Sara is Smiling

And we're off!

We're hopping on the plane today. Here's Mile-high Madness with Richard Simmons by Air New Zealand.
Watch it and wish you were a New Zealander.

Relatable

I'm up late tonight working on a graphic design project for work. I like it..but can be frustrating depending on who you're dealing with.
I was reminded of this and had to share.
Seriously, don't skip it. Click on it and read it. The whole thing. Top to bottom. You'll be glad you did.

I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me....

What a RELIEF!

This tooth situation of Max's has been making me mental.
Call me shallow, but it was sooo hideous. I was embarrassed to take him out!
Charlie's was the same way, but it came out fast. Max has been dragging this out all week. I offered him $50 if he'd just pull it out already! I offered Charlie $20. A lower amount because she would also have had the satisfaction of torturing her little brother.
Finally this morning while he was eating his cereal it fell out. He didn't even notice.
He ate it.
We have nothing to put under his pillow but a note, but at least it's GONE!

Don't kids missing their front teeth look like little baby vampires?

Oh, and I also took him for a haircut this morning. I was so proud of myself. I got up, got all 5 of us bathed and dressed and out to the mall for a haircut. I made him an appointment at a nice place because I hate mastercuts. Just look at that horrible cut, though!! It's so uneven! Is that the style? I don't know, but I feel like I could've done at least that good a job myself.

Make it a Party!

When a song comes on the radio while we're driving, or in the stereo when we're cleaning or making dinner, if someone yells:
MAKE IT A PARTY!
We crank it up and rock out. It's usually me or Charlie who instigate it, but everyone joins in.
The past few days this has been our party song.
Crank up your volume and MAKE IT A PARTY!
(I'm not even going to give my usual "I know we're not cool" song intro because by now that's just a given.)

Sunday Smiles - Compensating for Low Light

I'm trying not to make these Sunday tips too complicated. I'm hoping there are some beneficial tips and not just a bunch of mumbo jumbo.
In last week's comments, Mary asked (and I paraphrase) "ISO?? What the hell?"

It's hard to explain how ISO works without also explaining aperture and shutter speed and how they all work together. But I'm going to try. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments if you want more detail on something.

ISO= your sensor's sensitivity to light
Aperture (f-stop)= how much light you allow in to reach the sensor (just like the pupil of your eye)
Shutter Speed= how long you expose the sensor to the light you've let in

Every camera has a base ISO. Canon's is usually 100 and Nikon's is usually 200.
100 is the least versatile and should be used in bright light settings. The bigger the number, the more versatile the ISO. In a low light setting try using ISO 400, 800 or even higher. Keep in mind, though, the higher the ISO the more digital noise or grain you introduce. Most cameras can shoot up to ISO400 with no noticeable grain.

So, in a nutshell ISO is adjusted based on your lighting situation. You always want to try to use the lowest possible ISO for your particular setting. Sometimes that's 100, sometimes 800.
You can use other ways to compensate for low light situations, but they all come with consequences as well:
 - Lower your shutter speed to allow the light to expose longer. The problem with this is you may be introducing blur whether it be from your subject or your natural hand shake.
Here's Charlie demonstrating:

Look Ma, no hands!

- Increase your aperture (lower f-stop number). This will give you depth of field and a layered look. However, that's no good if there are multiple subjects that you want to keep sharp. Here my aperture was too high, and when Quinn moved forward the baby behind(my nephew) went blurry with the background.


-Turn on your flash. This will allow you to keep your ISO lower, but results in a flatter image with pin point lights in the eyes instead of the sparkly catch lights of natural light.
And you won't get a shot like this with your flash on:

The small amount of grain was totally worth it.

Beware:
If you're going to play around with your ISO settings from time to time, you MUST make it a habit of checking your settings each and everytime you turn on your camera to start shooting.
There's nothing worse than taking a bunch of pictures and then realizing you forgot to change your ISO.
I speak from experience, unfortunately.
But practice makes perfect. Play around with your camera's manual settings, and before you know it you'll feel right at home with them.

Another one bites the dust.

Were it me, I would've taken a sick day. As many as it takes.

But he's six and super excited about losing his tooth.
Please oh pleeeeease let go of your little corner of gums, other little tooth!

