, preferably frozen. I can eat a whole bag in a matter of 2 days. Only I worry when I do, because I remember my mom telling me I would get constipation, or diarrhea if I ate too many. Only I don’t remember which one, and this perplexes me….

Bloggography Rule of Thirds Challenge

Each week, Lolli and I  pick out our favorite entry into the previous challenge, go check out Lolli’s blog to see who she chose. This week I chose Amy’s picture from Snap to It! Beautiful spring picture!

Here is my rule of thirds picture.

About my shot: f/2.2, 1/1250sec, IS0 250, +0.3 step

We'll be posting some of our favorite shots from this week's challenge in two weeks. Will we pick yours?

Don’t forget to grab a button or link back to Lolli and I on your post . And make sure you add your picture to the Flickr group as well. You don’t even need a blog to participate, you can just leave the link to your picture in the Flickr group.

The MckLinky will be up for one week, so you have plenty of time to take a picture still!

Don’t forget to go check out my co-hosts picture!

And now for the sharing of photos!

Hoppy Easter!

From my sweet bunnies to you!

What is everyone doing to celebrate? We will be at the beach for the day!