This month's challenge at I Heart Faces is "Beautiful Black and White". It worked out perfectly this time since I had just gotten this image of the little girls and framed it this week. Love, love, LOVE black and white. : )
Author Archives: Kim Halloran-Fry
Gone Feising
This weekend kicked off the first of March Madness for us. It is the month of the Irish and there will be a lot of jigs danced before it's over.
Saturday found us in Stuttgart for another feis. The whole family hit this one and while it had all the potential to be otherwise, I can say it was a totally stress-free day from start to finish. The girls and I worked together in the days before preparing costumes and packing the feis bag. We were working within a budget for this trip so we planned to drive down and back the same day and bring meals along.
It all came off without a hitch. It's not everyday you can say that now is it? I like to make note when it does!
Prayer table links this week
Transfiguration links:
http://www.creationism.org/books/BibleInPictures/Bible40Mat17_01-07.jpg
St Perpetua links:
http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/0307.asp
http://www.charlottediocese.org/ministries-a-departments/media-center/423-2011-05-06-18-08-34
http://paperdali.blogspot.com/2010/08/saint-perpetua.html
http://www.torchlighters.org/index.php/kids/coloring/ (bottom of page)
Weekend Photography Tips – flash diffusers
It was a feis weekend so am going to fire off a short note here. A good way to soften harsh on camera flash it to diffuse it. That spreads the light around a bit more and redirects off the center of your subject for more even lighting.
Gary Fong is the king of flash diffusion. He sells diffusers for speedlight flash units used on Canon and Nikon dslrs. If you have a speedlight, however, you probably aren't reading these tips. <g> So I will direct you instead to his pop up flash diffuser. (There are some cheaper ones here but I am not familiar with their products or warranty.) This video shows you how it works with your camera.
You can rig up a diffuser on your own with an old white/clear film canister if you still have access to those. Directions here. Here is how to do it with tissue paper. This one is made from a cigarette carton and this one from a plastic flask. Not encouraging either of those purchases. Just sayin. <g>
Let's say you have a purse sized point and shoot however. You can try holding or taping tissue paper over the little square flash opening. You can hold a plastic cup over. If you feel like taping TP to your camera front is a little cheesier than you'd like when you are sight seeing or hosting a party, never fear. Gary has an inexpensive solution for point and shooters too right here. DIY hack for that here.
Play around with your flash and let me know what works for you!
Postcards from Luxembourg
For many centuries Luxembourg was one of the great walled cities of Europe. The massive fortification began in the 12th century although excavations show the area had been settled since the 4th century. The walls were enlarged yet more in the 15th through the 17th centuries, thus earning it the name The Gibraltar of the North. There are still a number of casemates remaining underground but sadly they were not open when we were there. We hope to return someday with more of the little ones. It truly was a fairy tale city.
time enough
Winter Walking with Abbie Rose
It's different this year. There is no more stroller in front of me. I am keenly aware of its absence I admit. For over a quarter century I have followed behind the wheels. But in place of the familiar hum of the axles spinning there is now a pair of tiny boots skipping, jumping, twirling. There are two bitty hands reaching, digging, pointing, sharing. Treasures in hand, she trips along the trail joy-filled and breathless checking every puddle and ditchside weed. And I am right behind, soaking it all in.
Someday – too soon – she will venture farther than I can follow. For today, though, we walk together. I am grateful for every step.
As we walked this day I felt a coin in my coat pocket. (pictured above) It wasn't a Euro and the saint caught my eye. When I came home I looked it up. It is Bulgarian and commemorates St Ivan of Rila (Rilski). You can see it here. Allen or Zach must have picked it up in Poland, Czech Republic, or Turkey is our best guess. Just made me laugh. How crazy that this is my life! I am grateful for this too. : )
The prayer table – 1st week in lent
Lent is upon us and I thought we would share a peek at our little prayer table and how it looks right now. It sits off to one side of the living room and the little ones gravitate there when I am working nearby in the kitchen.
I loved Ann Voskamp's idea for Ash Wednesday so we began lent there. We had a good talk about the Our Father prayer and really listening to what we are saying when we pray. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Which is essentially saying, Dear Lord, please treat me the way I treat others. It's a prayer with a bit of a catch. Sigh.
