A Killdeer... and Photography Tips

The first picture.....

 While on a walk with my kids, we saw a killdeer, but couldn't get close to it. We were on a path that led to a creek/river and the killdeer was farther down and there was no way to get to it... too much brush.I zoomed in as far as I could, but it was a darker area and hard to see. 

I was very disappointed as I wanted to capture the scene, so I took a couple of pictures figuring they wouldn't be any good, but I had to take a couple anyway. 





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TIP:
By the way, if you have a digital camera, TAKE PICTURES!... take a lot of pictures (it's nice not not have to pay for film and developing!) Sometimes you will be surprised what you end up finding and using. Yes, you will throw a lot of them away, but you will learn and improve your skills... and hopefully, you will have a lot of fun too.  :)  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In editing I cropped the picture to this and it was okay, but originally I rejected it as too hard to see and too blurry. The original picture covered a larger area than this and the killdeer was just barely visible. 

 I lightened the color some and liked the effect more, but still didn't have a use for it, so just left it. Periodically, I went back to it because I have never been able to take a picture of a killdeer before, especially one with the reflection in the water, so I kept trying.















I cropped the same picture down even more to this. I tried cropping the same picture tighter, but the quality reduced more than I wanted.

 I finally settled on cropping it this much. I wanted the bird, the reflection, the ripples and some of the rocks in the picture.

I tried playing with the colors more,but it just didn't look right... not natural, so I only did a little to it.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 TIP
When working with changing the colors on your pictures, don't overdo it...  it is best if the picture looks natural, not overdone. Do as little as possible... unless you are looking to make some obviously enhanced work. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 The second picture:

 When I cropped this picture down from the original, I liked it better than the first one... and you can see the killdeer better. The shadows and reflections on the water are interesting.




Again, I lightened it just a bit and the picture below shows how that turned out.  It worked.

When I copied the picture and then cropped this one tighter, the quality went down, but  it is acceptable. This was part of what I had to learn... not to always reject a picture that is not as clear as I want it to be.

I realized that there is almost a painting type of quality to these photos. I really didn't do a lot to the pictures other than a LOT of cropping and more cropping.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TIP:
If you have a picture you like and want to play with, you can make a copy of it. To do so(at least in Picasa) you click on the picture. When on the picture, you click on "file", then on "Save a copy". This allows you to play with the picture and make changes while still keeping the original.  Of the 6 pictures here, they all come from only 2 original photos. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you are developing your skills as a photographer. Don't be intimidated by not having an expensive camera. Creativity, skill and hard work can overcome some of those issues...  not all, but it is certainly worth working on it no matter what camera you have to use. 

My photography skills continue to develop as I keep working on them... I learn a little here and there and most of all, I really enjoy taking pictures... so much so that I almost always have a camera with me... I just don't want to miss anything. :)  

Do you find these photography tips useful? I hope so...  and periodically, I will share more of them.  Thank you for visiting.


If you are interested, another post in this series is:

Tea.... and Photography Tips????


#photography #PhotographyTips #pictures  #killdeer




Shared on:
Dishing It and Digging It
Sunday Snap
Nifty Thrifty Sunday
Sundays at Home
Sunday's Best
Snickerdoodle Link Party
Scraptastic Saturday
Simple Saturdays
Saturday Sparks
Friday Photo Journal
Weekend Reflections
Blogger's Pit Stop
Friday at the Fire Station
Family Friday Link Up
Friday Frivolity
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Home and Garden Thursday
Thursday Favorite Things
Homemaking Party-Classical Homemaking
Wise Woman Link Up
Wednesday AIM Link Party
Wordless Wednesday
Tuesday Talk
Tuesdays with a Twist
Modest Mom
You're the Star
Cooking and Crafting w/ J and J
Art of Homemaking Monday
Over the Moon Link Party

A Romantic Hairstyle and Lace Dress

Oh, what fun...  my young lady daughter who just a few years ago liked more "tomboy" things.... now enjoys dressing up sometimes.

She wanted to have her hair curled to look nice with her  beautiful lacy dress she planned to wear for church.

 It started with putting sponge rollers in her hair the night before. Her older sister put the rollers in her wet hair, so that by morning she would have curls. 

There were 61 rollers! This daughter has a LOT of hair! I remember sleeping on those pink rollers when I was a kid... it wasn't too comfortable. She did say that she didn't sleep very well.  :)The things we do to have curls!

This morning, my older daughter is shown here taking the rollers out of her hair.

We have curls!!!  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can see some of my other hairstyle posts here:

Pigtails and French Braids


Easy Wavy Hairstyle


Two More French Braid Hairstyles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 I pulled curls to the top and back and held them in place with bobby pins. A little here...a little there... it was starting to get that romantic look. :)  

We put a pretty comb at the top and called it done. She looked beautiful... of course she always does, but this was special....

