I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Anything but a face

I HEART FACES

Anything but a face.

Does a dog's face count? I was mainly focusing on the lack of my daughter's face in this shot. You can only image how she is viewing this adorable "please pet me!" pup.

Shoot and Edit: Week 8 - SOOC: Self Portrait

A lovely bi-polar morning of hard rain all night, hard rain into the morning and then a drastic change of hard snow.... Gotta love this awesome weather. It has a mind of it's own. NOT COMPLAINING!  LOL  ;-)

So this week's theme is SELF PORTRAIT. The self portrait that I took this week is that "eye" one that so many of you like--AND I'M SO FLATTERED!!!! Thanks again for all the compliments that I have received on that shot. Alas, I am going to show you the SOOC of that shot and use it for this challenge simply because I took it a few days ago AND I'm too lazy to take another one today.

Miss Pissy

My daughter is finally asleep. I sigh just now out of pure relief. She has an ear infection in both ears. It is so bad that the back of her neck is sore and affected from the infection. The past two nights have been hell. She awoke in the middle of the night, screaming in pain, holding her head between her little hands, saying over and over, "It hurts." Now she has three prescriptions: an extremely strong antibiotic, medicated ear drops, and my personal favorite Tylenol Codeine--that instead of knocking her out, makes her extremely hyper and active... Ironic. Let us pray that tonight will be a pain-free night, lacking a midnight scream of pure agony. There is only so much my heart can take. Seeing your precious little one look at you through tears, begging you to take away the pain....THE MOST horrible feeling ever. It seemed only fitting to pray, but not before breaking out my "sorry for being a hypocrite" line before I began, for I rarely pray. After all, it was for her that I would want the prayer to be granted for. I stopped praying for myself a long time ago. I suppose my little convenient prayer was answered today by taking her to the ER and getting confirmed answers with top notch medication. {I glance over at her and smile while I hear her little snore} I guess tonight just might be a peaceful one. 

This week and weekend has been a very busy one. Yes, I'm still homeless, living out of five suitcases and being chofered around by my sister-in-law. We are still staying at my brother's lovely home here in Tacoma. We are still looking at rentals around here, but geese...slap me for being picky, but if I have to stay here for a few years I want to like what I'm living in. Commonsense. I even turned down a lakehouse last week (too small). Looked into another bigger one this week (too far from my husband's work). Geese! Can there not be a balance? Regardless, we are guaranteed a house on base in a week if we cannot find one off. The house on base is a really nice one, so either way I'll be content if it comes to that by the end of next week. 

What else has been keeping me busy other than house shopping and caring for a sick little 3 year old? Filming and photography, looking for inspiring actors and actresses who would like to be involved in this online series that is about to air by the end of March (email me!), as well as hours and HOURS of video editing, music composing, script writing, brainstorming, and other cinematography related things--all while looking for a place to live and grabbing clothes out of fabric covered boxes on wheels. Lovely. So I've told my wonderful and patient husband to just call me Miss Pissy for the next couple weeks until things settle down around me. I have deadlines coming out of my ears, scheduled maternity and newborn photo sessions booked up into the month of April (I've been needing to get more familiar in that line of photography), a novel to finish, and a series to film. Okay, enough complaining. Instead I shall be thankful and leave it at that.

Make your own animation

Scavenger Hunt Sunday: 27th of Feb

Yaaaaeeee! Finally I am back to one of my favorite photo challenges  :-)  

Capture the Sky

Washington's skies...Considering I have always loved rainy days, I fit right in to the weather here. 

Everyday

This was a hard one to pin point, but I think I got it about right for me. EVERYDAY I think of my daughter and I think of ways to better myself FOR my daughter. So she is pretty much my every day.


 "Movement"

Furry

My daughter's little furry friend (Bella, my brother's pup).

Life

Life through my eyes... Everyone sees life in their own way, so I thought this image would best fit this word.

"All eyes see something different,
In a world of constant change,
Some just see the upside,
How it shines beyond our range..."

- Hannah Emellia 

{1/16 sec.  f/2.5   ISO 320 - 50mm}

Blurred

Fire is blurred. I like how only the tip of the front log it sharp. I just LOVE my new 50mm lens  :-)  I have a wide angle and a macro on it's way, but this was the first one to come in the mail. Not complaining!

Working with a Natural Sun Flare: Tutorial

I LOVE getting the natural sun flare in certain shots of mine. It's a thing I wanted to master a year ago because it just adds "magic" to your photo. Take the above example that I took yesterday. It's a simple child's swing, but add that little sun flare and you have something quite magical.

