laisy daise photography

Changes

2011-01-03T14:41:00.001-08:00

I started a new photography blog, website, flickr and I have a facebook and twitter account. I will no longer be posting to this site. You can find my new blog by clicking HERE My website can be found by clicking HERE Feel free to check out my flickr account HERE Like me on facebook HERE or follow me on twitter HERE.

{fruit bowl}

2010-08-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

{Graduate} 5th grade

2010-06-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

It's offical...I am now mother to a junior high student!

It's lovely weather for a "sled" ride together with you

2009-12-10T13:04:00.000-08:00

We've got about 15 1/2 inches so far and that was a few hours ago. The kids have been enjoying sledding down the hill in our backyard on these two "snow days" off from school.

{sneak peek-moon}

2009-07-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

One of my sister's girls...processed three ways

{black and white}

{color}

{vintage}

2009-07-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

{revisited}

2009-07-15T18:20:00.001-07:00

This is an old picture of me that I thought I would try some free actions on. It's kind of like art playing around with pictures.

{black and white}

2009-07-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Doing alittle post processing of some older pictures that I have. Trying my hand at mixing some actions (only two) with my own manual tweeking, such as curves, etc... VERY FUN!

{caterpiller with spikes}

2009-07-13T04:41:00.001-07:00

This little guy had horns and looked kinda mean. Taken with my 100mm macro lens.

{frogs}

2009-07-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

Taken with my 100mm macro lens.

{dragonfly}

2009-07-13T04:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how friendly the dragonflies were. We were doing yardwork and they were everywhere. These were all taken with my 100mm macro lens.

{tents}

2009-06-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

I am guessing these are "tents" made by tent worms, not exactly sure, but I thought they looked cool. These were taken with my macro lens.

{diptych flowers}

2009-05-06T05:37:00.001-07:00

My first try at creating a diptych.

{grungy vintage flowers}

2009-05-06T05:30:00.001-07:00

While searching through my old files I decided to play around with these pictures I took last year.

I used Pioneer Woman's boost, seventies/colorized actions (with my own tweaks added) on all these photos plus two free textures from Rachel http://rachelbrooke.squarespace.com/

{drip}

2009-05-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

I *think* it might be getting warm enough that we won't be seeing too many of these scenes in the mornings much longer, but I live in Michigan so who knows. LOL

{random}

2009-05-02T04:25:00.000-07:00

Gracie sporting my new sunglasses! I processed this one using PW's colorized, taken with my 50 prime.

This one is a close up of a Saguaro cactus from our vacation out west taken with my 100mm macro lens. I can't remember how I processed this one because it was a random action that was tweaked but I thought it looked cool.

April's challenge {Architecture}

2009-04-23T08:09:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe that it's been so long since I've last posted. I will start with this months photo challenge brought to you once again by Carin: If you're interested in my family and what I've been upto since January, which is pretty boring, you can catch up on my family blog: http://www.thecheesestation.blogspot.com/

So here we go, this months challenge is {Architecture}

This is a candle factory downtown. I love this building and did an engagement photo shoot for some friends at this location. This building rocks. I used a free texture from Rachel for the first image.

{Photograph Challenge}

2009-01-05T13:00:00.000-08:00

Brought to you by Rachel Brooke Photography

"Here's the challenge: Rumage through your own portfolio and find a boring old picture and see what you can do to make it look more visually interesting. Link it on here if you feel inclined, I'd love to see your newfound perspective."

and here is my result: SOOC

Now here it is revised: I used "Boost" in PW's action set 1 and her "Seventies" in the action set 2.

Did I mention these actions are all FREE from Pioneer Woman. For anyone one who does not know her, check her out here, she's awesome and gives great tips in photography as well as photoshop.

This was fun, I just might be doing more of these "conversions" in the future.

{christmas templates}

2008-12-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

{stacked frames} w/more freebies!

