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Mrs. City Boy

~ Our little corner of the Midwest!

Mrs. City Boy

Tag Archives: Photography

From the Wabi Sabi Ranch

22 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Artistic Tendancies, Nature, Reblogged, Tips and Tricks

≈ 22 Comments

Tags

Breezes At Dawn, Life In the Bogs, Maryland, nature, nature photographs, nature photography, photograph, Photography, photography blog, Robin Simmons

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Up to now, this blog has been leaning more and more toward my growing interest in amateur photography, although it didn’t start out that way.  My original intention when I started this blog was to highlight the down-home Ozarks lifestyle.  And my photographs, however inexperienced and crude, do highlight that.

As I learn photography and become somewhat better at it (I still have LOTS to learn), I want to also highlight some of the bloggers who are really talented at their photography and for whom it is a passion.  I have learned a great deal and a multitude of skills from these bloggers.

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The photographs in this post are taken by Robin, whose blog is Breezes At Dawn.  Robin recently moved to her home on the Eastern shore of Maryland with her husband, who she calls M, and lives on some acreage with a lake and a dock, plenty of flowers and foliage and a multitude of animals and insects.

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Robin refers to her home as the Wabi Sabi Ranch, and it is fertile ground for many photographic opportunities, which she takes full advantage of.  Robin has a good eye for picking out things that will make a picture beautiful, stunning, interesting, and/or just plain neat.

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Robin is about to enter her first Fall and Winter seasons there at Wabi Sabi ranch, so it will be so interesting to see the photographs in her future blog posts during these upcoming seasons.

Last Fall and Winter Robin was at her former home she calls Breezy Acres.  For those of you who would like look at Robin’s stunning pictures from there, her other blog is Life In the Bogs.

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Robin also has a tutorial or two included in Life In the Bogs and Breezes At Dawn, which help us have a clue to a few of the ways she gets the fantastic results she does with her photographs.

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A place to purchase some of Robin’s wonderful work can be found on her page at Redbubble Portfolio.  These photographs would look wonderful adorning any home.

For now, Robin has given me permission to feature some of her work from her blog, so sit back, admire, and enjoy!

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Check out Robin at Breezes At Dawn for your daily dose of inspiration, fun and loveliness.  I’ll end this post to you wonderful bloggers with her own sign-off:

“Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just be.” — Robin

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Little Visitors

15 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Holidays/Seasons, Nature, Our Life and Times, Summer

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Evening sky, geese, goose, nature photography, outdoors, Photography, rabbit, Sunset, wildlife

Some things just never cease to amaze me.  I guess some things shouldn’t amaze me, but then I don’t mind that some people have considered me to be naive, half-witted, or not-in-the-know about things that still bring about a little wonder in me.

At a doctor’s visit a few days ago on an overcast day, a flock of geese landed in the grass beside the parking lot just as we were walking out to our truck.  This in itself is not that amazing so much as the way they kept moving closer to the vehicles and didn’t seem to mind us as we approached them.  

Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t just dumbly walk right up to them calling “Here, goosey goosey goosey.”  But they ended up right in front of the truck, and to get to the truck we had to walk right up to them.

They didn’t hiss at us or anything, and they even posed for a few pictures.

Once we were home, we had another visiter waiting for us in our yard.

This little rabbit is much smaller than our rabbit friend that I have posted about before, but this one also didn’t mind me taking his picture.  I just stooped down underneath a tree and snapped away.

What amazed me about this day, and a lot of other days, was that I don’t live way out in the country, or even on the fringes of town.  I live right in a populated town, and yet we see wildlife like this every day, the bulk of which I see but don’t manage to get a picture of.

I lived in the middle of the woods for years, and I didn’t see wildlife this often.

One final thing on this day that never ceases to amaze me and never will:

I can never get enough of a beautiful evening sky!

Have an amazing, wonderful day!

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  • Celebrating Small Things: The Sneeze that Scared the Geese (espirational.com)

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Image

Morning Collection

12 Monday Aug 2013

Tags

butterfly, insect, nature, nature photography, Photography

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Posted by becky6259 | Filed under Holidays/Seasons, Nature, Summer

≈ 10 Comments

Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting

09 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Artistic Tendancies, Holidays/Seasons, Nature, Our Life and Times, Spring

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

bee, Beginning photography, clover, Macrophotography, nature, nature photograph, nature photography, Photography, postaday

While trying to practice some macro photography on yard clover, I was surprised by the little bee that flew out of nowhere to check out the little blossoms.  This photo of the little buzzer was accidental, and I did try to catch another photo of it in action.  The bee flitted around for a few seconds and then flew away, quick as it had come.

