Better Photography: Lesson 6

Lesson six taught how to use natural light indoors. It recommended trying a variety of techniques. The first was to place the subject in front of a window or glass door and then standing parallel to the light to take the picture. This technique uses direct light. When using this strategy, it is important to be aware of dark shadows caused by the light. I like the way Matteo looks warm in these pictures, and he is framed by the dark shadows. I also wanted to post a picture of what happened when I forgot about the shadow :)

Direct Light Pictures

I forgot to pay attention to the way the shadow was cast in this picture.

The next exercise was to place yourself between the subject and the window. This allows you to soften the light a little, and to catch the glare of the light in eyes of the subject. It makes for a twinkle in the eye!

My Garden

This year, I planted my first ever vegetable and spice garden and boy, has it blossomed. I have lots of parsley, basil, cilantro, mint and oregano. I also planted tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapenos. I am yet to see any bell peppers (although the plants look quite healthy), but I have nice big tomatoes and even a few jalapenos. Check out the pictures and then I'll tell you all about the lessons I have learned.


Now for the lessons I have learned.

1. Respect the space! The plants come with instructions on how far apart to plant them, and you should follow the instructions even if the plants look really small when you are putting them in the ground. I didn't do this, and now all of my plants have grown together.
2. Dig a hole. In other words, don't just dump a bunch of dirt on top of the existing grass, because the grass will grow through! In my garden, I have plants that have all grown intertwined and with grass in the middle.

Needless to say, my garden is not the most organized, but it is bearing nice big plants and vegetables. Next year I will do a better job planting it neatly :)

Babies are Funny

Babies are funny... You can spend all the money you want on pretty toys, but what are their favorite things to play with? Boxes, tupperware, pots and pans, and in Matteo's case- the plunger!

My Little Plumber :)

Gymnastics

I am sure I have already mentioned this, but Matteo has started gymnastics classes! He has been going 2x per week for about 3 weeks now, and he is loving it. Today his daddy took him, and his grandma went with them to take some pictures. Check them out! Notice how Matteo has already mastered the somersault :)

Better Photography: Lesson 5

Photography lesson 5 focused on picture composition. While a lot of artistic composition is innate, there are some simple rules that you can follow to improve the composition of your photos. I ran out of time to take pictures for all of the rules, so for this lesson I used both new pictures and scavenged through old pictures (some I took, some others took) to demonstrate each lesson.

Rule #1: Keep it simple. Avoid Background Distractions.

My parents in Rome.

It is hard to concentrate on my parents in the first picture because of all the background distractions. Meanwhile, the interesting but non-distracting background in the second picture, makes for an aesthetically pleasing photo.

Rule *2: Follow the rule of thirds. This rule states that your eyes are naturally drawn to 1/3 up or over in a photo.

Monster Matteo :)

This is one of my favorite pictures of Matteo. Because it follows the rule of thirds (Mattteo and Guinness being place 1/3 of the way up the frame), your eyes are first drawn to Matteo and his facial expression. Then, at second glance, you catch the mess that he has managed to make.

Rule #3: Keep an eye on the horizon. Position the horizon 2/3 up the photo if you want to focus on the foreground and 1/3 up if you want to focus on the background (ex. a nice sunset).

A Windy Afternoon @ Fort Lauderdale Beach

Rule #4: Frame your subject.

In these two pictures, I used patterned backgrounds to frame Matteo. If you think about it, this is what photo studios do when you go to get your picture taken.

In contrast to the other two pictures, I used the foreground to frame Matteo in this picture.

Rule #5: Fill the frame.

Evelyn's 1st B-Day

Filling the frame made all the difference in this picture.

Rule #6: Try a new perspective. Ex: Turn your camera the other way.

Southern Chile

By turning the camera vertical, I was able to capture the dramatic background.

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend was really nice. Saturday morning, Matteo and I went to his gymnastics class and he mastered the somersault! Then in the afternoon we went to a birthday party for our friend Evelyn, who turned 1. Check out the picture below of her smearing cake all over her face- this is always the highlight of the 1 year old celebrations. Saturday night, Mario and I had a date and we went to see "En Sus Ojos" or "In Their Eyes". It was probably the best movie I have seen in a year, and I would highly recommend that you go see it if you get a chance. While a bit violent the picture, the story line is very thought provoking.

Evelyn Enjoys Her 1st Birthday!

Sunday, our little family ventured out to a local water park. The park was really nice, and had a nice big toddler area. Matteo had the time of his life, and particularly enjoyed the water slide. As you can see in the pictures, his smile stretched from ear to ear.

Matteo's 1st Trip Down A Water Slide

Matteo has become so comfortable in the water, that it is both frightening and exciting. He loves to stand on the steps and stick his head under the water and see how long he can hold is breath. I have really been concentrating on teaching him to float on his back, but this is tricky because he is convinced he knows how to swim on his stomach (which is not really the case!) I hope that by the end of the summer he can learn to swim; it would make me feel a lot better about living in Florida where there is water everywhere.

Double Trouble

Three posts in one day. What?!?! Yea, I know, but these pictures where too cute not to post.

Matteo and His Best Bud, Nathan

A lot of good that fence did!

DIY- A New Table

This weekend, Mario and I got to work on the re-design of downstairs. We kicked the project of by building ourselves a new kitchen table! Now everyone thought we were crazy, but the table turned out great, and costs less than $100 in supplies (although going to Home Depot costs us another $200 because we found all kinds of other stuff to buy :) ) But even with the extra purchases, it beats the price tag on purchasing an almost identical table from west elm .


As you can see in the pictures, we still have to varnish the table and build the bench to go with it.

And then, to break the table in and to finish off the weekend on a high note, we got together with for a bar-b-que with the neighbors (we lucked out in the neighbor category- they're great!)

Summer is here!

Here in South Florida, Summer actually started a few weeks ago. But now I can say, it is definitely here to stay! How do I know?? Our pool already feels like bath water :\ But hey, I don't mind, I LOVE summer! It means longer days, bar-b-ques with friends, and lots and lots of pool and beach. Here are some pictures of Matteo kicking off the summer in style!