2008-12-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

I found this link from Carin for this vintage stacked frame which was a freebie from Melany and it is totally awesome! To process this picture I ran a defog action that I learned from a photog friend of mine (also free), thanks Julie! Then I ran an action called "Grungy" by Mulletgod's Action-A-Plenty which happened to be free. I reduced the opacity to where I liked it, then I ran another vintage action that I just love aptly titled "Vintage Love" by Autumn Love Actions, you can find her flicker group here, did I mention this action was free and finally I ran Totally Rad's, Demo TRA2-The Revenge "Slice Like A Ninja-(Sharpen)" which happened to be..., yep you guessed it, FREE. It was part of a sampling to entice me to buy the rest of The Revenge series, which I am totally tempted. Must save up for those though! Anyway, it pays to search for free actions on flickr and photoshop tutorials on the web. I've already learned a ton and hope to learn so much more. Enjoy!

{christmas photo shoot} an attempt anyway

2008-12-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

This is a duplicate post from my family blog so if you visit both then sorry for the repeat. I originally wanted to post pictures that I tried really hard to make look good on this blog, but I decided that since I am new to photography and have much yet to learn I could share my feeble attempts at capturing the poetry of my family life here also.

****

Well, I am still learning alot about my old camera and it's settings, but it can be very frustrating at times. Like when you want to take your own family photo for Christmas cards which includes trying to get 7 people to look forward and smile without blinking or making silly faces. Not to mention trying to get the right settings on the camera in a low light setting and then having to use flash while trying to not over expose our faces or cause a glare from Jack's glasses. All the while running back and forth from the tripod to where I am supposed to sit after pressing the timer being careful to not knock over the camera in the process of getting into position after quickly making sure everyone is looking ahead and not at me and then brushing my hair out of my eyes before the camera "clicks". WOW, that is a challenge.

So....here are a few tries and the last one is the one we ended up going with even though Dan was alittle off to the side atleast we are ALL looking ahead, smiling and there is no glare from Jack's glasses. I only realized after I ordered the Christmas cards that I'd forgotten to change back into my red shirt I had picked out especially for the picture. Oh well, you can't have everything perfect.
These first two shots are SOOC, but the last one was sharpened over PW's fresh and colorful action.

{shining star}

2008-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

This little beauty is not mine but belongs to a friend of mine. The star which happens to be the focal point of this picture (which was intended) does belong to me. It is actually the star that belongs on top of our christmas tree. We were having fun taking christmas pictures of her beautiful girls for christmas presents. More christmas pictures to come, it's my favorite time of the year!

{ring and water jug}

2008-12-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

Just playing around with processing again.

{tagged}

2008-11-20T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been tagged by Mindy over at Ladybug Farm. I'm not good at tagging people and since I don't think there are 7 people who read my blog I will just leave it open to whomever would like to play. If you do just leave me a comment and I'll check out the random book facts about you.

So here goes...I'm to leave 7 random or odd things about me relating to books.

I love the way books smell. I could literally stand in a bookstore and fan the pages before my nose and be in heaven.

I also love the way glossy book pages feel. I tend to rub the pages between my fingers while I'm reading.

I'm somewhat of a fast reader

I like fiction better then non-fiction

I'm a sucker for romantic books, but not the cheesy love affair kind

I got hooked on the recent best seller Twilight saga and am actually going to see the movie tomorrow night with my sister and a friend

I love the author Francine Rivers and would probably read anything from her

Well that's that...and since this is my photo blog I will leave you with a sunflare shot taken about a month or two ago before the snow hit.

{old and beautiful}

2008-11-18T12:31:00.001-08:00

This is the picture that I entered in a contest on my flickr group. The picture had to contain a child with something at least 25 years old. So here is Grace with a sewing machine that is pretty old. It belonged to my husband's grandmother's mother (did you follow that LOL). His grandma is in her 80's and it was her mothers so the machine is well over 25 years old.

{ladybug}

2008-11-14T07:35:00.001-08:00

Taken with my macro lens

{Veterans Day and Halloween pics}

2008-11-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

I realize it is past Halloween but I just haven't had a chance to go through these pictures yet until now and since Adam was a soilder for halloween and today is veterans day I thought it would be perfect to start off this picture post with him saluting...Enjoy!

