What I'm Loving {Today}

I wasn't really planning on blogging today... at least I didn't have anything in mind. But when things are so good, my heart bubbles over and I have to share somewhere. So I'm just going to share what's making me happy today :)

[1] my open window with the breeze blowing my curtains [2] all the birds making noises outside [3] sunshine/natural light in my bedroom [4] getting laundry done with all the elements from 1, 2 and 3 ;) [5] wearing a super comfy hoodie *which is advertising US-made cars... whoops! I guess I need a VW one ;P [6] using my Lensbaby [7] plans for tomorrow: getting to visit an elderly woman 

-MarLeahJoy

Deer After the Rain

I love taking a good dig back through my archives. 

Well, this time I was really just on a search for this picture from Colorado last September.

And now let me enter into la-la land where I dream of more trails to hike and places to explore. :)

-MarLeahJoy

Snowfall

We had perfect fall weather Monday and Tuesday, then BAM! on Thursday and Friday we get snow!

I like it though. I do really want to go outside and be active though, but it doesn't take me long to realized that I really want to be back indoors snuggled by a fire.

I've seen several photographers take amazing snowflake macros recently. And when I saw them, I mentally thought "Cool thing to do one day... I'll go pin it so I don't forget it."

Well, in less than a week we had our own snow. So, I went outside and began to follow their tips and I was like, "What's wrong!?" I wasn't getting anything good. It turns out that macro photography (with a magnifying glass) is really probably not something for one person to do because you have to hold the camera and the glass and keep moving them both until you get it perfectly in focus. 

Plus, your hands are shaking because it's COLD! So I put my camera on continuous and took a ton of pictures to get some steady ones.

The picture on the right is kind of hard to see, but it is a cluster of snowflakes... it reminds me of geometric planes, haha.

-MarLeahJoy

A Lesson on the Lensbaby

I had to get some shots for a powerpoint presentation I'm giving tomorrow about my Lensbaby Composer Pro + Edge 80 optic (now sold together). And for no real reason I feel like sharing them. 

Because, why not?

Actually, Einstein said that if you cannot explain it simply, then you do not understand it well enough. So this might be a test of my knowledge... 

So here goes.

This is the difference in aperture sizes. F/2.8 means that the opening in the lens (which lets the light in) is open really wide (as far as it goes in my Edge 80 optic). F/22 means that the hole is really small so it lets very little light in. So, for this example I went ahead and cranked my ISO (how sensitive the camera's sensor is to pick up the light) all the way up to 6400 so that's why you can see more grain in the picture.

But, the main difference seen in the two examples is how much is actually in focus. 

With f/2.8, the larger opening allows the light to come in to the camera from more angles

With f/22, it creates "deep focus", which is saying that more things are in focus because the light rays coming through the lens are more parallel to each other.

Actually, that was just a lesson on aperture, not necessarily the Lensbaby, because every lens can change aperture.

This next example however, is exclusive to the Lensbaby Composer Pro. But first, let's see what the lens even looks like...

Image from Lensbaby.com

This is the Composer Pro base and the Edge 80 optic put together. It can tilt around in anyway you would like. 

When you have it positioned straight, it will act as any other lens... where the objects in focus is determined by the aperture size and the focal distance you choose.

But when you tilt the lens, it bends the plane of focus to the angle that the lens is tilted... resulting in a "slice of focus" that is now not based on how far the object is from you, but how drastically you tilt the lens.

Image from Lensbaby.com

For most of you, this is just a lot of "blah, blah, blah" that you will likely skim over. But if nothing else, I think I educated myself a little bit more by creating this post... :P

Happy December!

-MarLeahJoy

Colorado

These are some of the pictures I quickly lumped together and showed you 

in this post here, when I was still in Colorado. So here are the full images. :)

Garden of the Gods :)

I used my Lensbaby Edge 80 on this shot to give it a miniature look.

And I think this is my absolute favorite image I have taken with the Lensbaby yet. 

And I even taught my dad how to use the Lensbaby :)

So he took this one of us

And here again is the image I submitted into the landscape contest. You can vote for me if you have Facebook, and it will *maybe slightly* influence the judging, but the contest is not based on likes.

If you don't have Facebook, go on over and check out all the amazing entries anyway. Some of them are absolutely amazing! http://woobox.com/f4nhhw/vote/for/1292609 

I brought out my Double Glass optic, that I practically have never used since

the day I got my Lensbaby, and I think I actually kind of like it. 

It gives this zoom-y effect to every picture, so I doesn't work all the time, 

but I liked it for the tourist-y shots I got around town that day. 

All of the rest of the pictures in this post were taken using the Double Glass.

From PJ's Bistro. I was terribly, terribly sick at this point, but I was still

taking pictures ;P

Have a wonderful weekend!

-MarLeahJoy

Lensbaby Love

I'm super excited about my 50mm lens -- that I should be getting shortly :D -- but I still love my Lensbaby.

Here are some of this week's pictures with the Composer Pro + Edge 80.

Major sun flare... but I kind of like it because it doesn't distract from the main subject, but almost show cases her.

I think she was in need of a nap ;)

Those pictures of her seem to have quite the style change from one to another. I almost think my favorite style is the first one of my Uncle next to Lacey because it seems to have the perfect blend of the soft look that super sunny pictures give, but still preserving the right color.

These are cabins that are on our national campmeeting grounds located in Monark Springs, but we just call it Monark. We had a workday there Saturday to clean everything up, and I had to pull out my camera to finally capture these cabins that I have always loved. Monark has always been so special to me. I cannot wait for it to start!

This week, me and my camera should have a little fun together... ;)

Tuesday -

• The Canon 7D will meet the 50mm f/1.8 
• Possible photo booth (at Marty's going-away party) It should be fun as long as everybody participates in the goofiness :P

Someday this week -

• I'm supposed to take some more pictures of Marty and Alyssa before Marty leaves for WV. (I know my sister will miss him like crazy, but I think I might miss him just a little bit, too ;))

Wednesday thru Saturday -

• It's the Newton County Fair... I have some big plans for pictures and video clips, so basically I'm just going to stalk the booths, rides, and random people. Haha ;) I can only hope it turns out as I envision, though. Oh well, I should at least come away from it with a few pictures to share.

Everybody have a fabulous week!

-MarLeahJoy