It's Only the Beginning

I've quickly realized that monitoring a website, a blog, a kid, school, and work can become overwhelming very easily!  I love all of it, but with so much going on it is impossible to give everything your full attention.  So, I am here to say goodbye to this blog.  *sadface*

Feel free to come visit me at www.facebook.com/SandraKendallPhotography to check out my latest pictures.  I'd love to hear from you so stop in and say hi!

Much Love,
Sandi

Publicity Photos - Carol

Ok... so it has been a very long time since I have posted anything.  It has been a crazy few weeks and I plan to make that up from here on out.  I've got a ton of things coming up that are hopefully full of photography moments and I plan to share them with you.  For now, we will take a look at some publicity photos I did for an author friend of mine.  I used to work with Carol a couple years ago in Public Assistance and discovered in the last year that she loves to write.  I read her book "Love, Lies, and Deceit" (which can be seen in a photo below) and loved it!

You can find Carol at a few websites including: Carol's Website, Carol's Blog, and Carol's Food Bites.  Be sure to check her out!

Below you will find some photos from our photo shoot a couple weeks ago.  It was a beautiful day outside... not too hot, not too cold.  We loved it.  The wind was a little bit annoying.  It actually ended up hurting some of the photos we took because it pushed Carol's hair up against her face... grr!  It was also an interesting experience because the sun kept popping in and out of the clouds.  One thing you learn in photography is that lighting is a HUGE part of getting a great picture.  It's tough to get things right when one second the sun is behind a cloud and the next it pops out to brighten the day.  As soon as I had a setting just the way I wanted it, the sun would move and I'd have to start all over.  However, it was an interesting experience and it gave me time to catch up with Carol.

Anyways... here are some of the best shots from the day.

 See how the wind pushed the hair up to her face?  Otherwise this was a beautiful picture!

 I like this picture!  I don't think it's a great "publicity" picture, but I think it's a really good picture of Carol.

 Another one behind the leaves of the willow tree.  Maybe not great for publicity, but I still like it!

 This is an excellent photo to use for her autograph for signings!

 This is one of my favorites.

 This is another favorite of mine.

Slacker

I'm such a slacker :)

It's been over a week with no posts.  I took some pictures at my grandmother's birthday this weekend that I have been lazy about getting done.  I promise to get right on those and I'll share my story soon!

Facebook - *LIKE*

If you have a Facebook, I am certain that you know what the *LIKE* feature is and how to use it (hopefully :P).  I would appreciate any support you could give and ask you to go like the new Sandra Kendall Photography Facebook page.   I will use this page to post the pictures I do and even offer some good deals for your family, friends, and anyone you know.

You can find the link here: Sandra Kendall Photography - Facebook

Thank you for all of the love and support!

Hummingbirds

My husband, kiddo, and I went out to a friend's house in Corydon and spent the evening hanging around outside.  I enjoyed this opportunity because it gave me a chance to just sit down and play with some of the settings on my camera and to see how these settings affected the picture.  One of the things that I was able to get several pictures of was some hummingbirds that were coming to a feeder in the backyard.  First, let me say that hummingbirds move so fast that it was an accomplishment for me just to get them into a photo.  As soon as I would get the photo lined up the bird would be gone.  It was an experience for sure!

Below are several hummingbird pictures that I was able to take.  The pictures were all taken with different settings.  The most important camera setting for these photos was the shutter speed.  With slower shutter speeds (around 1/100 or 1/125) the wings look blurred because the shutter is open too long.  With the faster shutter speeds (around 1/1000 or 1/1250) I was able to avoid the blur of the wings but with the consequence of my photos turning out darker.

The balance between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO is a constant struggle and something that I work with every time I use the camera.  The aperture greatly affects the amount of light that enters the camera; therefore, changes in this will have a huge impact on how bright or dark your photo is.  Aperture (which is indicated with an F# as seen below) is probably the most confusing thing to me (and probably many other beginning photographers) because it works opposite from what you would think.  A higher aperture lets in less light.  A lower aperture lets in more light.  Shutter speeds are mostly concerned with movement, but also influence the amount of light entering the camera (as noted in one of the pictures below).  ISO deals with the sensitivity to light and is something that I am still learning to balance.  A higher ISO is typically used when it is darker so that you can gather more light, but also results in a very grainy picture (noted below).  Keep in mind that I am definitely far from an expert on any of this, so if you happen to know more than I do and can explain it better.. please do.  I want to learn as much as I can about these settings and how to use them.