The {cookie monster} in me...

2008-10-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made some break-n-bake chocolate chunk cookies and then had some fun with my macro lens. I had to hurry and take these shots so I could taste these yummy treats and let me tell you they were yummy. I almost had to call my sister so she could talk me out of eating so many but I just couldn't make my self pick up the phone because I knew she would talk me out of it and I didn't want to be talked out of it. So I just stuffed my face and felt guilty about it later. I did save one or two each for the kids and Dan but quickly devoured the rest.

{my guitar hero} texturized

2008-10-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

Sarah pretending to play the guitar. She does so quite well don't you think?

I am just loving this texture. I used it on the new header I created too. This shot was taken indoors on {M} mode f1.8 using my 50 prime. I had to turn the ISO up to 800 to get the right exposure which was fine because the texture overlay went well with the grain. For processing I used Courtney's beachy vintage on top of her funky vintage. Then I applied the texture using hard light and erased back her skin and topped it with Totally Rad's Troy which I totally love followed by a quick edge burn. What do you think? I made a new watermark as well (to match my header). The flower picture in the middle I created using Photo Impact and I thought it went well with the name since they kinda resemble daisies.

Let me know if I'm getting carried away with the textures. I tend to overdo things sometimes and since I am just learning I have a feeling that I am going to overdo every new thing I learn, but practice makes perfect right? Although I do need to practice more on getting the right picture straight out of the camera. Here is the shot SOOC

Any comments, suggestions, constructive criticism is appreciated. I know there are a couple pros who read my blog from time to time and I always look forward to their comments.

{another texture}

2008-10-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here's another texture overlay that just rocks! I borrowed this texture from Carin and I am in love with it. It kinda looks old and scratched like a vintage photograph would. I can't remember which actions I used, but I know I used one of totally rads plus I believe one of courtney's vintage actions and coffee shops action to burn around the edges and then I used Carin's texture overlay. All these actions were free too and most were found on flickr.

This picture is my oldest son, Adam. We were vacationing in Canada at Old Woman Bay and my oldest daughter, Sarah tied these twigs together using all material found on the beach and spelled out his name.

{contest}

2008-10-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

I entered this picture into a contest on one of my flickr groups. The contest was about your personal style and how you would describe that style in five words or less. My style description was part of my actual tag line....capturing the poerty of life...

Three winners were chosen and great prizes given away. I, of course, did not win, but I didn't expect to either. There were some pretty incredible entries. I didn't fare too bad though as I got two compliments and my picture was favorited twice! Meaning, two people thought my picture was good enough to put on their favorite pics list. I am so inspired by all the great photographers out there and it gives me the motivation I need to keep practicing and really find my unique style, a style that best fits my tag...because capturing the poetry of life is what I like to do.

{macro lens}

2008-10-16T14:07:00.001-07:00

This is just a quick shot to show what my new lens can do. The lucky subject was my girls' Carebears Domino that was left on the table. Check it out, this was taken with my new 100mm macro lens, a special gift from a special person. Thanks again, you'll never know how much your gift means to me.

{another card}

2008-10-15T13:28:00.001-07:00

Here's another template I've been working on using the same model, the cutie Coby. I had a fun mini session with him a few weeks back so I decide to pull up a picture to use for this greeting card. What do you think? The card could be used for birth announcements, holiday, etc... I've been thinking about designing our own family christmas card this year. I think it would be fun!

October Challenge {textures}

2008-10-13T14:32:00.001-07:00

Here is this months Challenge brought you by Carin Davis from Create Workshop All about textures. I used my own texture (I just took a close-up picture of this crinkled paper) and applied it over my picture using the blending option of vivid light set at 61%. After I erased the texture from her face and neck I then applied a filter noise of gaussian monochromatic set at 7% and erased her face and neck again on 20% this time, which was exactly how Carin suggested on her site. I know I am not that creative yet to play around with the settings, but I am learning. Anyway, here is the texture I used and also the finished product. It isn't as dramatic as I would like, but it's my first attempt. Thanks Carin, for putting on these challenges!

