MoreBeaute2 App!

K, you know I've basically dumped my Nikon for my iPhone. Well, not totally dumped...I just never carry the dang camera around, but I always have the iPhone with me...ALWAYS. So, I'm on a mission to take kick a$$ pictures with the phone.

I have found the most phenomenal app for editing faces with the iPhone, and it's literally one click.

Check this out:

I know my Mom is going to hate it, but I love the dewy haze it puts on the picture. I'm not kidding you, this was no edit on the left, and one click through the MoreBeaute2 App on the right.

I lurve it...and it's free!

Go Get It!

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iPhoneography Deep End

I was looking through my Instagram stream to find some of the MANY pics I had taken of us at The Museum of Science and Industry.

Basically, they were having free month for Illinois residents, and we were having a teachers strike...SO...that was my entire plan of attack. The kids had a ball, and learned all kinds of cool sciencey stuff. I was uber impress with all of the presentations they do. (Personal favorite being balcony drop...Yes, that's dropping stuff off a balcony.)

I'm rambling. I saw this pic in my stream. I LOVE now this edited out. It's me waiting to board my flight to Dallas for Bloggy Boot Camp.

I have been jumping back and forth with my iPhone Photography apps. My go tos at this point are Snapseed, Iris...and FX Photo Studio. I love all three, and depending how fast I want to jam the edit out, I use a different one...or mix. I am in LOVE with the Napa preset from FX Photo Studio.

Some times, I want to control every aspect of the edit...sometimes I go straight to the presets.

Am I just a big geek, or is everyone going off the iPhoneography deep end?

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Snapseed

Lately I've been really concentrating on my iPhone photography. I know I promised a break down of the fantastic iPhonography session from BlogHer, I've just been slammed with design work. (Which is a good thing...don't get me wrong)

One app that I've been trying to master is Snapseed. It costs $4.99, but so far, I think it's WAY worth it.

Today, I dragged the kiddos to the Conservatory to get really close to some flowers and see how I could work it out in Snapseed. I'm digging it...I just got to get a grip on all it can do...

Anyone else out there using it?

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#25 Gene

Daily Chuck...

I'm not sure we can go so far as to say that Smokey is getting his Kiss on...but he's giving it the good old college try;P

I'm at a Word Camp all weekend. "Word Camp" kinda makes me sound like a geek:/ It's a WordPress developers conference...and I'm hoping to learn a lot *fingers crossed*

Don't panic...my blog is not turning into the Smokey/Chuck show...I just gotta keep up with my girl Heather (Heather my love...can you slow down on the Chucks?) I'm going to try to crank one more out this weekend.

Smokey is turning into such a diva...

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#24 Pensive

Daily Chuck...

Safe to say "plotting revenge" is exactly what Smokey is doing...

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#23 Our herd

Daily Chuck...

Hmmmm...does it seem neither one of them is happy with me:/

I'm still having trouble with inside shots. I spoke to a photographer at Gleek Retreat who told me that that was one of the troubles with my camera. The ISO isn't really great. Cameras now you can take the ISO up into the thousands...me, if I'm over 800, it ain't pretty.

Now I want a new camera...I'll add that to the list of things I can't afford to buy right now...*le sigh*

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#22 Caption this...

Daily Chuck...

Honestly, I had no idea what Smokey would do when I slapped peanut butter on his nose...Who knew...cats like peanut butter:/

...and here's one more for ya;)
I'm telling you...He was groovin' on the peanut butter:P

*I know I owe you Roarsies!...I literally have no animal prints in the house...thinking I need to borrow a prop...Sissy, leopard print??? Anyone...I got nuthin':/

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#19 Fancy!

Daily Chuck...

I know some of you think...

a) I'm nuts for doing this...
b) Poor Smokey is being tortured with this...

Truth be told, I think Smokey is starting to enjoy the spotlight. He's currently sleeping on my Photoshop for Digital Photographers book while I'm blogging this.

The ritual is...I see The Daily Chuck, and initially I usually think..."OMG, how am I going to get Smokes to do this:/"

Then, I figure out what props I'm going to use.

Usually, the way the shoot goes down is...I set up my lights, my camera, and get everything ready. (Typically, Smokey is snoozing on the couch.)

At the very. last. minute... I pick up Smokey and scratch him under his chin until he starts purring. While he's good and spoiled and half asleep/half awake, I put the prop on, set him on the floor, and take about 50 shots before he even knows what happened. (Yeah, I'm sneaky like that.)