If you did not fall asleep in the technical info, let's take a look at those photos.  I will list the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO used in each photo for reference.

1/100s, f7.1, 400 ISO

As you can see, the wings are very blurry but the picture has beautiful color and is bright.  1/100s is too slow when trying to stop movement in a photo and did not stop the motion of the wings.  400 ISO was probably too high since I was outside, but it was getting dark outside.

1/125s, f5.6, 400 ISO  

1/125s shutter speed is not much faster than the previous 1/100s so the blur of the wings is expected.

 1/320s, f5.6, 800 ISO

Once you get to 800 ISO or higher the photos start to look grainy.  This photo actually turned out really well. I was able to blur out the background and prevent some of the blur in the wings.  The photo is a little darker, but not too bad.

1/1000s, f5.6, 800 ISO

 There is very little (if any) blur on these wings.  The shutter speed was set to 1/1000s, which in English means very fast.  1/1000 of a second.  I can't even imagine the speed on that.  I knew this picture would be darker so I bumped up the ISO to 800.  You can start to see that grainy look in the photo.

1/1250s, f5.6, 1600 ISO

The shutter speed on this was slightly faster than the last photo and I bumped the ISO up to 1600.  Because of the faster shutter speed the photo was much darker than some of the previous ones.  It was also getting later in the evening when this photo was taken so the sunlight was starting to fade.  

Signature

I decided to spend a little bit of time on the signature that is attached to my pictures.  After going back to look at the photos, I think that "Sandra Kendall Photography" is quite a bit of text to attach to a photo without drawing attention away from the focus of the picture.  Instead, I think I will use "SK" as my signature.  If/when I start an actual photography business, I think I will still call the business Sandra Kendall Photography, but will use the SK as a way to represent the business.  I think that the font on this is something I may change based on the types of pictures, my mood, or maybe even the season.. haha!  Here is a look at the Top 6 that I have worked with and what I think of them.  Feel free to put in your two cents in the comments at the bottom! I'd love to hear what you have to say.

FYI: I chose my favorite picture from the last weekend at the park to play with the signatures.  So, just a warning that you will have to look at my daughter's face 6 more times today.  :)

I like this one.  It's clear that it is an S & K and it gives an interesting look to the signature.  I like how the letters look like they are painted on.

 This one is a little more formal, but interesting.  I do not think this is one of my absolute favorites though.

 This is way too plain for me.  A signature should represent you as an artist and I just do not feel any connection to these letters.

 This is probably my 2nd favorite signature of the six listed here.  It's not too formal, but it has enough playfulness that I feel like it is a part of me.

 This is my least favorite.  You can barely tell that these are an S & K.  Nope.  *Shakes head* Nope!

This is definitely the one I think I will use the most.  The letters are a bit fancy and I just like the overall feel of the signature.  

Enough about the signature.  I am sure it's definitely not the most exciting topic to most of you. I just did not have any new pictures and felt like working on them for a bit.  If you don't like it... oh well.  I will return with more photos and new experiences in the next few days. 

Another Afternoon at the Park

First, let me say that I am looking forward to Fall.  I want to get out more to explore some photography, but it is so hot outside that I have almost no desire.  And.. Fall is my favorite season.  I look forward to the leaves changing colors, the pumpkins, costumes, and well just everything about the Fall season.  Until then I guess I'll just suffer through the summer heat :)

My husband and I decided to take the munchkin to the park today.  I have taken several photos at this park, but did not want to pass up an opportunity to get a couple shots that I may not have gotten before.  I definitely got a couple cute pictures.  I am quite proud of the fact that I also stayed in manual mode the entire time so all blurred effects and focus issues were done by me and not the camera's preset settings.

 To state the obvious, this is an example of why you should take the cap off before you start taking pictures! (OOPS!)

 Duck!  I love how the water rings surrounded this duck.

 Somehow I managed to get the focus on the grass behind her, but not on Ava.  Hmm.

This one was too cute.  Ava really likes the big slide at the park and this is her climbing up to the top.

This picture was a little blurred and I'm not completely satisfied with it.  But hey.. I can admit when I screw up.. haha!

I attempted this picture the first weekend that I had the camera and managed to focus on the tree, but not on Ava.  I was determined this time to get the picture right.  Guess what?  I got it!

 I love the look on her face.  She is such a beautiful little girl (but I may be a bit biased!).

She had one of her eyes closed while she was looking at something.  Silly kid.

 I like this picture in black and white with the color of her eyes brought through.