Michelle Dion Photography: February 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011

Week 5

Growing Up
70mm 1/250 s f/2.8 ISO 200 with a flash

This week Ariana and I decided to take pictures of Julia. I have been wanting to get winter pictures of her but haven't been able too. She never wants to be my model. I made her a deal this weekend though. If she would be our model I would do the dishes for her today. She liked that deal and decided to take the modeling gig.

I put together her outfit. I had her wear the pettiskirt I bought back in the fall. I pared it with my grey sweater and one of my colorful scarves. (I can't believe she can wear my clothes! She is growing up way too fast.) She also wore the cool boots she got for Christmas and some grey shimmery tights that Santa brought. Then off we went to my favorite boardwalk.

I love this boardwalk because of the texture in the wood and how it really breaks up the bright winter white. The path also creates nice depth to pictures. I also like how the trees in the background give definition to the horizon.

I had a hard time picking this weeks' picture. "Growing Up" beat out "Standing" by a very slight margin. I chose "Growing Up" because it showcased J's carefree style and truly captured her essence. I liked how her hair was tucked behind her ear and blowing across the scarf. Her smile was perfect and it looked as though she was just about to laugh. When I look at this picture I can actually hear her giggle.

"Standing" was my next choice because I liked the overall feel to the picture. A girl, dressed up, standing in the middle of a snowy boardwalk looking off to the side with a silly look on her face - like she is waiting for something. Well, she really was waiting for something - me. I was taking test shots and told her to just stand there while I adjusted my settings and took test shots. This shot was captured by accident and I LOVE it. While she was waiting for me to get ready and tell her what to do, she was just standing there making goofy faces and looking all over the place. What makes me love this picture is her pose and the silly look on her face. I also love the outfit. The grey sweater and colorful scarf look great with the blue pettiskirt. I like how the scarf and skirt stand out in the winter scene. I love the boots as well. I think it all goes together so perfectly. I also like how the boardwalk trails off into the background and looks to go on forever.

It was very tough picking a favorite. I keep going back and forth. I'm sure I will keep changing my mind. As of right now, "Growing Up" is the one. But I don't know, ask me tomorrow and I might tell you it's "Standing". Which one do you like?

Standing

34.0mm 1/250 s f/2.8 ISO 200 with a flash

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Week 4

Happy Birthday

50mm 1/60 f/1.8 ISO 200

February 20th, 2011

Today would have been my grandma's birthday so this week's picture is dedicated to my grandma, Audrey. It's hard to believe that it has been one year since her last birthday. In February of 2010 we found out the chemo treatments she was going through were not working and that the cancer had spread. A couple weeks later it was her birthday and we had a big gathering at a restaurant and then everyone came back to my parents' house for cake and ice cream. It was a bittersweet party. Happy to be together but sad knowing what was to come. Four days later my grandma took a turn for the worse and didn't get out of bed again. She then died the following week. She will always be in my thoughts and I will treasure the memories of the times I had with her. She loved roses so this picture is for her. I love you grandma and happy birthday.

Just Smiling

50mm 1/160 f/1.8 ISO200

Blowing Kisses

50mm 1/250 f/1.8 ISO 200

I tried out my 50mm lens on the D700. I love how the lens has autofocus on the D700. Photographing kids using manual focus is tough. The D60 did not have autofocus in the body of the camera and as a result the 50mm was then manual focus. I haven't really been able to use my 50mm lens this last year because of the manual focus issue. I tried using it when photographing people and my pictures were never sharp. I am excited to finally put it to use and see it's capabilities. These three pictures were taken using the 50mm lens.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Week 3

Happy Hearts

70.0 mm 1/15s f/2.8 ISO 200

For this week's photo challenge, I wanted to teach Ariana a little about aperture and what it does. The wider the aperture the more light that is let in and the faster the shutter speed. This creates the silky smooth bokeh (pronounced as boke or boke-uh). Boken is a Japanese word and refers to the blur of an image, "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light," (photojpn.org/words/len.html). The smaller the aperture the slower the shutter speed. Using a small aperture is perfect for landscape shots when you want the whole image in focus.

For this shot I set up a mirror and borrowed some of Julia's candy hearts. Then we secured the camera to the tripod and I showed Ariana how to take pictures in aperture priority mode. She used several different apertures when she taking her shots. She got to see that when she used a large aperture like a f/5 only one or two hearts were in focus. When she decreased the aperture to f/8, four to five were in focus. At f/16, even more were in focus. And at f/22 all the hearts were in focus.