About the time I can see the "I think I'm p*ssed at you." look in his eye, we're done, and he gets a little bit of low-fat tuna in water:P

I really do feel like I'm slowly learning to take better pictures...I'm thinking as long as Dooce doesn't go throwing Chuck in the tub...we're good;)

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#18 After a small rain shower

Daily Chuck...

Balancing sunlight on his head...is something Smokey excels at...Wearing a tutu...we'll see;)

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#17 One hundred and one

OK, Chuck may not be fooling anyone...but Smokey has this Polar Bear thang down!

*I went back and forth on the last Daily Chuck...see, it wasn't Chuck...it was the other dog, Coco. Seems to me, Smokey and I signed on for one dog, not two...right?

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#16 Seal

Daily Chuck...

Look at the face of this crabby cat:/ What a fat ole crabcake! Can I tell you that trying to get a cat to sit, is like trying to get jello to sit up and beg...doesn't. happen.

I'd put him in a sitting position...let go...and he'd melt into the table.
I'd put him in a sitting position...let go...and he'd melt into the table.
I'd put him in a sitting position...let go...and he'd melt into the table.

I got one shot of this fat ole monster sitting with the beach ball on his head, but...
I liked the top one better. It really sums up the mood of the shoot.

(Ya know Heather...you got it easy. Chuck looks like such a peppy, up for anything dog. I'm stuck with Old Man Grumpus the cat:/)

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#15 Cupcakes!

Daily Chuck

OK, this was an indoor shot, and you know I live in The Bat Cave. SO, I took a lesson from you all and cranked up the ISO a bit (1000)

I used the macro setting on the lens, with the F-stop set at 4.5.

My focus was the bottom right corner of the boot.

Fwiw, Smokey is sitting right next to me as I type. I just now reached over and petted him until he purred. I think he's forgiven me for putting a boot on his head;)

*I know I missed #14 (I will make it up) I can't get either one of the kiddos to sit down next to Smokey for the shot. What's up with the kiddos? Smokey doesn't smell...much. Sit down and pet the dang cat for the Smokey/Chuck already:/

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#13 Wildlife

Yeah, I know it's not the same pose as the Daily Chuck...but it seemed to fit the bill;)

Now then...photog. talk. To shoot inside, I raised the ISO to 500ish. My question...is it OK to use the flash on the camera? I don't know why, but I have it in my head that all you really good photographers are anti-flash:/ Am I right on that? 'Cause let's face it...time is gonna come where I'm inside, wanting to take a picture, without the spotlights...

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#12 An outtake

Daily Chuck...

Can I get a BOO-YAH!?!!! I said BOO! YAH!

Oh Heather, you are a tricky one:/ Took one look at the Chuck, and I was all what the? How the? What am I gonna...?

I'm a get 'er done kinda gal...so no worries, let's gettin'er done...and I did! Well...Smokey and I did.

Too bad I wasn't able to get a picture of the look on Smokey's face when he saw me coming at him with pink sunglasses>:-/

All I will tell you is that we did it. It was not easy. They were on his nose. I. Did. NOT. Photoshop them in.

Go Team Smokey!

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#11 Decisions, Decisions

Daily Chuck...

OK, blah, blah, blah...My girl Heather (what, we're pals now, right? *shaking my head no*) is staining a fence 'er something...meaning I had to go to the hardware store, and find the smallest. can. ever...

Did you know that cat's don't like to have sh*t put on their heads? Crazy, right?

I'm in Home Depot, not one, not two, but three guys came up begging to help me. "What do you need? I can help:)"

Try explaining to a Brawny looking dude in a tool belt that you are trying to learn photography by re creating the Daily Chuck from a blog called Dooce, and that she put a can of stain on her dog's head, so now you have to put some sort of can on your cat's head, only your cat is way smaller than Chuck, so you really don't care what's in the can, 'cause you're going to empty the can before you put it on Smokes head....*crickets chirping...glassy eyes from Home Depot guy as he slowly backs away*

Such is my life.

There's a lot going on in this pic, some good, some not so good...

-I really hate the hot spot on the floor. I HATE it:P My spots don't have settings, so I need to diffuse that light more...perhaps I need to raise them up...not sure...thoughts:/

-The F-stop was set at 3.5. I wanted a bit more blur on the floor cans, so I used the elliptical tool in Photoshop with a feather of 10 and I hit it with a bit of Gaussian blur. I used the same technique to sharpen the can on Smokey's head.

