TRIMMIMGS ARE UP

Although these shots need LOTS of work, I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am that I was able to take these images last night in the dark while in our great room. The only lights in the house that were on were the lights above our fireplace as well as the tree lights themselves. I ran a quick test with "Razzi" on "Auto mode" (remember the "stupid friend" my photo instructor described? Yeah, that's auto mode.) Well, when I did the run thru on "auto mode," the whole room lit up like daylight and you couldn't even tell I had lights on the tree. So then, the "new student" in me ran for my tripod. I set it up, hooked Razzi to it, turned the lights back off and went to town. These two images shown above and below were the end result...

I have to be honest and tell you that this is the FIRST year EVAH that I've been knowledgeable enough to change my shutter speeds and shoot at night - let alone shoot a Christmas tree - and actually make the image look like a night time image with the tree lights melting or draping off the tree. Amazing what a few one on one classes will do with a photography instructor. Learning these manual modes have made all the difference in the approach of my images. I started to be lazy and just shoot them all on "auto." Then, after reviewing the images, I knew I had to put my brain to work and drag out the tripod as well as the numbers and all that I've learned in my classes. For those of you who aren't real familiar with night photography or photography in general, you must use a tripod in order to get decent images in darkness. As the shutter opens to capture a shot, the camera has to be perfectly still or it will blur the image. Even if we lean up against something and THINK we are being completely steady/still, our body still moves enought to cause motion blur in a night time image. In the photography realm, they commonly call it "camera shake." Thus, where and why the tripod comes into play. To give you a before and after example, these images show below were the BEFORE's that were shot on "Auto" - yeah...my stupid friend.

Now granted, the room is pitch black with the exception of the tree lights and the accent lights above the fireplace that are on. This is what the great room looks like at night in total darkness. However, look at the drab and gloom in the images above compared to when I changed up the shutter speed and went manual (1st two photos on this page). Hard to believe the top two images were taken in total darkness too, eh? It was the same room. The exact same lights were on in both the before and the after examples. Nothing changed except the fact that I booted my stupid friend out on the street and used my peanut brain for the numbers regarding my shutter speed. Because I detest math, camera numbers make my stomach churn. It's a tough process for me. One that I used to avoid at all costs. Now, that has changed. The before and after images are like night and day. LITERALLY! In the after shots shown at the top of this page, the lights are basically "dripping" off of the Christmas tree and the lights above our fireplace mantle are like star bursts. The whole room is warm and alive. It just screams Christmas. However, the before shots are dull and boring. Bare and bland. Changing the shutter speed and using my tripod gave me a totally different experience when viewing the final shots.Gosh I can't wait for my next photography class again this Tuesday. I'm so thrilled with all of the learning that has come from this adventure. I'm like a sponge these past few weeks. Just soaking it all in as much as I possibly can. The other fun part to my week next week will be the arrival of the new photoshop program in my mailbox that I ordered. My dear sweet, awesome, and oh so rockin' husband bought me the new photoshop program this past Thursday and I can't wait to get it. I've wanted this particular program for ummmm....like two years. It was quite an investment though and something I couldn't fathom spending the money on just so I could "play" with it. However, now that I've officially begun Angie Seaman Photography, Brent bought me the program to learn and use throughout my new journey. Thanks babe! I love you bunches! Hopefully the program will arrive by the end of this next week. I'll pretty much attack the UPS man when I see him coming up the walk with it. HA!

Along with the new program, I located a person at one of our local photography stores that teaches one on one classes for learning Photoshop. Again, A GOD SEND! Photoshop makes my brain spin and hurt real bad. It's a program that needs teaching because without someone to help you, you are pretty much lost. (unless you've worked with these type programs before) Although I use photography software everyday, mine is all user friendly. In my opinion, photoshop is far from user friendly. It isn't one that you can just plop down and learn in the first hour of owning it. Therefore, I've set up times where this individual will come to my home and teach me in 1-2 hour sessions how to use photoshop as well as all the fun techniques and tricks to manipulate photos. YAY FUN! Can you see me jumpin' on my bed right now? That is how crazy excited I am at this point. Again, this whole process (the photography business, the software, the classes that are one on one rather than in a class setting, etc.) has been a couple of years in the making. To have it in my hands right now and officially attained, makes my heart skip many beats.

Well, enough about my photography passion right now - how bout' these cute kids? We had a blast putting up the tree last night and adorning it with our new beach themed ornaments as well as the old and sentimental ornaments that have been with us for years already.

Check out Kenidi's "I'm gonna get ya" face in this shot above. Cracks me up. It's so her!

The Christmas cookies were a HUGE hit amongst all of us. I think we ate more of the raw cookie dough than we did the actual baked ones though.

I know Mom (my Mom)...you are cringing right now at the thought. Can you believe they always tried to tell me that I'd get "Sugar worms" for eating raw cookie dough when I was a kid? What's up with that, eh? Talk about givin' a kid nightmares. Now look, every Dairy Queen in town promotes "sugar worms" with the aid of raw cookie dough in their ice cream. HA! Our parents and their old wise tales. Sugar worms, salmonella, it's all good. ;)

xoxoxo, Angie