 Lace dress, curls in her hair, pearl earrings...  the stuff of princess dreams. 



By the way, a couple of her brothers didn't like the curls... they prefer her hair as it usually is which is a bit wavy and a bit straight, not curly.
 Brothers can be like that... but they tolerate the curls and really like that she dresses in such a feminine way. Of course, they rarely TELL her that!   :) 



This pretty and romantic hairstyle takes a little longer than braids or other types of hairstyles, but it is special and worth the extra effort sometimes.  :)
















The lace dress has a full skirt and works great for twirling! :) 

The hairstyle was a success, although I should have put a few more bobby pins in it... after a couple of hours, some of the curls started to fall down a bit.

All in all it was a success..... but we won't do it very often. That just makes it all the more special.

How precious to see our children grow and enjoy life. What a blessing that God has entrusted these kids to us... we need to be so careful to raise them to honor the Lord.

Thank you for visiting today.

Shared on:


Homemaking Party-Classical Homemaking
Wise Woman Link Up
Dishing It and Digging It
Snickerdoodle-Bake-Make-Create
Saturday Sparks
Scraptastic Saturday
Simple Saturday
Family Friday Link Up Party
Weekend Reflections
Blogger's Pit Stop
Home Sweet Home
Spring Fever Fashion
No Rules Weekend Party
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Vintage Charm
Thursday Favorite Things
Home and Garden Thursday
Homestead Blog Hop
Homemaking Link Up-Raising Homemakers
Wednesday AIM Link Party
Talk of the Town
Inspire Me Tuesday
Tuesdays with a Twist
Tuesdays At Our Home
Cooking and Crafting w/ J and J
Modest Mom
Art of Homemaking Mondays
Over the Moon





#hairstyles #romantic #curlyhair #princess #laceandpearls

Silhouette Beauty

 Silhouettes... they are just dark outlined shapes... nothing special...... 

and yet, there is something intriguing about them.

The sky is beautiful... but so are the outlined shapes that are dark against the sky.

 I am so thankful for the variety of beauty it is possible to find.....   I hope you are also able to enjoy the beauty of the silhouettes you see. Thank you for visiting...  I hope you have a nice week.  :)




"Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" 
Psalm 8:9


 Shared on:


Dishing It and Digging It
Sunday Snap
Snickerdoodle Saturday
Scraptastic
Simple Saturday
Saturday Sparks
Friday at the Fire Staion
Blogger's Pit Stop
Home Sweet Home
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Home and Garden Thursday
Wednesday AIM Link Party
Wordless Wednesday
Tuesdays With a Twist
image-in-ing
Inspire Me Monday
Modest Mom
Art of Homemaking Mondays
Over the Moon Link Party 

Featured on:

Saturday Sparks

Geese At Sunset

It was a beautiful evening... a simple trip to the park..... a sunset on the water as the geese swam. Beautiful.

 

 Sunset on the water... reflections...  a peaceful time... a gentle setting..... a nice way to end the day.

Silhouettes of the geese... a fleeting moment.... and beautiful. So easily missed and so glad we were there.


There is beauty all around us... many times in our busyness, we miss it. It is good to train ourselves to look for those snippets of beauty.... they are there....






"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."   Ecclesiastes 3:11



Shared on:

Friday Photo Journal
My Sunday Photo
Sunday Snap
Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make
Saturday Sparks
Simple Saturdays
Blogger's Pit Stop
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Home and Garden Thursday
Home Sweet Home
Wednesday AIM Link Party
Wise Woman
The Homemaking Party
Counting Our Blessings
image-in-ing
Modest Mom Monday
Art of Homemaking Monday
Simple Saturdays

Tea... and Photography Tips???

This post combines some photography tips with my enjoyment of tea. Hmmm.... sounds strange, doesn't it?

I think it will work though.

I was at the library, waiting for my son who ran in to pick up books and videos being held for the family...  and I saw a glimpse of pink flowers on a tree.

 I was unable to leave my vehicle to get closer because of where I was waiting, but as usual, I had been looking  around for what was interesting. I carry a camera with me most of the time because I never know when I will see something I want to photograph.  I was looking or wouldn't have noticed this tree since it was across the parking lot from me. It was also a cloudy dreary day and the light was not in a good spot at all.

I wish I would have thought to photograph what my view, from the car, actually looked like... there was nothing inspiring about it. That's the reason I didn't take a picture, but it would have helped make my point in this post. 

Another picture... just blah...   some pink, but not great at all.  I did zoom in to get this much, as the view from where I was didn't show this much color.  Both pictures are boring though.

 There was a tree, with new little green leaves, beside and in front of the pink tree and I liked the combination of the pink and the green together, but as you can see, it was still not wonderful. It was better... but still...... rather boring. 


I continued taking pictures... a little green on the side, lots of pink.... some half and half... just various combinations of those two colors. They were better... but still needed something.


