Day 20

Not much today - just a couple of kiddy snaps. We were a bit busy, and Hannah is so rarely co-operative! *sigh* Meanwhile, 20 hours until we find out if we have the house!

Outcome 1

Outcome 2

Really corny, but sweet... lol! Hannah wanted to join Toby on the cushion he was on.

Outcome 3

Day 19

Very much insaneness today! I have spent the day talking with the RE agent, talking to building inspectors, meeting with the bank... all so much madness!

Hannah was in care for the day, which was a good thing in the circumstances, but I did not have time to set up for any nice shots of Toby, so I was missing my more mobile model.

I did take her out for a walk in the evening, though. She flat refuses to look at the camera any more, but we were playing a new game... she crouched down, then JUMPED up again. I got ONE shot at this photo before she lost interest! Thankfully the focus worked out well! Also have been playing with the presets and actions a bit again.

Outcome 1

Aaaaand one of Toby boy. I was just mucking around while he was on the change table (right under the window). I am TRYING to get the confidence to use higher ISOs - this was taken at 800.

Outcome 2

AAAAAAND our big news for the day - we put in an offer on the house last night, and found out today that they are interested enough to bring the sale date forward to Friday. Unfortunately we are not the only people putting in an offer... but hopefully ours will be in with a good chance!

If anyone is interested... this is a link to the house plans.

Day 18

A bit late posting today - we were flat out this evening (all day, really). We were inspecting, then putting an offer in on a house! We will find out tomorrow if it has been accepted or not. The house really is perfect for us... I so hope it comes together!

Earlier in the afternoon, I had a friend over today with her three boys. A, B and C (actually, technically C, B and A) are the most delightful kids. Friendly, helpful, and absolutely gorgeous!

C (oldest) nicked off inside before I really got a chance to get any photos of him (I only got a couple of him with his eyes closed, pulling faces as he blew bubbles)... so he only appears in the group shot.

B (middle) was a great model, save that he kept staring at the camera and giving huge cheesy grins! lol!

A is the baby of the family... and if Toby turns out even half as easy going as he is, I will be stoked! He is such a beautiful kid! Would not keep still, though! But when I could catch him for half a second, he was such a pleasure to shoot - big blue eyes!

I have been playing with some new actions and presets that I got today... very fun! I can not believe how much they can enhance the colours in the photos!

Outcome 1Outcome 2

Outcome 3
(his eyes were picking up some of the colour of the equipment)

Outcome 4

Outcome 5

Outcome 6

Day 17

Just a photo of Toby. Sitting on my mothers lap. His face was a bit orange from the reflection off the bricks, so I went B&W. It is a little bit of a shame, because there were some nice colours in it.

Ah well.

Outcome 1

Day 16

Today Hannah and I went for a walk up the street to take some photos, just for something different. Hannah was actually happy to play along (in brief stints) and pose for me!

This shot was taken against a lovely green fence, but it was a bit rushed, as I was standing out on the road, and a car came. I would have liked to be a bit further back. By the time the car passed, Hannah had given up.

Outcome 1

She posed so nicely for this one! (I am a bit addicted to the B&W RAW presets at the moment!)

Outcome 2

Typical 2 year old. We were on our way back from our walk/park. We got to meters from the house, and she decided that she wanted to go over to the servo and get some chocolate. When mummy said no, she sat on the ground and refused to go on! lol! So... mum just made the most of it and snapped a couple more photos!

Outcome 3

This one was me just having some fun with the camera at the park, and then fun with photoshop at home. It was a bit of a challenge as a one (wo)man show... I had to pull the swing right back, let go, get down on the ground, take the photo, get up, push...

Outcome 4

Day 15 again.

OHOH! I just discovered ACR presets. I am in love!

Outcome 2

Day 15

Toby gets a look in today!

I ran out of space - I wanted a wider crop, but I did not have enough space. Damn small rooms! On the up side, we are looking at buying a new house! So between that and the new lens... lol!

I might add some more photos later.

Outcome 1

Day 14 - 2 weeks!

