Friday Feet?

Did you know that when your ? key is stuck you will find yourself asking more questions in a day than you have the entire last week? True story trust me.

I have a confession. I spaced that it was my day today. I will admit I knew it earlier in the week and was looking forward to challenging myself but in the end, I found myself distracted by the other things in my life and the awful rain and didn't quite get things done. My apologies to my team mates.

I have some pictures of my parents new kittens and I could use those but all of them are a little... well.. flat. So no face today. Today you get feet.


Nikon D300s
Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 *did you know the / key and the ? key are the same sucks when yours is broken*
ISO 800
Shutter Speed 1/640sec (should have turned down the ISO dang changing light conditions)
Aperture f/2.8

As you know, I "work" in the construction industry. These are Dave's feet as he cleaned the mud off the first floor deck of one of our job sites. As you also know, I'm a little obsessed with feet. Specifically work boots. And dirt, I'm also obsessed with dirt.
This picture puts that all together. I wanted to catch as much of the debris flying as possible and I wanted to make it appear that Dave was going to "walk" right out of the frame.
I'm pretty happy with how I achieved my objectives. As usual I could have stayed and played longer. All that debris flying was making me a nervous wreck. I was envisioning having to send the camera in for a cleaning already.

I originally thought I had no tie in. But, that's untrue. I actually have three. The squirrel and Dave both have feet. They are both animals. And both of them are working.
Not bad for pulling something out of my rear end.

The weekend is here. May we all be able to get out and take a picture of something that makes us happy.

xoxo,
Brandi

Friday Faces with Sere

This was not the picture that I had planned on posting today. But it was just such a beautiful, sunny day (a tad windy) but beautiful that I decided to head out and play with the kiddos (human and animal). I was looking for bird's nests, instead I had fun taking shots of Nanook, you've seen him before here, and my son playing together. Hope you enjoy it.

Nikon D2X

ISO-200

Aperture F/8

Shutter Speed 1/500 sec.

18-70mm at 65mm

No Flash, Natural Lighting

I have no real connection to Amanda's gorgeous shot except for the spring theme. I don't know about anybody else but I am really glad to be able to head outside to take some photographs and not freeze to death. Yay for spring!!!

BTW I am having some issues with spacing, anybody else having any??? Not sure what the deal is because I'm doing the same things I've always done. But my paragraph spacing is WAY big.

Enjoy! Sere

Friday Faces with Sere

Okay so for about 2 seconds here in the midwest we had nice, warm weather. Then it reverted back to this disgusting cold, damp stuff that I hate (as I'm sure almost everybody else does too). So I was forced to go back to the days of warmth and sun for today. Meet Mr.(or it could be Miss) Pelican.


Nikon D90
ISO-200
Aperture F/11
Shutter 1/400 sec.
Natural Lighting

Mr. (or Miss) Pelican was hanging out by the tarpon feeding area where all of the crazy tourists(including my family and I) pay good money to feed these HUGE fish in the ocean. He was trying his hardest to get any fish that the tarpons did not get. I believe he was a little upset with me because I had a camera in his face instead of a fishie and he(she) was letting me know all about his not so happy feelings. I just thought he was kinda cool because he had blue eyes and was quite pretty as far as pelicans go.

Here's hoping that spring and warmer weather gets back here soon. Anybody else feel extra, specially cold after our 70 degree days today? We even started a fire at our house. Brrrr!

Later,
Sere

Friday Faces with Sere

You all received a double-dose of 3C1D yesterday, you lucky people! So today hopefully we will get back on track, but first some 3C1D business to take care of. Our WW winner from last week is BigDan. Congratulations BigDan who is our local city of Chicago photographer. BigDan if you are okay with it we would love for you to post on Sunday. Please send an email to 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com and let us know if that will work.

Now back to my post for the day. I LOVE to photograph animals so our Friday Face for today is a big aquatic cutie! Gotta love dolphins.


Nikon D90
ISO-200
Aperture F/6.3
Shutter 1/800 sec.
18-200mm at 42mm
Natural Lighting

My family and I were able to go and see a dolphin show the other day. My son was able to "wade with the dolphins" for the first time. He thought that was pretty cool. Like mother, like son, I've swam with the dolphins a couple of times in my life.

