50mm Photo - First Try

This is just an idea of what kind of photos my new lens will take. I took this last night.

The specs are:

focal length - 50mm,

aperture-f1.8

shutter- 1/160

ISO 400.00

Monday - New Assignment - 50mm Photo

This week's assignment is going to be to show a picture using my new 50mm lens. Over the weekend I got the AF 50mm f1.8 Nikkor lens. It is a huge adjustment from my 18-135mm lens that came with my camera. Last night I was playing with my camera and I noticed that (1) I will have to get used to moving myself instead of just moving the lens to zoom in and out, and (2) I have to stick to slower action because this lens is slower @ 1/200 of a second. It is a great portrait lens, and with the aperture going to 1.8 you can really focus on a subject and blow out the background. Some people calls it the 'poor man portrait lens' because it is very affordable, but don't let that fool you, it is a great lens.

God Bless

Smiles - or Not

My assignment for myself this week was to capture a picture that represented 'Smiles'. Now normally that would probably mean a picture that had someone smiling or a smiling face shape. The picture I picked makes me smile becuase it is such the polar opposite of a smile. My nephew was having fun in his swing, but he looks like a member of the mob.

This was taken with my little Coolpix. I needed to probably have it on the action setting, that may have made it a little clearer.

God Bless!

Missing my D80

Today I finally dropped my baby (my Nikon D80) off at the local camera store to get its sensor cleaned. They told me it might be four days before I get it back, which feels like a hundred years. I have been very successful in taking pictures everyday since the 1st, and it was really becoming a habit. I have a little Coolpix that I am shooting with now so I keep up the action, but it is not the same…at all…seriously. When I got my D80 last year for Christmas (and by last year, I mean year before last – 2007) I just dropped any point and shoot camera usage to nothing. All I have used has been a D-SLR, except maybe a few lame pictures of myself with a camera phone just for the heck of it. I did not realize what I had at my finger tips and just how versatile a SLR really is. I shoot in manual mode about 90% of the time meaning that I pick my Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO setting for every shot. I have ultimate control, and consequently I take a lot of pathetic pictures, but when I get a good one it is so rewarding. On my Coolpix, I am at the mercy of what the camera sees and what it records and that is pretty much it. There are no real artistic options to it. I drove around today to try to get ideas of things to go and shoot once I get my D80 back and to keep my shooting rhythm. I got lost a few times, but I found my way. I did notice that I was more willing to stop and shoot with the little point and shoot camera. It is so much easier to use without drawing attention to yourself, or so it feels. That is one advantage I guess to using a good ole point and shoot. However, that does not make me miss a SLR any less. I think this brief separation will help me be more determined than ever to take quality pictures when I get the camera back. I a mean time I will do the best I can to get a great picture with what I have!
God Bless

I ate too much

Just a funny, I thought my washing machine looked like it was sick! :)~

Angel on your Wing

I caputured this pic in a cemetary in Montgomery.
I have to give credit to a lady in my last photo class who
had taken a similiar picture. I thought it was so pretty that
I wanted to try to shoot it also. I caught the vapor cloud
from a jet that had flown overhead. I love the color and I thought it was a cool pic.

Topic for last week: Learning

Last week I wanted to take a picture that would represent 'Learning'. I had to take my SPHR exam. I had to study, study, study and I wanted to capture the momenet somehow. I was sitting at my computer desk when I saw the moment to capture. I noticed that the sun was coming in and shining through the blinds onto my paper and my book. I stood up in my chair and took a picture of it.

This weeks Pratts assignment is to capture something that shows 'smiles'.

God Bless!

My Visit with my Grandparents

Check out my creativeness, click on the document to blow it up, so you can read it!

Fitness

Happy Sunday to you! It has been another fun week of me doing, well nothing really. I am looking back on my week trying to figure out where it went and what I did, but not a ton comes to mind. I did however have a chance to take some pictures last week. In fact, I have been able to take pictures every day this year so far (keep your fingers crossed!). If I make it through January, and I take a picture every day then I will make it a ‘resolution’ to take a picture every day.

Last week I gave myself an assignment to get a picture of something that represented ‘fitness’. I had the pleasure of running (and walking…a little…okay a lot!) my first 5k this past Saturday. At the conclusion of the race, I took a ton of pictures of the racers and of the runners that were going to run in a 1-mile race. I think the picture I choose from this can represent ‘fitness’.

Next weekend, I will be traveling to North Carolina to visit with my Grandparents (my Dad’s Mom and Dad), so next week I will have a picture that represents ‘Grandparents’.
God Bless!

To Weird

This was a weird nick-nack that I found at a thrift store.

Fireworks

My little assignment last week was to shoot some fireworks. I did not have access to a professional show, but my hubby and his brother gave me their version (which I really did appreciate, and I know I laughed a lot more than I would have at a big production – you know, “Hurry up get out of the way, your going to get blown up”). I took this photo handholding my Nikon D80 with the shutter on ‘Bulb’. The exposure could not have been but for a second or two. Since the fireworks were shooting out of a canister on the ground, it made it fairly easy to get some of the action (except when we had to run for cover because of that weird firework that took off like a UFO and flew toward us, that makes picture taking kind of hard). I would like to make it to a big firework show sometime this year and set up on a tripod and get some really crisp clean shots. But hey, this will have to do for now.

My assignment this week is to get a picture of something that represents fitness. Hmmm that sounds scary. I don’t think the vanilla cappuccino I am sipping would qualify. My scales? Who knows!