I took a couple of examples JUST FOR YOU!

On a side note, if you are in Photoshop and you want to view your image's info with detail, simply go to: FILE > FILE INFO... > CAMERA DATA. You will find EVERYTHING you need to know about that SOOC. 

This was was TOO MUCH into the sun. Notice the different from this SOOC and the first image I show in this post? I wanted to have my flare a bit more subtle. So I lowered down to the ground even more (snow drenched pants as a result, but well worth it) and made sure to have the sun BARELY peeping over the seat. Below are the image details to the first shot:

Not MUCH different from the other shot settings, but it was all about the angle after all. My aperture was the only thing different.

It might take a couple tries to get the sun just right in your shot, but eventually you'll get the hang of it. The key points to remember is to always have something SLIGHTLY in the way of the direct sun, that way you get that perfect flare peeking and you don't blind your lens directly AND always keep you ISO low (being down on the ground further is also better while you shoot UP at something with the sun there). Here are other flare shots that I have taken. You can see a pattern in my images. The sun is always almost hiding and I'll show you where for each sample (ALL images below have a natural sun flare that was NOT photoshopped):

Sun is peeking in the upper left corner of this image.

 Sun is peeking towards the UPPER RIGHT corner of this image.

Sun is in the UPPER LEFT corner of this image (and is pretty strong/shown more).

Sun is peeking through the trees in the middle of this image.

Sun is peeking in the MIDDLE of this image.

Sun is peeking in the UPPER RIGHT corner of this image (its strong and shown more).

Here are some other helpful links to hints for getting that natural sun flare:

• Carla Ten Eyack Photography (really cool and helpful tutorial with AMAZING images).
• Cambridge In Colour (very helpful!)
• Photoshop Essentials (how to FAKE it or enhance natural flares)

Awkward & Awesome

Awesome:

• Taking amazing shots in the falling snow yesterday here in Washington (here is a couple awesome posts w/ pictures from a couple a cool gals about Washington's recent snow fall: First & Second).
• Finally getting some alone time with my daughter. So awesome, considering those times are rare now a days. 
• Getting a few pats on the back for some awesome video editing. Yeah....I'm awesome....
• Losing two pounds this week (and it keeps on dropping) without even trying. It makes me believe that eventually I'll return to my 120lbs for my short little 5'2 self.

Awkward:

• Finally picking up my brother's recent published book and reading it. I left it aside the other day. My daughter had placed a playing card towards the back of the book when she was playing with cards that day. My brother picked up his book and said with excitement, "You're almost done with my book!!!?"  ...... Uhhhhh, awkwaaaaaaaard. "Yeah....sure am!" Thanks, Aurora, for the bookmark. 
• Taking a picture of my sister-in-law while she stood out amist the hard snowfall. Her: "Are you done yet?" Me: "Almost. Just keep doing what you're doing." She was drenched by the time I was satisfied. Uhh, sorry?
• Filming a fight scene between my husband and brother in the falling snow while my brother's next door neighbor walked out, stopped suddenly when he saw them fighting and me filming.... Him: "Uh...getting good shots in this snow?" Us: "........yep."
• Husband ran across our old neighbor on the military base here. Awkward.... They probably thought we followed them here, HA HA! (uh, MY country, forced to come to WA, but yeah, I'm from the west coast which they are not and we have tons of family and friends here, so in your face!). We were in California when they were moving out anyway, so it was nice for my husband to get an update from the old neighbor. All of their post it notes that they left throughout the entire building had already been taken down by the time we had gotten back from CA. We only heard whispers of what they actually said and left. I believe they were quite....retarded. I mean, who leaves post it notes on an apt building for random tenants to read when they move out? LOL! I wish I could have seen the notes/"letters" and been there, but alas--I'm glad the trash was cleaned up and disposed of before we got back. Awesomeness with a tad bit of awkward/annoyance, but I won't name names because...I'm awesome/nice like that. 

Shoot and Edit: Week 7 - EDIT Pink

So I couldn't decide on an edit. For the first one I went into FILTER > SHARPEN > SMART SHARPEN and adjusted my settings according to this specific shot. Then I selected my ADJUSTMENTS and selected VIBRANCE. I lowered my SATURATION.