It actually started to pour down rain while we were there, but we waited it out. The temperature just dropped about twenty degrees, but the shows just kept going on. So this picture was taken after the downpour while the skies were still cloudy. It gave me some nice, natural lighting on the dolphin. I adore dolphins so these shots were a lot of fun for me to take. Exotic animals is my connection to the post from yesterday.

I believe our dude is up for tomorrow to help get us back on schedule.
Sere

Faces Friday with Jay'me

Cannon Rebel XT
f 4,5
34.mm
ISO 400


SLEEEEP OOOOVER!
4 girls ~ 1 me ... They win.
I've officially lost my ever loving mind! FUN YOU SAY? We laughed, We cried, We may do it again, when I recoup ~ or not. I had a fingernail polish bonanza here. You could get high just by passing though my kitchen! I took this shot of the youngest girl (5) as she VERY carefully painted her own nails. Relax, I had paper covering the table! I took tons of shots tonight, but this one won. Her beautiful eye is captivating and she was such a delightful little thing. I need to go because the seven year olds are STILL making noise and it's late, VERY LATE !

Have a great Saturday day!
Jay'me

With flowers in her hair

I had the pleasure of dining with my fellow chick tonight at our favorite Chinese restaurant.
Jay'me walked in looking beautiful as always. She had just cut her hair and changed the style. I can't tell you how much I love it.

Wearing a flower from a fruity drink we were told was awesome, I thought she looked too beautiful to not share.


Nikon d40 kit lens
Aperture f/5.6
Shutter speed 1/125
ISO 200 - I left it low knowing I was going to have to use my on camera flash.
On camera flash defused with table napkin

I've decided the best people to take pictures of are those that take pictures themselves. They know not to move. Jay'me sat patiently while I fiddled with the paper napkin to diffuse the horrible on board flash.

My tie in to Scott's post... well... lets go with colors. The colors in Jay'me's shirt closely mimic those in Scott's post. Yeah... that will work.

I hope you're all spending this Friday evening doing something wonderful. I did.

xoxo,
Brandi

My Happy Place

This week has loosely been about things that make us happy. Scott's flower, Jay'me painting, Sere's sweethearts.
This edition of Friday Faces is all about my happy place and the people that put a smile on my face everyday and keep me from loosing my mind.

Meet Kim, the local barista at my Starbucks. She is one of many fantastic people that happily make me my grande non-fat, no-whip cinnamon dolce every morning.

Kim, my coffee and a drive-thru... nothing makes me happier.

Nikon d40 kit lens
ISO 400
aperture f/4.5
shutter speed 1/400

The only real challenge in this shot was getting the photo quickly. The 830am coffee crowd would lynch me if I took too long.

Thanks Kim for being such a great sport. See you tomorrow.


Wordless Wednesday is still open click here to enter this weeks contest. I'll be announcing the winner on Monday when I share Amanda's most recent guest photo.

Have a terrific weekend. May it be filled with happiness.

xoxox,
Brandi

Faces Friday with Jay'me's brother

While I can't take the credit for taking this photo there is a face in it! Get out your binoculars and squint. When I saw Sere's post I thought of a photo my Brother-in-law had just shared with me. What a fabulous shot. He was watching this guy free climb to the top of the mast to work on his boat. TERRIFYING and DEATH DEFYING ~ let's not pre-dial 911, let's start shooting with the camera phone. As you can see, I think Craig earned today's post and I honor him with my day. The sky and moon just happen to have been perfect. Super shot Craig! This is straight off of his phone, absolutely no adjustments! This guy would probably pay big bucks to have this hanging in his house.





camera phone
1/431
f2.8
3.85mm
ISO 80

Friday Faces with Sere

Totally thought my day was tomorrow. Glad I hopped on to see everybodies pictures from the last few days and realized that it was my turn today. We had two Snow Days this week, which is fun, although it extends our school year. We were out playing in the snow, sledding, and letting out "Whitey" to run around and play with. "Whitey," the little fluff ball is going to his new home tomorrow. I also had my son practice taking snow pictures as well, gotta get him interested in photography now right? I can't have my family members cutting off heads in photos and he enjoys it as well. What cuties these guys both are, I had to post the picture I took of the two of them.