This was the easiest way to teach her because she got to see the pictures at the different settings. Depending on the settings that are chooses your picture will look different. When you are composing a shot you need to think about what you are trying to achieve. For this heart picture I thought it looked more interesting having only a couple of the candies in focus.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Michigan Upper Peninsula Panorama

This picture was taken in October of 2008 while I was on Monte Nagler's photography workshop. We had passed this field on our way to a waterfall and Monte wanted to stop on the way back and take pictures here. When we stopped the sun wasn't out and my pictures didn't look very interesting. Instead they looked very dull and boring. I wasn't happy with them. After I had walked back to the van and put my camera away, the sun came out. I debated about getting my camera out and then told myself this is why I am here, to take pictures. I got my camera back out and set up the tripod. I could tell the sun was only going to be out for a little bit so I had to hurry. I framed my shot and took a series of pictures for a panorama.

After the trip when I got home and was editing my pictures I didn't like this panorama. I didn't like any of the pictures I took of this field. I felt the composition was off. I thought I should have stood more to the right and had the gate in the center of the picture.

This weekend I was going through my pictures looking for a waterfall picture for the office I work at and came across this picture again. I had forgotten about it and when I looked at it again I liked it. I now liked how the gate was off to the right and that the focus of the picture was on the bales of hay and the sunlit trees. Most of the time I am too critical of my work. I am always finding faults and wishing I had composed it differently. I'm glad I found this picture again and that I was able to see the positives in it.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Week 2

February 6, 2011

Click here to enlarge

Snowy Day

I got my Nikon D700 on Tuesday and I have been dying to use it all week. Between work and dance rehearsals for my daughters, today was my first real chance at using it. This afternoon my daughters were in a tea party ballet show and it started snowing like crazy outside. It wasn’t even suppose to snow today.

While I was sitting in the banquet hall, I was looking out the window and admiring the view wishing I had my camera with me. We were not allowed to take pictures so I didn’t bring it. Plus I was all dressed up and really couldn’t go trampling in the snow taking pictures in heels and a skirt. So I sat back and enjoyed the ballet show. My girls danced beautifully and the show was a hit. When it was all over we headed back home. It was still snowing but not as much and I was bummed because I really wanted to take pictures during the heavy snowfall.

When we got home I changed into my winter gear and grabbed my camera bag and tripod. When I looked outside I saw it started snowing like crazy again. YEAH!!!! I really wanted to photograph the scene I saw at the banquet hall so I headed back over there. The roads were completely snow covered and about 3″ of snow had already fallen. I had to drive really slow and the drive seemed to take forever. On the way I almost spun out. That was scary. I eventually made it back to the banquet hall and I got the shot I wanted. Here is my first landscape picture with my Nikon D700.

Nikon D700

24.0 mm

1/13 s at f/18

ISO 200

3 photos merged to make the pano

edited in CS4

Picking one picture for the week was really tough. The panorama "Snowy Day" is my official Week 2 photograph. I am posting other pictures from this week well. I figure some weeks I will have several pictures and other times I might only have one.

For Week 2 of our Phototastic Year, Ariana and I went to Dodge Park this afternoon. When I asked her if she wanted to go she said no at first. She wanted to just stay at home, watch television, and have a tea party with her webkinz. I asked her if she was sure and told her she would probably be disappointed if she didn't go. I also told her that we wouldn't be gone that long and that I had a really cool place in mind that we should go to. She then decided to go so we gathered up all the camera gear and put on our winter garb.

When we got to the park I noticed the entry wasn't plowed. I didn't want to try and drive the car through the snow so I went to the other opening on the north side of the park to see if that entrance was plowed. It wasn't plowed either. I then drove back to west entrance and parked across the street. We were going to have to walk in. Ariana was a trooper and trudged threw snow to the park. It wasn't a far walk but walking in the snow made it a little tough.

When we got into the park we saw a van that was there and it was stuck in the snow. Good thing I didn't try and drive in. I did not want to deal with getting suck. After I looked around and found a good spot for us to take pictures, I set up the tripod and taught Ariana a little about aperture and shutter speed. I put the D60 in the tripod first and had her take some pictures. After she was done I put the D700 on the tripod and I took my pictures. Ariana continued to take pictures without the tripod. We got some really good shots. After awhile Ariana started to get cold and was ready to leave. I made sure to snap a few shots of her before we left.

I think Week 2 was great. I got to spend some quality time with Ariana. Julia was sick this weekend so maybe next weekend she can join us.