How to save water by Hannah Fyfe

1. Strip naked
2. Find a leak in the guttering
3. Get a bucket
4. Collect water in bucket
5. Deposit water on plants
6. Repeat from step 4

As well as watering the plants (because apparently the pouring rain was not enough to do that) you also have the added advantage of a shower as well!

Outcome 1

I used a vintage action today, just for something different. I think the colourings suit the weather well, although I do want to try the action on a photo to give an actual vintage look. (OK - that makes sense to me...)

Day 13

Just the one storyboard today. About time something good came of these blocks! Normally they are just scattered over the floor, with many muttered swear words whenever they hide under a discarded towel and get stepped on. They really hurt!

Day 12

Very brief tonight. I told myself that I was going to bed at 12pm on the dot, and it is 7 minutes to now... I need to get some cleaning done!!!

Last minute photo - actually beyond last minute photo. Hannah was supposed to be in bed. Just happened to be lucky that she decided not to go straight to sleep.

The photo was taken with an ISO of 1600, f/2. It HAD to be B&W because the white balance was that far out that even adjusting it to the coolest setting possible in DPP, it was still yellow. The reason being that as well as the crappy lighting used, the room is also painted yellow, so lots of yellowness being bounced around everywhere.

Hannah and her absolute favourite person in the whole wide world. :-) She is such a daddy's girl!

Day 11

Bath time!

Long day today. Awake from 5.30 with Toby, then Hannah was up from 6.30, ARGH! So I made both kids nap at the same time, and had one too!

Ended up at bath time without anything to show for the day... so wet kids it was!

At least Toby got a look in today.

Outcome 1

Outcome 2

Day 10

My mother (much like me) absolutely deplores having her photo taken. She normally flat refuses, but being the lovely daughter that I am, I did not give her any say in the matter.

Sorry mum, but I absolutely adore you, and I think you are beautiful. I am not going to let you deprive me and the kids of photos of you.

Hannah (who loves her Nanna to bits!) spent the afternoon there while I took Toby to his Paed appointment. I still had my camera with me from the morning trip to the ducks (following) so I took it in with me when I went to pick her up.

Outcome 1

At the lake near us there is the most fantastic team of ducks! (I had to look up the group name - by the by, did you know that it is a "flamboyance" of flamingos?)

Anyway - the ducks! They are amazing! They are so friendly... to the point that Hannah had to feed them from the safety of my lap. Not that she was safe even there - they were still snatching the bread from her hands - one also kept standing on my foot!

Outcome 2

Outcome 3

This is a new duck to the group. He is stunning - the photo does not do him justice! He has the same markings as a normal drake, but instead of being on brown, it is on white.

Outcome 4

Day 9

Today was... Shopping!

I took my 50mm prime, but it was a little narrow for what I was trying to do. BUT!!! I have bought my 28-75mm f2.8 off Ebay! So I should have that by the end of the week. :D

Day 8

Today was spent at my mothers cabin in Icy Creek (near Noojee, east of Melbourne). Beautiful area.

I did have some slightly technically better photos, but I thought for mum I would put up some of the ones that told a bit about our day instead. After all, that is what photos are about!

Hannah following DH and mum down the track near the lake...


Hannah on the chair near the lake...


Hannah holding one of the titchy frogs we found... (For perspective, that is a 2 1/2 year olds hand!)


I would have had a couple more, but I was playing with camera settings, and forgot to change them when we moved out of the heavy shade. *blush*

Day 7 - We made a week!

Today my aim was photos SOOC. I was allowing minimal exposure correction, and white balance correction, but that was it.

Hannah LOVES these clips. Useful, because it meant she let me put them in.

Today's photos are not all that special - I had Toby in arm at the same time, and he was rather unsettled. I ended up taking him inside and settling him, and by the time he was down, she had started taking them out.

So, this is the best of what we did get...

Outcome 1

Outcome 2

And this is Hannah's new camera pose. At least she was still long enough to have the photo taken, but I think I would prefer to see her face...

Outcome 3

Day 6

I thought I was stuck for today... Toby had hit shots today, so he was more unsettled than usual... which meant both he was out, and I didn't have time to chase Hannah around in hope of a photo.

BUT! Then I looked over, and there in front of me was a sleeping toddler!