Nikon D90
Lens 18-70 at 60mm
Aperture F/5
Shutter Speed 1/400 sec.
ISO-400
No Flash, Natural Lighting

Snow and ice. Lots of snow and ice in my shot and Brandi's and the color red.

Take Care!
Sere

Friday Faces with E-Man!

There is no question I'm in love with my first born. And when he says "Daddy, am I going to be on the computer again?" it's simply too hard to resist. I took this photo pre-Christmas yet felt it appropriate if only for the bokeh. Sere's photo of the figurines had great color too. So I decided this would work. Then there's the fact that the wrestling meet I was planning on shooting ended up happening without me. Oh well. Next time. Without further adieu, heeeeerrrrreeeeee's E-Man!



Canon 30D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4
Shutter 1/160
Aperture f/2.0
ISO 200
Natural Light

For the shot, I had Ethan stand near a window with indirect sunlight (and I think it was cloudy). The biggest challenge was white balance as the light from the window was different from the ambient light in the room. I'm not sure I know the correct answer but I chose to make sure Ethan's skin tone was the best and didn't worry about the background.

Then of course there was the challenge of getting him to smile without moving like a punching balloon. It's a serious problem if the subject is constantly changing the distance from the focal plane. And when shooting with an aperture of f/2.0, you don't have much depth of field to work with. My solution was to give him a spot to plant his feet and he could move anything else. I still got many out of focus shots but I also got many keepers.

Okay, that about does it for me folks. All of you have a great weekend and check us out tomorrow for some Brandi inspiration. I should mention Brandi is traveling and might need a substitute. In that case, you'll get a double dose of me. Whoopieee!!! Peace out y'all!

Scott

Freezing Friday Faces

Rut, what rut? Where is this rut that Scott speaks of? Oh, is it that giant hole the size of a 76 Buick sitting in the middle of my life!

Scott can speak for me. I've been in a rut. It's not from lack of interest on my part. It's from life (happy holidays here's a bucket of strees), cold (hello 10 degree highs for days) and it's dark for 20 hours a day. I've been brainstorming some inside ideas so watch out world.

I got a chance to step outside my suburban box and go down to the big city today. Chicago it's my kind of town. All the people, the hustle and bustle. It's something magical. As I strolled around I had the opportunity to meet Sandra. She stood about half way down the block, not at a corner like many of her comrades. Sandra's smile and warm holiday greetings for all the passersby caught my attention instantly.

So who is this woman standing in the middle of a city block, wishing people well?
She's none other than a Salvation Army bell ringer.


Nikon d40 kit lens
ISO 200
shutter speed 1/30 (what was wrong with me?)
aperture f/3.5


I knew I wanted to keep the bin red and tone down the background. Opening the picture in Photoshop Elements, I duplicated the photo. Took one photo and over exaggerated the reds, giving the collection bin great vibrant color. Then I took the other picture and almost completely desaturated it. Leaving just enough color to not wash it out (I hope). Using the lasso tool, I removed the collection bin in the over saturated photo and pasted it over the collection bin in the desaturated photo. Going back closely, I erased any bleed over and made it an almost seamless single photo.
The edit took about 10 minutes. Once you work with this kind of thing, it gets pretty easy.

There is probably no sound I associate more closely with Christmas than the ringing of the Salvation Army bells. I realize it's Friday Faces and I should highlight Sandra's beautiful face and not the red donation bin but I wanted my emphasis to be on the giving. The giving (of time, of money, of resources, of gifts) is what this holiday is all about. Go forth and give. Give of your heart, give of your soul and you'll be rewarded. I promise.


xoxo,
Brandi

PS - it's not too late to enter in the Wordless Wednesday for this week. Jay'me took a great shot, one that speaks directly to my heart. Click here and comment. It doesn't have to be nice. It doesn't have to be a guess. It just has to be something. Heck tell us what color your shirt is today and you'll be entered to win. Go now!