For the second one I I did a reverse vignette, which is the opposite of the typical black vignette. I wanted my edges to be white because I would go better with this shot (I thought). So I went into FILTER > LENS CORRECTION. I gave it the blow settings:

For the third edit I did a devibrance and Noiseware sharpen (an awesome plugin). I just selected the VIBRANCE button in the ADJUSTMENTS area on the right panel and lowered my vibrance. Then I sharpened it and cleared out any noise in the Noiseware plugin.

I would have to say that the SOOC just might be my favorite out of all of the edits. OR the Reverse Vignette Edit. I'm tossed. What are you thoughts?

Washington & I

Washington and I go a long way back. Perhaps that's why I am not completely devastated about being forced to dwell here for a few years. My history with this place goes back about five years where I hopped on a jet plane and flew into Seattle. I took a taxi to the ferry docks and walked the pier until I found a ferry that would take me to Bremerton, where my father settled down. My little adventure was a fun one, seeing the beauty that Washington had to offer was so enjoyable. When I took my first kayak into Puget Sound with my father, I was convinced right then and there that this was the place I wanted to settle down in the future. It was so peaceful paddling out into the Sound. This area is gorgeous! That was five years ago. Since that day my eldest brother moved up here and purchased a house. Many other family members decided to make the move and settle in Washington from both my side and my husband's side of the family. This is just a beautiful place. 

I've always been a hiker ever since growing up in the Redwood Forest/California coast during my childhood years.  Hiking here is pretty much right outside your back door. I LOVE that! It's so peaceful.

So Washington and I have this long time bound that has finally happened simply by fate. We are already looking for houses to buy... I have friends and family here already. Settling down here is simply what must be. I can't wait to take another kayak into the Sound again.... Nothing felt more peaceful than that evening, watching the sunset while I paddled my kayak further out into the waters....

White Haze

TOP 5 for "serene"

Thanks for linking up those of you who did. The submissions were ALL SERENE and breathtaking! It was hard to choose to a top 5--as it always is. Now it is time to vote for your favorite--narrowing it down to the final TOP 3! 

For those of you who are on this this, PLEASE feel free to grab the TOP 5 button! Thanks for linking up!



<center><a href="http://captivusliving.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp58/militarymum/CAPTIVUSTOP5.jpg" /></a></center>

VOTING ENDS ON THE 2nd OF MARCH!

Take a look at all of the submissions HERE. 

Little Me Time

It's funny how laying in bed is something that I consider "me" time.

I'm laying next to my sick daughter in a blowup mattress in the home of my eldest brother and his family. The humidifier is on, you can smell the strong aroma of Vicks VapoRub, and you can hear my daughter's congested breathing. All is dark. I'm just laying here on my macbook, watching House episodes, writing down some inspiration, and typing away on my blog. It's only nine in the evening, so I am not feeling that guilty. My husband sleeps in the front room now that our daughter is sick. It's not as if he would ever get sick (his immune system is very weird. He never gets sick), but he doesn't need to be up all night with her considering he awakes early around 4:30 AM for work.

One thing is certain, I am at complete peace. I'm naturally a skeptic and pessimist by nature, so this current state of mind is pretty rare. Nothing is bothering me lately. We are still waiting on our house to open up, but regardless, I am at peace and patient.

We looked at a lakehouse the other day for rent (if we chose it then we would STOP waiting on this other house, which is on the military base). Our backyard was the dock. The views were AMAZING. I was in dreamland while looking out onto American Lake. A part of me wanted to choose this place, this rental for our home while living in Washington, but the lakehouse was too small. The thought of storing most of our stuff even crossed my mind! But in the end we had to say no. We are thinking about extending our family in a year once my husband returns from his desert adventure, so we would need more than just 800 square feet. Yeah...I know. T-I-N-Y.

I've been busy with a few things, but I am getting restless when it comes to living out of suitcases. It's not pretty or fun. It's exhausting and I know many of you can relate. The fact that we do this almost every two years!....draining, but still I lay here with a peaceful smile, enjoying my evening while I listen to RoboCop playing from the living room (nice choice in movie tonight, honey, lol).

Want to see what our house looks like?

Isn't she a cutie? AMAZING backyard. I'll be content....if I ever move in it! This IS taking forever.

My Jeep isn't here yet, but tomorrow my husband is going out to purchase a new Ford Focus. Don't ask me why. He's weird like that. Nevertheless, it WILL be nice to have a car. It sucks being without your own car too. I'm sure my Jeep has made it to the states by now...

Well, I'll spare you more blabs.

Oh yeah, the link up closes in 2 hours for the SERENE photo challenge! So link up if you have an image that looks "serene"!