{my nieces}kaylyn, jenna, lauren

2008-10-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

Kaylyn Jenna

Lauren

Meet Charlie's sisters...My sister's three other beautiful children.

{my nephew} charlie

2008-10-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

Isn't he a cutie? He is just a few days over 3 months old.

{christmas card}

2008-10-02T16:23:00.001-07:00

Just a sample of a card I made using the same cute little model.

{more coby}

2008-10-02T08:52:00.001-07:00

even though his face is blurry in this shot, I liked it because the focus was on his cute little butt. hee-hee!

{coby}

2008-10-02T04:49:00.001-07:00

Just trying out some actions and practicing taking photos in manuel mode. I've got a lot to learn yet. It's great that I have friends and family with kids and five of my own to practice on.

{Tagged}

2008-09-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Kim to list 7 things about me... I just did a similar list on my family blog (6 quirky things about me)

I love the way books smell. I have to smell every book or magazine I read.

I also like to feel book pages, my favorite is glossy paper. I like to rub the pages between my fingers.

I have to shake the milk before I pour it on my cereal.

I like syrup on my sausage, ham and bacon.

Sometimes I feel like sharp things are going to poke my eyes and I have to pinch the bridge of my nose or cover my eyes with something heavy to relieve the sensation.

I find that when I'm driving in the snow and nervous about pulling out in front of someone I lick my lips really fast.

I always rip off the end of the toilet paper in public bathrooms before I take some for myself.

And since my husband doesn't like it when I blog without including a picture, here is a b&w conversion of Ben. I used PW's fresh and colorful then a black and white gradient map followed by PW's lovely and ethereal set around 60%.

{kids}

2008-09-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

These are mine..Sarah, Adam, Jack, Grace and Ben

{papers}

2008-09-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing making my own papers for backgrounds like greeting cards, etc. This one was a bunch of doodles I made. Not sure about it though. It seems fun but my creative side is lacking something. What do you think for a first time creation?

{colors}

2008-09-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing color popping actions trying to find one that does what I like. This one was a combo of sorts, what do you think?

{summer-captured} a challenge

2008-09-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

Another challenge by Carin Davis Photography

Summer to me is climbing a tree....something I use to enjoy in my youth and now enjoy my own children doing. It's the first thing they ask to do when the snow melts, "Can we climb the tree?"

Summer to me is eating fresh corn on the cob...especially when it comes straight out of your very own garden. Grilled to perfection! YUM!!

{shadows~love}

2008-09-05T16:19:00.001-07:00

{sun flare}

2008-09-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

I tried to catch a sun flare.

{random and odd}

2008-09-03T06:33:00.001-07:00

Sarah relaxing and enjoying the view of the bay
Adam checking out the feather he found
Jack starring off in deep thought (this happens a lot)
Grace showing off her rock collection
Ben enjoying the delicious taste of sand

Our neighbors Black-Eyed Susan's, which also happens to be one of my favorite flowers My five beach bums enjoying the last days of summer break.
My crazy DOF shot of my legs! LOL
Me sporting my new hairdo(kinda messy) and my handsome hubby/picture taken by our Sarah
Ben touching the onion

{sweetness}

2008-08-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

My oldest with my youngest...She was lying on the floor in her room and he was on her tummy and fell asleep like this. How sweet is that?

{wet lashes} challenge

2008-08-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Carin Davis posted a challenge here and here with the focal point being wet lashes so here is my entry. It isn't a contest but rather a training exercise. Thanks Carin, you're amazing!

{vintage~washed}sarah

2008-08-15T04:23:00.003-07:00

Just playing around with some vintage actions. Combining and tweaking some freebie actions on flickr.

{self portrait} with texture

2008-08-11T13:08:00.001-07:00

So I made this texture on the background and applied it to the picture. What do you think? I made the texture using a crumpled paper and adding it as an overlay.