8 months

Dear Quinn,

You need to get your s*** together. You've been cranky and fussy and overall unpleasant for a solid week now. Not even a good hair day could improve your mood today.
There are a lot of people in this house who worship the ground you refuse-to-learn-to-crawl on, but you are testing the limits of those relationships. I even caught Eloise scolding you today in her tiny little high pitched broken English, "You non't be bad, Quinny! Dop it!"
Sitting in your high chair for lunch, is not abuse. Playing on the floor with toys, is not neglect. And being put down for a nap is not a fate worse than death.
Maybe, for all of our sake, in a few days those 4 top teeth that are busy slicing their way through your gums will finally be in. Then we can go back to wistful adoration. For now..we will carry you around as you wish, we will let you rip at our hair and scratch our necks, we'll even forgive you when you throw your melon head back smashing our cheekbone or the bridge of our nose.
And we'll still love you.
But we'll like you just a little bit more when you're back to your sunny big mouth smiles :-)

More Kiddie Quotes

Me: Where are your pants. (I suspect she's hiding an accident.)
Eloise: Dem lost.
Me: They fell off your bum and got lost, hey?
Eloise: Yaaa.
Me: How did that happen?
Eloise: A monster took dem.
Me: What did he look like? Should I try to find him?
Eloise: No, him had big teeth. And 3 and 4 and 5 eyes.
Me: And he likes pants.
Eloise: Yup.

Elly (to me on a workday when I didn't have childcare and I'm trying to juggle): Mom, say "Coming riiiiiight up!" when I aks you for a snack.

Max (to Quincey): Dad, can I call you bro?
Quincey: Sure.
Max: Thanks, bro.

The kids are in the living room playing.
Charlie is taking pictures of them. I can hear her trying to organize them and make them smile for her pictures.
After a few failed attempts she says: Say, 'Daddy has stinky underwear!'
They all repeat it through giggles and belly laughs.

And here is Quinny's bad hair day. She has these a lot these days.

Sunday Smiles - Sun Worshipper?

If I had a penny for everytime I met clients for an outdoor sitting on a bright sunny day and they've exclaimed, "I'm so pleased we've got such a GREAT DAY for our pictures!" I'd have..well, at least a couple dozen pennies.

Here's the thing: On a cloudy, overcast day it's like God put a big ol' softbox over the sun to duplicate my studio lighting. Bright sunny days are the equivalent of me bringing a flashlight into the studio and shining it in your face while trying to take your picture. Harsh shadows and squinty eyes rule.

Can you get a great photo on a beautifully sunny day? Sure you can. It just takes more skill on the photographer's part. But overcast is like showing up to school and learning that your bully is home sick with chicken pox.

When I took this photo it was actually drizzling a little bit. You can't tell, the lighting is beautiful, and I added a bit of blue to the sky anyway.

My shutter speed was 125, f-stop at 7, and iso 200. I did not use a flash.

Incidentally, this sitting was also done while it was drizzling.

Notice how smooth and even her skin tones are, and her eyes are nice a wide so you can see the sparkle.
Moral: Don't be so quick to proclaim the weather too "BAD" to do pictures. Soldier on and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

There are some tricks you can use that will improve your bright sunlight pictures.
1. Always set your iso to it's base setting. Canons are generally 100, Nikons 200.
2. Try to shoot in the late afternoon-evening when the sun's angle is lower in the sky.
3. I'm a big proponent of keeping your flash off as much as possible, but for bright sun you may need some fill flash to even out shadows or prevent a backlit situation.
Bad - backlit, no flash


Quick Fix=Turn on your flash


4. Simply, avoid it. Find open shade. On this particular sunny day, I moved my daughter under the covered patio. You can see from the top left corner that the sun was very harsh.

5. There is no shade? There's always shade since you can create your own. We always travel in pairs when doing outdoor shoots and have been known to have one person shooting and the other standing strategically to cast shade over the subject. You can use picnic blankets, umbrellas, your stroller, anything handy to cast that shadow.
6. Turn your subject away from the sun, but not with their back completely to it. It's not perfect, but works in a pinch :-)

St. Patty's The Sequel

I like holidays.
Any excuse for some fun and celebration, count me in.
Supermom? Nope, I do it because I get as much out of it as them (sometimes more!).

I decided that our green-meals of the past left much to be desired. My kids, as a basic life principle, avoid green (read: healthy) foods at all costs, and I can't eat food that has been dyed green. Just can't. So I left the boundaries of what qualifies as green food wiiide open, and made a meal we all enjoyed.
Pepper Steak - main ingredient is green peppers.
Sprite - green bottle
Chocolate Cake with green sprinkles and gold chocolate coins.

And of course, we all wore our St. Patrick's Day best. :-)


Aside: You see that pink piece of paper on the wall behind Elly? Ya, it's glued to my wall. And on the opposite wall that you can't see here, there are about a dozen others like it. Glued. To my wall. With glue. And I can't decide if Elly doing that is better or worse than when Charlie was younger and nailed her artwork to my walls.

So wait..why is this St. Patty's The Sequel? Fate intervened and stripped March 17th of all it's fun and charm. First, Charlie's firehose of puke and second, forgotten student led conferences at school followed by a mad dash with all 4 kids in tow.

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!

oops, let's try that again...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Better.