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Thursday Tips: A Fool and His Money are Soon Parted

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Artistic Tendancies, Reblogged, Tips and Tricks

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Beginning photography, Photography, photography equipment, photography tips

1001 Scribbles

There are few pursuits that will empty your wallet more quickly than photography.  Everything about photographic gear, for instance, is expensive.  I mean everything, from $30 (US) bubble levels to exotic prime telephoto lenses that exceed $10,000.  In the digital age, cameras are essentially treated as disposable commodities, accompanied by the explicit notion that of course you’re going to upgrade to the latest model every few years.  And as the bubble level reference above suggests, cameras and lenses are merely part of the equation.  Bags for your equipment, tripods and heads, filters and other accessories…the list is seemingly never-ending, and all the items on it are costly.  At the very least, the informal definition of “photographic equipment” has extended all the way to computer hardware and software ever since the digital darkroom became a realistic option more than a decade ago.

Two recent announcements reminded me of the truism…

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Ack! It’s Coming After Me!

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Holidays/Seasons, Nature, Spring

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Beginning photography, Camera, macro, Macrophotography, nature photography, Photography

Lately macro photography has become so fascinating that I practice it a lot.  Macro is the type of photography that is done very close-up of smaller objects.  The other day I took a series of pictures of a flower in my backyard that grows by the fence and is very tiny.

It’s obvious that I had a great deal of trouble getting focussed on the teeny little bloom, and I had my nose almost to the ground trying to get a clear shot.  Only one of the pictures made it into that post and even it was out-of-focus.  I even processed it and couldn’t get it totally right.  All of these photos are ones that didn’t make it into that post.

The reason I’m showing you my “dud” pictures is because of what happened next.  I had the camera so close to the head of the flower that the camera almost touched it, and the flower was so close to the ground that when a big ol’ earthworm suddenly rocketed out of the ground at my camera right when I was pushing the shutter button, it startled me to the point that I almost dropped the camera.  It looked like a snake was about to hit me in the face!  My heart skipped a beat, and the little flower, needless to say, was not in focus.  The worm was flapping back-and-forth, so by the time the camera finished the shot the worm had changed directions, thank goodness.

All this to say, that if you like to take photographs, and especially if you are a beginning photographer like me, you have to be ready for ANYthing!  Lol, you just never know what is going to pop up in your photos!

Fellow blogger Jerry, who does a lot of macro photography (and does it very well!), had a bloggersation with me that reminded me of this earthworm story.  I thought I’d share it hoping it might give someone a chuckle!

Hope all of you have had a mighty fine day today!

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5 ways to produce perfect Product photography

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Reblogged, Tips and Tricks

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Beginning photography, Blogger, blogging, photograph, Photography, photography tips, product photography

 

If you do food or product blogs or are trying to start a business, this post has some good points! The whole blog is full of ideas!

 

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Family Bugs Crochet Designs

The product photo is your first chance to grab your customer.  This goes for online shops.  How many of these online marketplaces involve typing a word in the search bar and scrolling through thousands of pictures to find what you are looking for?  All of them.  Every single one of them.  THAT is why it is so important to have good photos.  Now, I am sure you are wondering “if it is so important, how do I get them?” Doesn’t matter what product you are selling, if your craft can be worn or is purely decorative, or whatever it is that you craft.  The reasons and the methods are the same, so listen up.  Here we go.

 

  1. Use natural lighting.  Not direct sunlight, which can wash your image out, but use the light that God created whenever possible.  Really, even a white light bulb will…

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Spring Is In Our Step — And In Our Yard!

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Holidays/Seasons, Nature, Our Life and Times, Spring

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Beginning photography, Bradfor Pear, flowers, nature, nature photography, Photography, rabbit, Robin, spring

Spring has certainly sprung in our little corner of the world!  Flowers and wildlife are springing to life all around our yard.

Our resident robin decided to vacate the hanging basket on our front porch where she spent the winter — her nest is now in a place with much less traffic!

One of the backyard bunnies attracted to our yard with its overabundance of clover popped in for a visit.

The Bradford pear trees are now in full bloom all around our house and up and down the street in our neighborhood — we’re surrounded with them and we love it!

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Our front yard has a baby Bradford pear — he’ll catch up with the others one of these years!

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After a long winter we are really enjoying this wonderful metamorphosis, and hope your Spring so far has been fantastic!

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Setting Up A Photography Light Box (Sort Of)

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Being Frugal, Crafts/DIY, Our Life and Times, Tips and Tricks

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

baby, baby photograph, Beginning photography, Camera, DIY, DIY light box, Do it yourself, Humor, Lightbox, Photography, photography light, photography light bulb, photography lighting, tracing paper

Well, I’ve been at it again.  

19th century studio camera, with bellows for f...

First of all, I’ve mentioned quite a few times that I love taking pictures but that I’m a real amateur when it comes to photography.  I’ve learned a lot, but I have a long way to go. That said, I must admit to something that happened to me a few weeks ago and has been eating at me ever since.