Faces Friday with Jay'me

1/5
f5.6
55mm
no flash
manual
ISO 400

I love killing two birds with one stone. I know not the Christmas passage you think should accompany this shot right? Well I didn't kill any birds at all. I was going to get our next photo for our new 2010 ornament and Christmas Cards AND new photo for Faces Friday (are you counting 3 also) Well, sometimes mama bears let their cubs sled too long and they get too tired and cranky to be good little models.

So I was setting up the tripod while they were moaning and groaning and I said "Forget it guys, We'll do it tomorrow!" They thought I was sick or something. But happy to not have to dress up in their Sunday finest and take direction for the next half hour or so.
There was the shot staring right at me. I give you a photo of the last two years past. It's a tradition I've started and think everyone with kids (or pets) should try. The kids LOVE them and so do I.
So you may be thinking that's not Mr Duck Taped Cannon elph, nor is that her iphone 3, You're right that's my old Cannon EOS Rebel XT with a new battery and and same old broken lens. She kicks butt comparing to my other options, but she does need to be moving along. So all of you good kids, not on the naughty list, tell Santa that Jay'me would really love an upgrade...

This photo is straight off my camera. I used a tripod. yes that's broken too. Trooper Jay'me wraps her camera strap tight to stabilize it, because the screw is missing. I worked in manual and turned off the flash. Manual focus allowed me to focus on the color ornament in the center and deeper in the tree.
I hope you all enjoy!
Jay'me

Friday Faces with Sere

Better late then never today. My day ran away from me and now here it is almost one in the morning and I am just now putting my picture up. Had a wonderful evening with friends so I hope you all will forgive me.

I am on a total animal kick here lately. My litter of all white siberian huskies are now at around four weeks old and beginning to be at that totally cute stage that puppies get. I couldn't resist taking one of my potential Christmas card pics and using it for my post today. They are just too cute not to :)....

Nikon D2X
Fifty Nifty Lens
Aperture F/1.8
Shutter Speed 1/50 sec.
ISO-400
No Flash, natural lighting

I was on a mission today to get some cute, updated pictures of these guys for my website and also to be able to find one that I could send as a Christmas card to my customers this year. I had this idea in my head of what I wanted my picture to look like and I couldn't quite capture what I wanted, came close, but not quite so I will need to try again.

It was kind of dreary out today so natural lighting was hard, i.e. the wide open aperture I had. I could have bumped up my film speed, but you sacrifice some quality doing that so I kept it at 400. A wide open aperture gives you a pretty limited depth of field though. I tried some shots with a flash but the lighting was not right and working with a slow flash is frustrating with active pups so I did away with it pretty quickly. I added a little bit of fill light in Lightroom, but that was about all I did to the shot.

Night, night I am off to bed now.

Faces Friday with Jay'me

Cannon elph
duck tape
1/60
f 4.9
18.6
ISO160


'Tis the season for friends and family. Hugs, love and warm fuzzys. This little sweetie (Maddie) has a huge crush on her uncle Craig. She is in heaven in this photo. I took lots of photos but came back to this one because it was the first and most authentic. I know the back ground it loud and the flash is bleaching out their color.
This is the best I've got. Love is always good enough - heck it's the BEST!
Jay'me

Squishy Face Friday - reader beware

This is your caution, the below picture is so ridiculously cute you will find yourself wanting a baby. While I want everyone to look at every picture posted here if you cannot handle a severe case of the "I wanna baby"ies please do not move forward. I'll give you a moment to decide if you can handle it.



Here is another warning. I'll keep talking to you for a few moments to allow you to make a good decision. Oh, I should mention this is Brandi. Scott and his wife and two young boys are traveling by car from the Chicago area to Denver to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family. Don't worry Scott will be posting tomorrow once they are settled in Denver. Your prayers for Scott and his wife are appreciated. Can't imagine traveling that far with a 2 year old and a 4 year old, even though both his boys are terrific.

Have I given you enough time yet? Have you made the right choice?

Here goes... last chance....