 It was frustrating to me, because I love macro photography and I knew if I could get closer to the tree, I could get some amazing photos... even with the lighting conditions. Since there were no parking places and I couldn't leave the vehicle, I played around with taking the pictures I could take from where I was sitting.

Since we can't always wait for the perfect lighting conditions... or to be able to get as close to the subject as we want, we can use other ways to get better pictures.

Taking one of the "blah" pictures, I tweaked it a bit.  I darkened the shadows a little which really helped show the richer colors. Then I did a slight highlight to the colors also. This picture looks much more appealing than the other ones did. It actually looks more like it would when the light hits it better. 

If you are new to photography and find your pictures uninspiring... don't despair as there are so many ways to improve a less than wonderful picture.  

I take many pictures that are "perfect" and I do nothing to them.  Others get cropped... maybe even cropped again... and again until I find what I really like best. Sometimes colors get enhanced... sometimes the pictures sit in a file on my computer as I think maybe I can do something with them someday. Sometimes I do... sometimes I don't. I have taken many thousands of pictures and am still taking them.

By the way, maybe you feel a bit intimidated by other's fancy photography equipment...  it's easy to feel that your camera isn't good enough... but as you continue to learn, it is amazing what wonderful pictures can be taken on a simple little camera. If you get a better camera, great... but if you don't, just keep learning and taking pictures... and have fun!  :) 

So..... what to do with these pictures.... hmmm.... I like tea and wanted to make a quote picture and so created one.

 By the way, I really do enjoy tea and drink it at various times during the day....  not every day, but most days.  So the sentiment expressed on the picture really does fit me. 

There really is just nothing like a cup of tea!  :)  

Shared on:



Saturday Sparks
Dishing It and Digging It
Vintage Charm
Beautifully Creative Inspired Link Party
Scraptastic Saturdays
Home and Garden Thursday
Oh My Heartsie Girls
Tuesday Cuppa Tea
image-in-ing
Make It Pretty Monday
Art of Homemaking Monday
Modest Mom Monday
Home Matters Linky Party
Friday at the Fire Station
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Home Sweet Home
Counting Our Blessings
Share Your Cup
Wise Woman
Friends Sharing Tea

A Few of My Favorite Things

Here are just a few of my favorite things....

 Going on photo shoots with my kids.....

A nice hot cup of tea.....

Seeing my husband spend time in God's Word....

Country scenes..........

                                   Clouds.....                                           .

                     A bench in a peaceful place.....

A beautiful walking path for a family walk......

   

Reflections in water.....

   We all have so many favorite things... it is nice to think of them from time to time....  these have been just a few of my favorite things.  I would love to hear what some of your favorite things are also... please feel free to share them in the comments.  :)   

I hope you have a wonderful week.....



Shared on:


Skywatch
Vintage Show and Tell
Weekend Reflections
image-in-ing
Dishing It and Digging It
Blogger's Pit Stop
Friday at the Fire Station
Traffic Jam Weekend
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Vintage Charm
Home and Garden Thursday
The Homemaking Party
Wise Woman
Counting Our Blessings
Friends Sharing Tea
Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Modest Monday
You're the Star Blog Hop
Art of Homemaking Monday
Inspire Me Monday
Over the Moon Link Party

In the Life of a Squirrel......

Squirrels are a nuisance.... but they can also be cute.

    I am not fond of them.... and part of the reason is that they steal my tomatoes!!!  You can read about that here:

Lessons From Squirrels?

They are busy and quick to dart from one place to another.

    They are fast... and they seem to be nesting again.... sigh.....   I have another blog post about a baby squirrel that was out of the nest. You can see those pictures, if you would like. Just click on the link below:

Baby Squirrel Out of the Nest





 I turned this one into a Happy Birthday Squirrel. You are welcome to save this image to use for wishing someone a happy birthday in an email or on Facebook or other. I just ask that you leave the Gentle Joy Photography on it and use the picture only as it is... and do not sell it.  Thank you.

Another previous post about squirrels is here:

Birds and Squirrels

 Well, anyway.... I continue to  take pictures of these silly little creatures. Though they steal my tomatoes, I must admit that they are rather cute to watch. 

 This little guy looked shy and a bit worried....  I wondered about putting captions with some of these pictures, but haven't done so yet.



This squirrel seemed to be injured... he held that paw up until he needed to use it....







These creatures were made by God...  and I continue to be amazed by God's creativity.    Thank you for visiting today....... I hope you have a delightful week.


"Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."    Psalm 150:6

Shared on:




Simple Saturdays
The Homemaking Party
Friday Feature Party
Friday at the Fire Station
Traffic Jam Weekend Party
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Home Sweet Home
Wise Woman Link Up
Wordless Wednesday
Monday of Many Blessings
image-in-ing
Modest Mom Monday
Art of Homemaking Monday


Highlighted on:  Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Save