I was scrolling through the blogs I follow, when I came upon the daily post of a blogger friend we’ll call Cindy (well, we’ll call her that because that’s her name), and she always takes gorgeous pictures, so I like to look at her blog, among others.  So, low and behold, her pictures suddenly became even more stunning!  Then I noticed her post said that these pictures were taken with her new camera!!!  

051807 My Cameras with Notes.

Well, I just had to see about this, so I read her post (here) and looked at her pictures of her new camera until I was just green with envy.  Cindy, it seems, had been using a camera with similar capabilities to mine (and had still taken better pictures), and now had acquired a camera with fabulous features that I very much had been wanting for myself.  Curses!

So then I just decided that I was tired of my pictures looking like they were taken by a blind person with no fingers, and started taking steps to amp up my game.  City Boy had already told me he wasn’t getting me the Mother Of All Cameras until I learned to use the camera I had.  Fair enough.  I would show you a picture of my camera but I can’t take a picture of my camera WITH my camera.  And, well, you’ve seen the kind of pictures my cell phone takes.

So, I decided I would start with trying to improve my food pictures (don’t look at the food posts in my blog yet; I haven’t started improving) and later happened to stumble upon another blog that had a great post for making a DIY photography light box (here).  And it was not difficult, woohoo!

I already had most of the materials, except tracing paper, so I asked City Boy to pick me up some on his way home from work IF it wasn’t too expensive.  “I’ll use something else if it’s over (x) amount,” I told him.  All he heard me say was “tracing paper.”

He came home with a tablet of tracing paper with the price sticker still on the front.  I almost flew at him like a rabid monkey when I saw the price.  Actually, I calmly asked him why he paid so much.  “You said you needed tracing paper,” he said.

Overpriced tracing paper, tag removed

So, anyway, I made the light box and was pretty pleased with it.  Sure, it looks like I picked it up ready-made at the city dump, but I never claimed to be that handy at cutting a big glass-pack moving box with a pair of sewing scissors.  

Frank is pretty nice to indulge me sometimes.  Last week he took me into the city to look around a photography supply shop and see what I could see.  What a mistake — I wanted everything!  After discovering that the hobby of photography was an expensive one, I had a salesperson come over and help me, and I decided that I should get some special photography light bulbs to use with my light box (plus, they were the cheapest least expensive things in the place).

An original Edison light bulb from 1879 from T...

All happy with my decision, the salesman asked me which kind of bulb I wanted.  “There’s a difference?” I asked.

I was told that one gets very hot, and the other one doesn’t and also lasts longer than the “hot’ version.  I almost went for the one that doesn’t catch things on fire, when I discovered that there was a nearly $60 price difference per bulb.  Okay, well then, I’d just have to run a fan when I took pictures.

So, thinking I was happily decided, I was then told that the “hot” bulbs required a special ceramic light socket.  How much was that?  Theirs were $119 apiece.  Dang, foiled again.

For about the third time, I went out to the truck, dejected, and told City Boy the news.  He had been waiting in the truck with Lucy (because, of course, he can NEVER go anyplace without her).  Frank sent me back into the store after telling me to pick up some of the “hot” lights because he was sure that hardware stores carried work lights with ceramic sockets that were a whole lot cheaper less expensive.

Into the store I went again, happily decided.  Or so I thought.  The salesman asked, “How many watts do you want?”  “Wha…?” I asked back.  “There’s 250 watt and 500 watt.”

“Um,” I stammered, “will the 250 be bright enough?”  He demonstrated it.  Blinded and feeling my way out of the store after my purchase, I was mildly confident I hadn’t just wasted $10.50.

A day later and a trip to Home Depot wiser, we were the proud owners of one work/photography light, for starters.

My maiden voyage with using the light box was without the photography light — I was still a little nervous about burning my house down.  I grabbed the first thing I saw to put in the light box (my box of Easter decorations was still sitting next to the garage door in the utility room waiting to be taken out), and just used natural light.

With some Princess House in the light box, I tried it with just natural light coming in from one side.

Then I finally got brave and powered up the photography light (fingers crossed).  Except maybe I shouldn’t have used mirrored plaques as my subject, since it kind of reflected the camerawoman.

This is with only one photography light, placed above the light box — the ideal light setup is supposed to be a light on either side of the light box as well.  We really wanted to see how it went before we went full throttle on this.  What do you think of the results so far?

Cindy, my fellow blogger with the new camera, has been extremely supportive of me, and I am not the least bit mad at her for getting her new camera — it’s fun to kid around from time-to-time, and I am pleased that she is having a great time with her fantastic new acquisition! 

