I know Magic

Levitation pictures can be really fun, or creepy, or elegant, or whatever floats your boat.  And if you have photoshop or another editing system, they are surprisingly easy to recreate. First you want to start off with two pictures: *side note you will definitely want to use a tripod for this.

Picture number one should just be a picture of your background, whatever that may be.  Now here is the super important part.  Once you decide on a background, angle, etc that you like, do not move your tripod, or you're going to make life a lot harder on yourself.

Picture numero 2:  A picture of whatever you wish to be levitating in the foreground on a stool, of some kind.  You ideally want something that isn't too elaborate.  It's hard to tell in this picture because the bench I used was very similar in color to the background, but the subject is laying on a bench.

Next in photoshop you are going to open those two photos and pull the foreground photo on top of the background photo and line them up so they are exactly on top of each other.  If you're having some problem doing this you can lower the opacity of the top layer so you can see the one beneath.

Next, create a layer mask on the foreground layer (you can do this by clicking on the icon of the square with a circle in it at the bottom of your layers menu) and using your brush start to paint over the stool, or bench.  You can see here that I went a little too far so I'm losing some of the subject's leg, that's no biggie!  Just switch your brush color back to white so you are adding back to the layer mask.  Work with it until you no longer can see the support feature.

Do a little tweaking with colors, etc to make the picture as eerie as you would like, I mean we are getting close to Halloween after all.  I think they are a lot of fun, and I hope you will try these out as well!

Camera Basics: Shutter Speed

We touched on Shutter Speed a little bit in Camera Basics 101, but today we're going to talk about shutter speed and motion. Specifically we are going to talk about Stop Motion versus Motion Blur.  Again, a lot of photography elements are based on your preferences.  I personally lean more in favor of stop motion.  I like the look of it, probably from my days working for the sports beat for the newspaper.  BUT, there are times where I really enjoy motion blur.  For example, low lit artsy pictures, anytime you're dealing with some fun light, or lights that are moving.  Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about and how to achieve these lovely pictures.

Stop Motion

The idea here is that you are "stopping" or freezing something right at the peak of it's motion.  It can cause some really fun pictures.  Since this is a self portrait and I'm using a wireless remote for my shutter, you can see it gets a little motion around the edges, and a tad out of focus.

Here's a little bit better example, and one I have used before.  By having a faster shutter speed (ie higher numbers) you will be able to stop the action.  Now remember to compensate for your lighting in each situation by adjusting your ISO and aperture as necessary depending on your situation.

Motion Blur

As I stated in the above paragraph, motion blur isn't usually my thing...to the point where I had trouble finding a good example to show you in my library of photographs.  SO, I cheated, this is one that Speed Racer took of me while we were camping.  It's a great example of motion blur because the real action that he's blurring is the sparks coming off the fire.  They make beautiful spirals that if you had stopped the action you wouldn't see.  If you're worried about your other subjects blurring, we're getting some blurring here, be sure to use a tripod.  Sometimes it's nice though.  I like it in this photograph because I think it helps add to the softness and feeling of a campfire.  Have I mentioned I love camping?  I do.

Again, in motion blur situations be sure to adjust your lighting to the situation.  Also, it's a good rule of thumb that if your shutter speed is lower than 60, you probably want to use a tripod instead of hand held.  There's so much you can do with motion blur.  You can set up a tripod and track the stars by leaving the shutter open for hours, you can crank down the shutter speed and let the lights of cars paint your photograph, you can pan with a runner or car and get streaks behind them, and you can even make water look like silk...fo real!  Lots and lots of options, so go out there and experiment with stop motion and motion blur!

The DESK

This is my DESK...for now.  Soon it will be Speed Racer's desk, and by soon I mean whenever we finish his office.  So that's pretty relative.  But until then I get to use it, and that is awesome.

It has really cool drawers and secret compartments.  This desk was a give away from one of my Mom's coworkers, and they couldn't fit it in their house.  I'm sure one of my brothers would love to have it but one lives in Illinois (long way away) and the other one has two flights of stairs to his office.  So booya suckers!  Ahem.  I mean, it's so awful that you didn't get this beautiful desk.

All kidding aside, we were very lucky to get it, even if it doesn't fit in our living room.  And even though it was VERY heavy to move.  But we're still super stoked.

And now I finally have somewhere to put all my papers, and hide that I have lots of papers.

Mr. Elephant who lives on my desk says, "Hooray!" I second that Mr. Elephant, I second that.

Friday Fields

It's Friday.  It's beautiful here in Knoxville.  So I decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the sites, and of course share them with you!  This is a great exercise when you can't decide what to shoot.  Just walk around!  To make it more interesting I try to plan a story board in my head and then just start snapping.  I was in search of some cows but it just didn't work out.  Happy weekend everyone!

Moment of Zen: Le Kitten

I walked into our bedroom the other day to find this.  It was too adorable not to post about.  I wish I could be this relaxed when I sleep, Speed Racer would say that I am.  But this is just too much. So since today is cloudy and yucky here in Knoxville...

Since I am exhausted for some reason...

Since I am fighting a headache...

And since we all need more kittens in our lives...

I'm posting these photos for you.  Enjoy your moment of Kitten Zen.