Alongside the bowl of 'dust' is a bible and a bowl which holds strips of paper with relevant verses to look up. Last week they were all about forgiveness. We have had lots of discussion about what forgiveness is and isn't. As in, forgiving an offense does not mean you approve of it. Forgiveness also does not mean you must remain in close contact with the offender. Sometimes that would not be wise nor safe. But we must always, really and truly, let it go inside.
Above the table last week was Ann's printable. Today it was replaced with this illustration of the week's gospel story about the Temptation of Christ. There are new bible verses: Download Temptation We have printed some coloring pages and will use some ideas found here and here this week. (there are obviously more resources on those two link than ANY one family could do. We will pick one or two this week.)
Weekend Photography Tips – fill flash
You probably have heard the universal advice about the flash built into your camera right? As in, turn it off. It's an oft-repeated tip. Do I agree?
Sometimes.
Oftentimes.
Usually.
Depends.
Natural light is a beautiful thing and I use it primarily whenever I can. However, there are far more situations than you might expect where flash units come in handy. For starters, even "good" photographers, some of the very best in fact, DO use flash all the time. Most fashion photography and much studio photography is done with artificial flash units. Usually they are positioned off to the side and often from behind as well. The one really bad place for a strong flash to hit your subject is full-on in front. Unfortunately this is exactly where the flash built into your camera lands, often leaving blown out or shiny spots on foreheads and chins and big shadows behind.
That doesn't mean you can't harness and make good use of that extra light available to you. And you should. Sadly most photos taken in auto mode end up a bit underexposed. You can fix this.
This week we are considering your first option – fill flash. This is basically a lower powered flash fire which augments your ambient light and brightens up faces that might be getting harsh shadows. If your subject is backlit (like when they are standing back to the sun) your camera may well try to balance that bright background and end up underexposing your subject's face. Camera's are funny that way. They want to end up with a pre-determined average amount of light. They don't judge which part of your scene is most important. They just average the total range of light. If you can control your flash you can counter this.
Your camera's manual will tell you if you have a dedicated fill flash setting or if you can override your camera and force it to flash when you'd like. If you shoot in semi-manual modes with a dslr you can also adjust your flash +/- several steps either way, altering the power of the flash.
In this picture a little flash was added to brighten her face without overpowering the ambient light.
In this next one, I was shooting in manual but it was at night with a wide angle zoom lens that calls for a lot of light. (read: kit lens) Fill flash helped to get the right exposure.
You can see the little circular catchlights right in the center of the eyes in all these – this is the tell-tale flash catchlight, but it isn't awful and is much better than an underexposed shot.
When your flash is set too high, the background goes dark as in this shot taken by Alannah with her point and shoot on auto everything.
You can see more examples of fill flash with a simple google search here.
Weekend Challenge:
Read your manual's flash section. Do you have a dedicated fill flash setting? Can you dial down the power of your flash? In which modes? Learn how to turn it off completely. How to force it to flash. And if possible, how to modify it. Do you have your camera set to eliminate red-eye when using your flash?
When you are familiar with the settings, try using your flash outdoors. Stand your subject with his/her back to the sun and force the flash to fire. Try it in full shade or where the light hitting the face is dappled. Try to use various amounts of flash indoors until you find a balance you are happy with.
*Good to know: Your built in flash has an average reach of about ten feet. If you are much further than that it won't do you much good. So for instance, firing your flash from the top bleacher of the gym is just going to annoy people. ; ) Ditto trying to flash a shot of the city in the distance in the evening.
living and learning lately
Random slices of the learning rooms lately….
The big draw? A new science text for Alannah. She made a comment about one of the images which got one boy's attention. They started looking through the book and talking and before you knew it a crowd formed. ON the table.
When was wasn't studying she was working on some vegetarian dishes for lent. The spinach mushroom quiche was a huge hit.
This little man learned to divide, much the way the rest of them did – sharing. If there are 12 cookies and 3 friends share them fairly, how many do they each get?
There you have it. Cookies and friends and fair shares.
The funny thing about floor work is that it usually isn't just the really little people. I often turn around and stumble over someone else who just sidled up for company.
These two are inseparable. I mean the two above and the two below who are usually in deep discussion about something every waking moment.
She tries very hard to keep up with Tess and Brendan and they try very hard to include her or to join in on something of hers.
high five for that. : )
some hits lately:
Shopping List game
Addition Puzzle cards
Starry Sky Journal 