Of course, my blog would not be complete if it didn’t INclude a picture of Precious Baby before I CONclude this post (I take great pride in my corniness).  Have a wonderful, wonderful day, and I’ll sign off with this picture of Precious Baby at the zoo looking at the penguins!

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Just A Few Things I’ve Learned About Posting Photos

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by becky6259 in Our Life and Times, Tips and Tricks

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bad photographs, bad picture, Beginning photography, blog, Humor, Image, photograph, Photography, Picture, post, posting, posting bad pictures, Posting tips

photograph everything

We all have them — the posts we just don’t post.  We take the pictures or write the content, but somehow it just doesn’t seem worthy of a post, so we just count it as a dud for whatever reason and don’t post it.

My posts are not always the most entertaining posts for everybody (and sometimes not for ANYbody), and I understand that.  Nobody can be entertaining to everybody every day, and I try to improve more as time goes by.  Right now, since I’m forming a new hobby of taking pictures, there are some things I have learned in picture-taking that I try to spare the world from as far as photographs.  Believe me, more of my pictures get put in the for-my-eyes-only pile than ever see the light of day in a post.

How many times have you had a photo posted of you somewhere, be it Facebook, a blog, bulletin board, or someplace like that where a lot of people would be seeing it, and the photo was just not your best look?  We’ve all been there!  Mostly without meaning to I’ve taken a lot of pictures of people like that, and I make a point of trying not to post any that might be an embarrassment to the person in the photo (unless, of course, I’m mad at them).  Here are a few I’m talking about:

1. People with goofy looks on their faces — lips pursed, eyes closed, mouth wide open, angry look, etc., or any combination of looks.

Aside from looking like I'm squeezing the life out of Precious Baby, this picture isn't embarrassing to either me or a future grown-up Precious Baby

Aside from looking like I’m squeezing the life out of Precious Baby, this picture isn’t embarrassing to either me or a future grown-up Precious Baby

This, on the other hand, makes both of us look constipated

This, on the other hand, makes both of us look constipated

2. People doing unsavory things.

Frank "picking up" after Lucy at the Texas Welcome Center during a break from traveling

Frank “picking up” after Lucy at the Texas Welcome Center during a break from traveling

3. People eating or drinking.

Although blurry, this picture of Becca and Precious Baby would have been a nice one, if not for the old lady in the background with a mouthful of food, taking a drink and sporting a shirt wet from attempts to wash off baby puke

Although blurry, this picture of Becca and Precious Baby would still have been a pleasant one, if not for the old lady in the background with a mouthful of food, taking a drink and sporting a shirt wet from attempts to wash off baby puke

A request I get, mostly from women, is “Don’t post any pictures that make me look fat!”  ‘Nuff said.

These are things I never even used to think about.  I didn’t even pay attention when I took pictures of a church potluck, or of people in social situations where they were animated and talking, singing, bending over to pick something up, etc.  These are things we do every day.  But in the moment a picture is snapped and that movement becomes a still-life, the way a person or thing looks can become totally different.

Let’s not forget animals!  I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to take a picture of Lucy, for instance, as she scampered around in the back yard, only to have her suddenly decide to squat and “do her duty” just as the shutter button went down.  

But probably the biggest nemesis of all for me as far as picture-taking of any kind is the blurry picture.  I have seen a LOT of pictures posted in other places that are fuzzy (and I will occasionally post moderately fuzzy ones like the one above if I’m desperate and they are the best ones I have of the occasion), but if they are too far gone, I can’t see posting them.  And I take a lot of blurry photos, mostly due to the shakiness of my hands from my avid chocolate abuse.

For a food post, I may take twice as many pictures or more than what I actually use.  And sometimes the pictures look so bad that I chuck the idea of even making the post.  For instance:

This stuff was actually good.  Really, it was.  But the pictures looked so unsavory that I didn't even post about it.

This stuff was actually good. Really, it was. But the pictures looked so unsavory that I didn’t even post about it.

The above picture actually started out with kind of a green hue before I processed it.  Yum.

Most of the “bad” pictures I get are of other people besides me and things (naturally, since I’m the one usually taking the pictures), but for this post I’ve mostly used pictures of myself and Frank to keep from embarrassing anybody else.  Bottom line is, no matter how boring/aggravating/goofy my posts are, they could be a lot worse!

I have learned over time to use a little sensitivity when I make posts — you know, the “Do unto others” attitude, since I hate it when people say negative things or post bad pictures of me (well, worse pictures of me) and I don’t want to do to them what I would hate for someone to do to me.

So, tomorrow is a new day, for learning and living.  I am looking forward to doing just that, and wishing all of you out there in Blogland a blessed day!

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becky6259

becky6259

My daddy married a city girl and put her in the country, and then I married a city boy and he put me in the city...for awhile anyway. We're now living in small-town Mid-Missouri and enjoying the best of both worlds!

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