-Since I was hating on the hot spot so much, I added an edge burn to the pic. I could go into a long explanation of how to do that. Luckily, Pioneer Woman has two awesome "action" packs, and Set 1 has a "quick edge burn" action. This is the answer to my question from study #8 on achieving the spotlight effect. (Yay...answers!) Be sure to play with the opacity once you have run the action;)
I had to include this just so you appreciate my plight. The window for taking these shots is like...less than a second:P

Poor Smokey...it's going to be a long year:/

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#10 Early Morning Light

Daily Chuck...

Can you tell Smokey is exhausted from his last shoot? Hardest working cat in showbiz, that's what I say;)

Funny story about my camera (when I say funny, I mean sad) I'm out shooting pictures, and it starts flashing "full" at me. Well that can't be right, I've only shot 22 pictures...

I stop shooting, go home, and load up to the Mac. Well, this morning I set up my scene to shoot Smokes, only the camera continues to flash "full" at me...only there's nothing on the card:/

I'm all kinds of p*ssed off...convinced the camera is mad at me for having the nerve to learn how to use it. (Yes, I have conversations with my camera...I think I'm naming her Bonnie...Can you tell I spend too much time alone?)

I call The Bro, who is "too busy to talk to me"...and I feel unimportant:P

In the end I ask my best pal Google. He tells me that when you empty your pictures off the card, they aren't actually erased. Who knew? (not me) You actually have to "format" the memory card to erase the images.

So, you can thank me for telling you something you probably already knew;)

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#9 Hand-Me-Down

This is the face of a VERY unhappy cat...did I mention he still has all his claws:/ For the record, he's wearing a Hello Kitty jacket that no longer fits Miss Peach. Hello Kitty...aren't I cheeky;P (Yeah, he's not laughing...AT. ALL.)

Here's the Daily Chuck.

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#8 (Not) Forsythia!

Daily Chuck...

Unfortunately, the forsythia bush in front of the entrance to our town home is not fairing as well as my gal Heathers:(

However, the tree growing on our patio (which sprouts these lovely white flowers) is plugging away despite the roller coaster Chicago weather. Smokey really doesn't care that you know this...don't take it personally, he's a big 'ole crabcake;P

Now for my photography question...How does the Doocester get that spotlight look with the fade to black in the corners? Is that done with an actual spotlight, is it a setting on the camera, or is it a nifty Photoshop trick that I have yet to learn?

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#7 Installation Art

OK, first...placing things on Smokes while he lays there...TOTALLY in his wheelhouse. Heather my love (name the movie for bonus points) do more of these;) Second, here is the Daily Chuck.

Since this was an indoor shot, I bumped the ISO up to 500, with my F-stop set at 4. There ya go.

Oh, one more thing hair cutting scissors, paper cutting scissors, and kitchen scissors (if I had wanted to, I could have added fabric cutting scissors)...yes, you really DO need three pairs of scissors.

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#6 What? (Fun With F-Stops)

Who am I kidding...ain't nuthin' under that patch but fur:/ Here's the Daily Chuck.

Anyway, this was an indoor shoot, and I've been having a heck of a time getting light going in this house. Not to mention the fact that I'm really new at this:P

My lens has numbers on the side 35-105mm, and 1:3.5-4.5. I am assuming the 3.5-4.5 is F-stop.

I spent some of the shoot convinced I had broken my camera:O Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the learning process, and I really am committed to taking better pictures.

So, when I was on the "macro" setting on my lens, I was freaking out because sometimes the camera wouldn't take the shot, and sometimes the shutter just stayed open:/

I figured out a few things...when I was in macro (M-105) my lowest F-stop was no longer an option. I believe that's what the numbers on the lens mean. At the 105 setting, my lowest F-stop is no longer 3.5, it's 4.5, and when I'm past that 105, the lowest F-stop is even higher. Double check me here...do I have that right?

Also...bear with me...it's really dark in my house. If my F-stop is on a high number like F-22 the camera is letting in less light, (the shutter is actually smaller on a higher number F-stop) so the shutter was staying open for a really long time. (that's when I thought I broke the camera) I found when I lowered the F-stop, I had better results with inside shooting.

...and now my head hurts, so that's enough for today:P
*In case you're wondering, here's what I'm using to light up the joint. I found that if I used the umbrella to reflect the light I got a flatter less spotlight effect.

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