Nikon D40 kit lens
f/5.0
Shutter speed 1/400sec
ISO 800
manual
natural light

This is Ryan. He's a dear friends youngest boy. They came over for a play date today and Ryan was my perfect model. Well, as perfect as a one year old, that just learned to walk and is a crazy crawler can be.
His happy little face is simply contagious.

I wish I could have closed up my aperture (higher f stop number) so I could have gotten a little better focus on his eyes as well as the block. Unfortunately, I had to keep my shutter speed high to keep up with his fast movement which meant moving up (lower number fstop) to keep proper exposure.
As I've lamented before my camera does horrible with high ISO. Normally with a camera that can handle higher ISO, you could have bumped that up (maybe to 1200ish) to allow the shutter speed and aperture to be more to my liking. Alas, I didn't get that option.
I'm still really happy with this photo. He's a beautiful little boy and I really feel his contagious smile through the picture.
My tie in to Jay'me's wooden spindles is the wood block that Ryan is holding. Weak, I know, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

One more day to try to get in on this weeks Wordless Wednesday. Scratch that I'm making an executive decision, two more days. Sere will post the winner with her post on Sunday.
We're still looking for Kevin McQuire. Paging, Kevin McQuire. Kevin McQuire please check in at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com. You won, now you just have to claim your prize.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Scott will be here tomorrow with something fantastic from Denver!

Friday Faces with Sere

I went out yesterday to help a friend of mine's daughter who is interested in photography do a senior portrait. These two girls were hilarious and a lot of fun to work with. Both are just beautiful young women and I was really glad to be able to help her out. We went out into the woods by her house and took some fun pictures with trees and a stream, logs and rocks. Oh and her adorable little dog. Then as we were heading back in, trying to beat the rain, we passed by the horses. I thought that taking a picture with the horses would be fun so we stopped and took a few more with them. I had a hard time deciding between the picture that I posted and this picture, but I love horses so that one won out.

Nikon D90
Nifty Fifty 50mm Fixed Portrait Lens
Aperture F-2.8
Shutter 1/1000
ISO-640
Aperture Priority
Natural Lighting but I did add a gold reflector to give it more warmth

She is taking a digital photography class, but I think that they are doing a disservice to the kids because they aren't talking about the basics of photography. They seem to be concentrating mostly on how to manipulate a photo with software which is fine but these students need to learn the basics of aperture, shutter speed, ISO and how they all interact with each other. Which is why she wanted me to come and help her out. I was more then happy to do it.

Big thanks to all of you who made guesses on Wordless Wednesday this week. It was a real stumper this time but a great picture. Check it out here! Kevin is our lucky winner and next weeks guest photographer. Kevin, please email 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com if you haven't already and let us know what day works for you. We look forward to seeing what you will come up with.

Jay'me you are up. Have fun!

Friday Faces with....*drum roll please*

Brandi!!!

Stop your crying! Scott will be here tomorrow. Yes, you really can wait a day to see his work, it won't kill you. I promise.

**stay until the end for a special announcement**


When I told Scott that I took some photos at my daughters school Halloween parade we thought we would switch days so we could show off some cute kids for this edition of Friday Faces.

Nikon d40 18-55
Shutter speed 1/100
Aperture f4.5 @32mm
ISO 800

I took a ton of photos during the parade. Getting 14 2-3 year olds to listen, smile and pose is the single most difficult thing to do. Ever. Factor in my cameras inability to handle low light situations, like being inside a school and you have some yellow cast photos.
I knew when I went through them I was going to have to do something I don't often do. I was going to have to do a little heavy editing. sigh... I much prefer to let the photo speak for itself with a quick brighten, sharpen or a little boost.
I played with a couple different things and ended up giving this what I call a newspaper feel. Not completely black and white but not sepia either.
In the end, I hope the girls smiling faces and bright eyes carry the photo. Two friends, sharing in the excitement of a special day. What could be better than that?

*******
I get to be the lucky person to announce that we are extending this weeks Wordless Wednesday. Go here and enter your name. You don't even have to make a correct guess. You just have to put your name in the hat. It's easy, it's fun and it won't cost a thing. Where else can you find that type of entertainment?
So stop making excuses and go!!!

See ya next time!!

xoxox,
Brandi

Just Hanging Out...

