Taking Photos with my Smart Phone

What is the camera like on the iPhone and SmartPhones? I've had the opportunity to use an iPhone 4, and now have an HTC Raider. Each of these has a front facing and rear facing camera. The front facing camera is an 8 mp on both of these and have similar features. Can they take as good a picture as my Canon Rebel T4i? I don't believe so, but I do think you can take some pretty good pictures. 

I took the following picture at a local marina when we were picking up our boat. It was hard at first to get a good exposure, but I found a place in the camera where you can change the settings such as exposure, which helped.

What I do like are the instant effects you can put on the pictures you take. The effects are done very quickly and are easily saved on your phone and shared. 

The next picture was taken with the phone, but I did some post processing in Photoshop Elements 9.

I opened this next one in Photoshop Elements, but only added the frame and signature. No other edits were done.

Sunset at Voyageur Provincial Park, Ontario

So, do I think it's as good as my bigger camera? No, but it is a handy camera to have available wherever you are. It can take photos of God's creation and we can rejoice in seeing the wonderful things He has made.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities

—His eternal power and divine nature

—have been clearly seen,

 being understood from what has been made, 

so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

Still much to learn about wedding photography ...

I recently was the photographer for my niece's wedding. She was a beautiful bride, and everyone looked lovely at the wedding. 

We ran into some issues, which affected what photos we were able to take - things were running late, and the weather did not cooperate (rain and thunderstorms). We were going to take the pictures at her parents' farm with the barn in the background, but we were not able to do that - so, we had to take the pictures at the church. 

The church was attractive, but certainly not what she had in mind for her wedding pictures. I found it difficult because we already had the ideas for outside pictures, and we quickly had to think of doing the photos at the church. An experienced wedding photographer might not have had the same issues. Generally though, everyone was cooperative, and always had great smiles for the camera. And we were blessed by having a carport we could work under, and an antique car to use as a prop.

 God created man in His own image, 

in the image of God He created him; 

male and female He created them.  

Genesis 1:27

One year review

August 7, 2011 was the date I started this blog. I wasn't sure about starting one and wondered if I could/would keep it up. I also wondered about what the purpose of my blog would be. I think I can express those thoughts a bit more now. I would like to have this blog:

• Reflect God and His creation. He created the universe and everything in it ... and this includes us. He loves each of us enough to send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for us.
• Document my travels through the journey of learning photography.
• Teach some basic photography and post processing skills. I would like to have a tutorial section on the blog.

There may be more things as I go along. I have finally graduated from the work force, and this opens up more time and opportunity to:

• learn how to use a new camera. I recently purchased a Canon Rebel T4i as my other camera wore out.
• develop and increase the ability to take photos and to post process them.
• increase my skill at taking photos of water drops. I may purchase a kit to be able to do this.

If you are reading this blog and walking through my journey with me, thank you. I still have much to learn, and continue to enjoy doing so.

With today's blog, I thought I would highlight some of the best photos in the past year (in my opinion):

  

In all your ways acknowledge Him (God), and He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:6

Learning to take Wedding Photos

I've been asked to be the photographer at a wedding very soon. This is fairly new to me. I did a wedding for my niece 5 years ago, but didn't have much time to get nervous about it as I only had a few days' notice. A friend offered to have me use her equipment but I felt more comfortable using my own, especially since I didn't have much time to practice with the equipment.

The bride was beautiful, which helped a lot when taking the photos. One of the parts that I found difficult was knowing how to pose the bride and groom. I'm glad that the bride was so accommodating.

Just a week later, our son was married, and the photographer graciously offered to let me tag along with her when she was doing the bride and groom photos. I found this very interesting and realized that there is a huge learning curve for taking photos at a wedding. 

I'm hoping that my skills have improved in the past 5 years. The bride (another niece) has been very helpful by suggesting poses. I think the biggest issue will be trying to fit all of the pictures in that she would like taken. One thing I learned from the other weddings is that it takes a long time to take photos.

Each of the brides are beautiful, and I'm sure their husbands (and future husband) would agree. God has made each one of us special. He loves us and cares for us.

So God created man in His own image, 

in the image of God He created him; 

male and female He created them. 

Genesis 1:27

Mourning Cloak Butterfly

We had the privilege of having a visitor on the boat with us the other day. A butterfly kept landing on us, and hitching a ride. It would flit from my husband to me and then back again. We stopped the boat so that I could take some pictures ... and it was still a challenge. Even when I asked it nicely to land somewhere with a good clean background, it didn't listen to me and did its own thing.

 Neither of us knew the name of the butterfly - would it have listened to me any better if I had called it by name? The markings on the back were quite vivid, especially the blue dots on the reddish brown (maroon?) background. There were so many amazing details in this one butterfly.

This picture is of the butterfly when its wings are closed. It isn't hard to see how it could blend in with a tree. This is probably one of its protective strategies. 

I found out that this is a mourning cloak butterfly. It can be found all over Canada and other areas, but I believe I've never seen one before. It entertained us for quite awhile, and then suddenly and very quickly flew up and away so fast that it was soon out of sight.

Our God who made this world also made this small butterfly with its very intricate details. What an amazing God we have. The God who took the care to design this butterfly so well has made us.  We need to follow Him and worship Him.

How many are your works, LORD!

 In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Psalm 104:24