Dish-o-the-Week: Homemade Granola

I love homemade granola.  It's such a great and healthier way to start the day.  Granola just makes me think of good things, and smells AMAZING when it's baking in the oven. I was raised on this recipe and can still remember my Mom baking it fresh on Saturday mornings.  It took me awhile to appreciate it, what small child wants granola when they can have Cinnamon Toast Crunch!  But now it's one of my favorite breakfasts: it's healthy, it's filling, it's delicious.

My Mom got this recipe from the "More with Less" Cookbook, sold HERE.  If you haven't ever seen this cookbook you are missing out.  It is a Mennonite community cookbook and it has great, natural recipes in bulk.  It's not the best on deserts because a lot of their recipes are low sugar, which I mean if I'm going to eat desert, I want the sugar.  But it has fabulous soups, main dishes, breads, and cereals.  Definitely check it out.

Granola is really pretty basic.  You're mixing your dry ingredients with your wet ingredients and baking it together.  You can add dried fruits, different nuts, or anything else to your hearts content.  Here I started with 10c. of rolled oats, 1c. wheat germ, 1c. cornmeal, 1c. peanuts, and 1 c. of coconut flakes.

For the wet ingredients I used, 1 1/2c. honey, 1c. peanut butter, 1 T. cinnamon, 2/3c. oil, 1/2c. water and 1T. salt.

MMmmm...so delicious.

You want to combine them on low heat until the peanut butter is completely melted.

Then combine the dry and wet ingredients until they are all mixed together.

Bake at 350 on a greased cookie sheet for 30 min.  You will want to turn them every few minutes or so to keep one side from browning too much.

And ta-da! Delicious snack and breakfast all at once.  And it's really pretty easy.  Again, check out "More with Less," for other great recipes and how to work on keeping your grocery costs down while providing healthy meals.

Momma K

Last Friday evening we celebrated my Mother-in-Law, Momma K's birthday.  It was such a great time, and I really enjoyed just being able to relax and goof off with these ladies.

Even though it may not look like it right at this moment, we were having a great time.  People just got shy around my awesome lens.

We even corrupted some youth with scary tales of our early childhood.

There were more incriminating photos later, but I was too busy wrestling my sister-in-law...she had it coming.Have I mentioned that I love red hair on this blog? Once? Twice? Too many times?  But I do.

Remembrance 9/11

I know this is a little late, and everyone else did their 9/11 posts on Friday or Saturday, but it really took me the full weekend to grasp what I wanted to say.  In trying to remember this day, I took a moment of silence, and I tried to remember where I was.  I was in school.  I remember watching as the second plane hit, I remember not really being able to realize what was happening until I realized that there was not a sound in the whole school.  No one was talking, no one was teaching, time had just stopped. Since that day many families in our country have been separated, either by loss or by war or unfortunately both.  For me it is hard to even possibly imagine a war that I cannot physically experience.  I think for those of us not directly involved in the sense that we have loved ones involved, it's hard for us to realize the depth of this war.

There are times I feel helpless with this war.  I don't know how to help, and I seldom know what is going on.  I am ashamed of the increasing anti-Muslim sentiment in our country...and that we cannot seem to grasp that there are radicals in every group who embarrass the rest.  For the past several weeks I have been babysitting for a family who happens to be Muslim.  As 9/11 grew closer, so did the end of Ramadan.  As these two dates arrived I wondered if it would be brought up.  The Grandmother of the family is often there during the day while I babysit and we have discussions about what she thinks of my culture and what I think of hers.  Thursday came, the last day I would be babysitting for the week as they started festivities the next day.  I was reading "The Berenstain Bears" to the little two year old boy I watch and he slowly started to fall asleep in my lap.  His Grandmother approached me with a cup in her hand.  She set it down beside me and explained that this was a special desert that they make for the end of Ramadan, and she would be very pleased if I tried it and liked it.  It was divine, and she smiled at my delight.  As she walked away I thought that this is what really mattered.  No discussion of what happened, no blame, no awkwardness.  Just  desert, Berenstain Bears, hope and a child of two worlds asleep in my lap.

Dish-o-the-Week: Greek Pasta Salad

Nothing says simple and delicious to me like a pasta salad.  It's refreshing, filling, and super easy to put together...which is why there are no put together pictures here.  You just mix it, I think you guys can figure that out without pictures.  But by far, this is one of my favorite pasta salad recipes I have made.

You can view the full recipe HERE.  I use Allrecipes.com a lot, especially when I'm in a rush or just stuck on what I want to make for dinner this week.  It's a great site, and easy to use.  I love this pasta salad because it's got so much in it!  We're talkin' pepperoni, olives, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and green onions.  My only tip for this recipe is that I would definitely let it sit over night to let all the flavors mix.  And although it won't make your breath smell good, it's well worth it.

The Twin

Two weekends ago, I went home for a busy weekend away.  While I was there I teamed up with my wonderful friend The Twin.  She wanted some lovely portraits done, so we headed to the river and had a grand ole time.  I even stepped in for a couple cameo shots with my best bud.  The Twin and I have been friends for a long time, so it really meant a lot to me to be able to do some portraits for her.  And here is the end result.  Happy viewing!