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

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

Orange Glazed Blueberry Scones

The things are just scrumptious! I have made them twice in the last week and a half and they don't last longer than 24 hours :P Partially because it does't make an extremely large batch and I live with a family. But mostly because they end up in the mouth of the cook! ;)

Blueberry Scones

• 1 cup of blueberries (I use frozen and they work just fine)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Dash of salt
• 1 stick of butter
• 2/3 cup milk

Heat oven to 425 degreese. In a bowl mix the dry ingreedients. Add butter and blend with two knives or a pastry cutter untill it is crumbly. Stir in blueberries and add milk. Mix batter until it clings together. With floured hands, form into balls about 1/2' thick and 2 1/2' to 3'in diameter. Place on greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 13 minouts or untill golden brown. Makes about 11 scones. After they have cooled, I coat them with the orange glaze. It will run off, but the more you can get to stay on there, the better ;)


Orange Glaze

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large orange, juiced and zested
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Melt the butter in a small bowl. Add the orange juice and zest. Stir in the powdered sugar, portions at a time to make sure it dissolves.

The little bits of orange zest add just the right "pop" to the sweetness.

I was taking these on a morning before I left for college. (Only two full weeks left! Woot!) So I was a tad rushed after taking pictures and didn't even get to drink the tea. Oh, well, it would have probably been cold and way too strong from steeping the whole time I took pictures. But I ate plenty of scones, of course, before heading off to school. :D

So, I must admit that it took me by surprise when I picked up my camera and started taking pictures. I thought to myself, "Hey, I like the sound of the shutter!" as if I had forgot what it sounded like. Then I chided myself for not taking pictures for such a long time... or blogging. :P I've had some people remind me that I haven't blogged since the 7th of this month, lol.

Well... delicious stuff. 

Guess what? You should make them! So we can share the love of them :)

-MarLeahJoy

"Never give up..." -Nightingale

No, I'm not giving a motivational speech here on the blog. 

I really shouldn't be blogging, in fact, because tomorrow is my sister's wedding. wow.

But I was trying to meet a deadline for some prints for my room, and without explaining why, I ended up making some picture quotes with some of my photography. 

I wasn't going to share these on here until I got the prints back, but... as it turns out, I must have missed the deadline (for an amazing promo code - somehow it wouldn't work). So with that disappointment, I turned to blogging. ;) Blogging always makes me feel better :)

An image from our travels through Tennessee this summer.

From our last family trip to Colorado this fall; Garden of the Gods

And this image reminds me to use my Lensbaby more (maybe I just need to get my camera out more). I took this one in the spring - way back in the first few weeks that I had my camera.

All of these were created with Quotes Cover.

Next week I should have a post up from my sister's bridal portrait session. She already gave me permission ;) In the meantime, I will be... Helping with last minute wedding prep. Standing up as the maid of honor. Enjoying all the wedding guest who are traveling in. Likely finding myself in some good game of Ultimate after the wedding. Saying goodbye to my sister who will be saying hello to a new life in West Virginia (wow!). Getting my whole weeks worth of homework done on Sunday. And my new life will begin Monday. My life in a household of four -- not five. 

Have a marvelous weekend!

-MarLeahJoy

Familiars

Ehh... I'm sorry if my blog is boring you because it's boring me. Ha!

I've been thinking, "Why haven't I had anything cool or exciting on my blog lately?"

Well, I have been in a tad bit of a photography rut. I tried to prevent it, but I must say,

I'm definitely there. :/

So, I brought out my camera yesterday and I was determined to take some pictures. The result: pictures of my common, everyday life. ;)

We've had a lot of fresh flowers around the house lately :) Not sure why, but hey, I'm not complaining.

The rest of these images I was just experimenting with the quality and desired bokeh. (out of focus areas) :)

my dad at work

my mac :)

me

my car :)

-MarLeahJoy

Shadows

I really want to challenge myself to keep going in photography even though I've devoted this school year to learn about running a business. So, I've been browsing Flickr and different places to get the ideas rolling. But, my idea for this week actually came from an article I found... so I've been scouting out shadows all week. Actually, they are everywhere, but it's hard to think outside of the box to capture them.

I love natural light so much! Bright light, dark shadows, gradients, and everything in-between :) I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a window in my room.

Then last night, laying in bed, I saw this little "spot-light" on my wall from a Scentsy warmer I had going. There was some junk setting around that was being "shadowed" onto the wall that triggered me to think about my shadow project, so I moved the junk and had a little fun myself. :)

Does this look like a bunny? Ha! I'm really bad with making those little shadow figures, don't judge :P

Elephant! probably my favorite animal besides pets :)

A little motion blur + a shadow. Though, I'm sure the motion blur is more dominate in the picture :P

me and my camera

-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