Just a quick mention and shout out to our Wordless Wednesday winner Kristine!! Congrats you were randomly chosen as the winner! Please email us at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com to find out about where you need to go from here. I can't wait to see your photo!!

As for my photo.... I actually took this picture before I saw Brandi's post from yesterday, bad Sere I know, but I had a good opportunity to play so I took it. I had this grandiose idea in my head of all three of these guys looking up at me all perfect like, you know like a calendar pic where everybody looks so cute and fuzzy. Well needless to say that did not work out at all. Charlie the kitty had his own ideas of what he wanted to do and it was not pose for a picture for me. How dare my local, very friendly, yet total barn cat not want to do what I wanted him to do. Hmmpf, it just doesn't make sense. So I stopped waving the camera in front of his face and went on with my day, trying to figure out how to do Friday Faces and connect it to Brandi's heart post.

Uuuuh duh! With her heart picture I realized that I had to connect it by way of taking a Friday Faces picture of someone that I love, so I went back to my pics from this morning and took a look around. None of them were exceptionally good, but this one does tell a bit of a story and I have realized that I am a story telling photography person. Almost every picture I take has a story of some sort behind it or I don't typically take the picture.

Nikon D2x
Nifty Fifty Portrait lens, fixed 50mm
ISO-320
Aperture F/13
Shutter 1/80 sec.
Natural Lighting, Aperture Priority Mode

In this picture Colton was trying to make sure that puppy didn't run off because he was scared of Charlie the kitty. Puppy was like, uh why am I here, I don't want to be here, can I please go back to my momma. I know this was what he was thinking because everytime you let go of him where did he race off to? None other then Momma. Charlie the kitty kept following me around wanting attention from me, I kept refusing him and sending him back to Colton. He retaliated by refusing to look at me and my camera, instead he kept snuggling up to Colton and turning his back to me. Like, ha, I know what you want and I am going to pout and not give it to you because you won't pet me. I know for a fact this was what he was thinking, I know it, really I do.

So what story in pictures can you come up with Jay'me?

Faces Friday with Jay'me

What a struggle. In three days I have taken over 500 pictures and most of them garbage. Over exposed, under exposed, blurry, or just irrelevant. I've narrowed them down to about five maybe usable pictures. Then sat here staring at them thinking "Not good enough"!
The last few days were splendid, fabulous, and magnificent! The girls I took out to the fields and pond behind us today were charming and delightful. My skills - not so much.

I tried to simulate the color and layout from Sere's post with this "Up the Tree" photo. I played in and out of soft and hard natural light and adjusted my depth of field a lot. I'm figuring out how to adjust more to help myself.
I do like the depth of field in this one. The leaf in the foreground is slightly out of focus as is the background. I need a vitamin and a nap now...



Cannon EOS
Manual
No flash
1/80
f 5.6
ISO 100

Friendly Friday Faces

Some of you may know this face. For those of you that don't... this is my dad.
Everyone say "Hi Brandi's Dad!"

Nikon d40 kit lens
1/200sec
ISO 200
f5.6

My dear friend Scott left me next nothing to tie into for Friday faces.

Thanks Scott, you're the best buddy.

I did manage to find some stray dandelions in my yard so I thought I would capture someone blowing the seeds. I annoyed my husband, my mother and lastly my father. They all obliged with very little complaining and minimal bribery. There was just something about the pictures of my dad that spoke to me. I don't know if it's his blue eyes or the balance of the blue from his shirt but, in the end he won.

Sorry Mom and Hubby, maybe next time.
Dad, stop gloating, it's not nice.

I didn't like any of the photos where he was blowing the dandelion seeds. I, like Scott before me, just couldn't quite capture it the way I wanted to.
Obviously, once I omitted the dandelion from the shot all I had to tie into Scott's photo from yesterday with was the layout of the shot and the bright blue sky.

********************
We've awarded the winner from this weeks Wordless Wednesday post. Maybe you guys missed it. Scroll down a bit and you'll see it or you can use our handy dandy archieve function on the right side of the screen. We're still looking for Amanda to claim her victory.
Amanda give us shout at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com so we can add you as a special guest star.