{puppy love}

2008-08-06T20:21:00.001-07:00

This puppy is so sweet, I wish she were mine. All the kids were in love with her too.

I wonder what Adam's thinking about as he watches the waves come crashing in.

{playing with textures}

2008-08-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Just playing around with textures a bit. The texture over Grace is one I made myself. Click the pictures to enlarge to see the texture better.

{Ben & Britni} engagement

2008-07-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

Talk about a beautiful couple. Thank you so much Ben and Britni for allowing me to practice on you guys. You two are so awesome and both look gorgeous! I pray God bless you when you get married.

{meet charlie}

2008-07-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

This is my darling new nephew Charlie Allen and my beautiful sister Tanya. This is baby #4 for her but her first boy. I had so much fun with this newborn session. Thank you Tanya for allowing me to practice. Can't wait to do your girls portraits next.

{Daisies w/my 50}

2008-07-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's hasn't stopped raining but I did manage to sneak outside and take these pictures of the neighbors flowers, daisies of course.

And now for the techno stuff: Pic #1 was taken f/1.8 for 1/1000 sec. exposure. I did a softlight, cropped, sharpened and applied lighting.
Pic#2 was taken f/1.8 for 1/640 sec. exposure. I did a softlight and then applied a "style" color and added texture at 78%, then I decreased the brightness, increased the contrast and applied the curved edges for a bit of a vintage feel.

{Well here she is..}

2008-07-22T11:14:00.001-07:00

My very first brand spankin' new lens is finally here, YIPPEE! Can you envision me doing the happy dance? Because I am...all.over.the.house!! This here shot is SOOC (straight out of the camera) so no sharpening nothing, which was really hard for me because I feel weird not even sharpening an image anymore, but I wanted everyone to see how sharp this 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, my lens, is. She's cute, eh? The lens, not me and my cyclops eye! I left it opened so I wouldn't look like a freak squinting, but I ended up looking like a freak anyway. Oh well! Now I'm off to run around the house taking pictures since I am limited to stay indoors because of the rain.

{Green grasshopper}

2008-07-22T03:48:00.000-07:00

That is what Grace was staring at so intently. There was a bright green grasshopper on that tree stump. This picture reminds me of what I've been doing staring out my window at the front porch waiting for the mailman to deliver my 50mm prime lens. Waiting....waiting....waiting....Maybe it will be here today!

{my five}

2008-07-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to practice getting the lighting right and working on proper exposure, etc..so I can do minimal post processing. Here are a few recent ones of practicing these techniques.

{reflections}

2008-07-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ben, after the rain. I love the second one because you can see his big cheesy grin.

{strawberry kiss}

2008-07-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

{back to basics}

2008-07-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

This might not be the best composure but I am trying not to loose sight of what I love and that is taking pictures. I got too caught up in the post processing part of it and when you mix that with my overall inexperience you get bad prints. Simple really is better atleast for me right now anyway. I'm saving up for CS3 hoping with some cool presets I can do some amazing things with my pics. I just increased the saturation a tad, added a lighting effect and sharpened. Any suggestions to make this pic better feel free to comment. I'd love to know how I can further my skills.

{Moon Maternity}

2008-07-18T12:42:00.001-07:00

Just practicing some actions with my editor. I am excited to be able to take the newborn pictures next week of her little guy. He's already two weeks old. I also have an engagement session coming up next weekend. I should have my new lens in time to try it out. Can't wait!

{a new look for my new name}

2008-07-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

So...what do you all think about my new name? My husband (Dan) told me I should come up with a cool name for my photography hobby so we starting thinking....I took the daisy pics (the ones in the header) a few weeks ago and my husband really like it so it became the inspiration for a new name, spelled differently of course. It was catchy and I liked it, so....Welcome to laisy daise photography {the blog}

It has been a real challenge to get pictures of Ben lately. He is on the move so much now and I can't take a picture fast enough before he wriggles and scoots away. So what we have here is his leg, just before he spun around and crawled away!!