I was listing to my favorite podcast, This Week in Photography, and the team there was talking about their New Years Resolutions in regards to taking Pictures for 2009 (check them out at twipphoto.com). Their resolutions ran the gamut from organizing their files to taking more diverse photos. I want to make a resolution (even though I swore off resolutions) but I am scarred I won’t be able to do it, so I am hesitant. I am thinking about making a resolution to take a picture every day this year. With some exceptions of course, like my sensor is dirty so some time this week I have to drop off my camera for a professional cleaning. Hmmmm I will think on it and see if I can put that commitment out there. Maybe a resolution to shot 250 days this year….more to come.
Happy picture taking and God Bless!

Christmas 2008

Christmas has come and gone once again. This past week I gave myself an assignment to get a picture that represents Christmas. Now – I have to put a HUGE disclosure out there about my picture, although I know artistically this is not a great picture, it captured what I wanted to show…an empty Wal-Mart parking lot. The one day a year when even Wal-Mart closes down and it is almost as if time stops. Please excuse the composition on this one and just let the thought carry it through. One last time, Merry Christmas, I hope you and your loved ones had the best one ever. Until next year…

Now it is time for a New Year and a new week of pictures to take and to share. My assignment this week is Fireworks. I hope, I have an opportunity to actually see some fireworks this week that I can shoot. Wish me luck.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and God Bless!

Here is looking at you

Just an FYI, I am still looking for the perfect picture that represents Christmas. Yesterday I went shopping, and I was oh so tempted to take a snap shot of a disheveled big-box retail store and frantic shoppers, but that is not quite what I had in mind. I will post as soon as I get the shot that captures what Christmas should be about. Until then...

God Bless.

New Day

One of my two assignments this week was to photograph something that represents a new day. Well, let me think what could represent a new day...how about a sunrise. Genius. So this morning I woke up at 4:00 am (I had fallen asleep at 2:00, so I was not thrilled with this early rising time), and it hit me - today is the day to catch a sunrise. I made myself a pot of coffee, looked up the sunrise times online and headed off. Only after I was headed up a road, and I am so embarrassed to admit this, I realized I did not have a compass and I really did not know which direction to really focus on. So I drove and drove and I just did not see anything that suited my fancy or that I was just really wanting to capture. The sunrise time came and passed, it was foggy, wet, and just dark out so I decided to head home without my shot. But, at the last moment I decided to head to a local pond to see if it would ever be a good shot sight. It is called, and I am not kidding Cooter's Pond. I had never been there, but when I arrived, I found the illusive sun I had been looking for. So although this photo is a little dark, it represents exactly what I went out to find, a new day.

God bless.

My Gertrude Kasabier Mimic

I have to confess; mimicking another photographers work was much harder than I ever expected it to be. I looked at a ton of Kasabier’s pictures, and I picked three to try to mimic. Two of the three did not turn out very well, but one I was pretty happy with. I wish I had some good picture editing software because I really think I could have really nailed this and made it look old and a little more rustic. So of course, the darker picture with the man in the suite is Kasabiers (I got it from Wikipedia). The other is my Dad (thanks for modeling Dad!). I really learned a lot from trying to do this assignment, but I am glad it is over. Monday was the last night of my Photography II classes, so now I have to decide on my own weekly subject. Hmmm, what to do. I am going through a hard time right now because I was laid off from my real job last Friday, so I think I need to do an inspiring assignment. I am going to go out on a limb here and give myself two assignments….(1) is to photograph something that represents a new day and (2) Christmas. Let’s see how this turns out!

Finally, I picked an artist!

After a trying week that did not include much focusing on my photography...I finally picked a famous artist to mimic for my class assignment for next week. I have picked...drum roll please...Gertrude Kasebier. Ever heard of her? Me neither until I was listing to the History of Photography podcast. She was a turn of the century photographer who declared her photographs to be valuable because they were art. I like her thought process. So this is just a quick update. More to come now that I at least know what the heck I am doing.

God Bless!

Faces

I am currently taking some photography classes and this week we had an assignment to bring in a 8x10 photography that was on a face. That was it, so other specs. I ended up missing class because I was working, but since I had my picture all ready to go I figured I would save it as this weeks subject. So your thoughts? To me the composition is okay. I wish I had not cut of the top of this young guns hat, but other than that I think he has good position, decent lighting and good looking room. My only issue was one that I did not see until I blew this up to 8X10. I shot this in a backyard with a small aperture to blow out the background, but what I see in the background is a 5 - gallon bucket that was sitting there. I did not see it when I first reviewed the photo, and to be honest, I did not see it until it was framed. But now that I see it...boy do I see it! That is all I see, and if you are like my husband, now that I have pointed it out...it will be all you see also. So lesson learned. Even on a blown out background, I need to look - look - and look again!

Well happy shooting to you all. Next week I will be working on another assignment for my class. I have to mimic a famous photographers work, we'll see how that goes.

God Bless!

Welcome to Pratts Photography

Welcome to the Pratts Photography Blog page. I am the founder and creator of Pratts Photography. Now, about the name. I wanted to start a photography company that was unique and individual. My name is as plain as Jane Doe, so nothing with my name would work. I live in a beautiful city in Alabama named Prattville. Even though I probably won't be in Prattville the rest of my life, I will always love it so I figured it was the perfect name for my company. So here I am and here is Pratts Photography! This will "hopefully" be a weekly blog in which I share information about what I have shot that week and some examples. This upcoming week I am having to shoot 'faces' for a class assignment, so I will 'hopefully' share some images from that shot. Thanks for checking me out!

Amanda Griffin Smith
Pratts Photography