The photos are in the wrong order - but I loved the first one, so I wanted it in the most prominent spot. She actually started sleeping with her head against the couch. After I had taken a couple of photos I tried to stir her... but she didn't want to wake, and snuggled up with her teddy on the floor instead, which provided a much better photo opportunity.

Photo 1
How fantastic is this photo! And what I love about it is it was 100% deliberate! I planned the framing, planned the lighting (well - by opening all the blinds and tugged Hannah's legs around a little so she was on a better angle) planned the DoF... about the only thing I didn't plan was the pose.

Ah what time to plan allows!

The post processing was correcting the white balance on the RAW image, and then a slight colour boost.

Outcome 1

Photo 2
This one was mostly to show that she was sleeping. I tried it on about a dozen different angles, and this was the best one... others the lighting was not right, or it showed too much mess. lol! I am just wishing I missed the tag! I do love the tail over her eye though!

Post processing - correct exposure and white balance on the RAW image, and the same colour enhance.

Outcome 2

Photo 3.
This was the initial position. How adorable! This is included more for the story than for photographic finesse. Please excuse the mess in the background... what can I say - a 2yo with an occupied mother can make a spectacular mess! And no idea why she was sitting on the container from the M&M cookies. (Mum is a bit addicted to them!)

Post processing - exposure correction. That was it. TBH, I was just too lazy to do anything more.

Outcome 3

Day 5

Being lazy today - no originals. There is not much done, just a little strengthening of the colours.

This was my choice for the day. Mostly because there is nothing bad about it, and it has both kids. I would have liked a little less shadow on Hannah's face. Toby was going nuts, as per usual.

Outcome 1

I was SO annoyed with this one! I really love the shot - but because she was moving, the focus is slightly out, and so it is a little bit soft.

I also cut off her chin. lol! Oh - and note the blue paint from childcare.

Outcome 2

This was when she finally got her Dodie (dummy) off me. I had been using it to bribe her to stay still... *blush*

I love the sharpness! I am just not 100% sure of the crop.

Outcome 3

I am just stoked that I got some front on photos of Hannah! Normally it is just the back of her head!

Day 4

... And still going! I am really enjoying this!

Today I was just playing in the back yard with Hannah. She really is not capable of stopping for long enough for me to get a posed photo of her. Just not working.

Best I could do was a few of her putting her shoes on. Highly unexciting. She was wearing her favourite dress, though, which is nice and bright.

Good chance for some nice bright colour shots.

I could not be bothered with putting the originals up today. They are not much different. I just put a light colour enhancement over it (although surprisingly slight).

Day 3

Today we had a meet for the online photogroup. You would think that a day out with the purpose of taking photos would produce some fantastic results! Hmmm... not with a toddler and a newborn apparently.

Today we have one photo. To make it a little more interesting I ran a couple of different conversions.

The photo itself was of my beloved daughter, who apparently has no ability to maintain body heat (hence my jacket) and yet is still fully intent on running straight into the water.

The only processing standard to all the photos was a slight (.17) adjustment in the exposure. In the first photo I played a little with bumping up the saturation slightly, the second was just a B&W conversion, and the third was a slightly tweaked Acid conversion.

Slight random enhancements

B&W

Acidic

Day 2

Toby's turn today. My poor photo neglected child. We would have taken more photos of Hannah in her first 2 days than we have of poor Toby in his first 2 months.

Photo 1.
Not that he was that keen on having photos done. Hmmm. I was having some issues with the lack of light in the room - I needed to allow as much as possible in, so it was a bit harsher than I would have liked.

Editing was just slightly increasing the contrast, and slightly decreasing the saturation.

Outcome 1

Photo 2.
This one he was a tad more willing to be involved in.

I ended up grabbing his cradle mattress, which has a white sheet over it, and using that to reflect some light back. The only issue was that I only have 2 hands.

Other than the same processing as the first shot, I also cleaned up a couple of spots, and the birthmark on his back.

Outcome 2

Photo 3.
Well. My plan for this shot was cute little frog legs tucked up in the corner of the photo... but Toby was not co-operating. But the aim is to try.

This was the best of a bad bunch. At least he is not flashing anything, even if he does have blurred feet.

Same post processing as the first.

Outcome 3