Week 9: A Red Barn

Last year I was asked to take some pictures of a friends barn for a birthday gift.  I happily accepted the job as I had been wanting to get some pictures of this barn for awhile and had never taken the time.  Having permission meant that I could get different angles too, not just what you see from the road.

This isn't just any old barn, in fact, it doesn't look old at all.  This is a red barn with white trim around the windows and door.  The day I chose to first shoot it the sun was already towards the west.  This meant that the north and east side were pretty dark (at least for my photography skills) so I mainly shot the south and west side that day.  The sky was a brilliant blue with a few white clouds here and there.  This made for some great photos with the red barn as the center of attention. 

The second day was pretty much the same, just earlier in the day with a few more clouds.  That's where this picture came from.  Since it was earlier, the east side was more lit up so I could get some better pictures of it.

I used an 18-55mm lens to capture a wider view.  I wanted to be sure and include some of that sky!
I like this picture because the white rail on the fence seems to be leading the viewer up to the red barn, the focal point.  This is something I don't always consider when taking photos, though I do when I remember!

  I really enjoyed taking these pictures.  I ended up with way too many to choose from!  I would like to get out more and take more photos of farm life.  You would think this would be easy since I live on a farm! :)

Week 8: It's About Thyme!

It's about thyme for another post!  If you haven't guessed already, week eight's photo is a picture of time.  I mean thyme, not time.  This picture was taken in April of 2011.  I had bought a bunch of herb plants for my flower garden the year before.  Thyme was one that survived the winter and came back strong the following year.  I love thyme!  It smells so good!  I always like to go out to the garden and rub a sprig between my fingers and smell the highly fragrant aroma that results.  Oregano is another one that smells wonderful!

The other day I tried a recipe from Pinterest for Homemade Salad Dressing, it had dried thyme in it.
It was really good!  I've made it twice so far.  It goes really well on a kale/spinach salad with dried cranberries, raisins, and sunflower seeds.  Click here for the recipe.

I've also found that fresh thyme leaves are very good in mashed potatoes.  Just add to the potatoes after they've been mashed.  So good!

Do you like thyme?

Week 7: A Project

This project was for my Grandma who owns and runs a pizza shop.  She was needing a way to advertise the Twisters that she sells.  No, not a tornado, a twister.  A twister made of ice cream.  Now that's my kind of twister!!  She asked me if I could get a picture of some of the Twisters and print it with the flavors listed on it.  I said ok, it sounded like a fun project.

 It was getting close to Valentine's Day and the restaurant was decorated with all kinds of things for the holiday.  I thought the pink and white streamers might make a good background.  During a slow break in the day my sisters and I made three Twisters and lined them up in front of the streamers for a little photoshoot.  I wanted the background blurred as much as possible to make the Twisters really stand out in the photo.  So I turned my camera to f/2.8, or somewhere around there!  I shoot in the P mode, which means I pick the exposure and the camera sets the aperture and the shutter speed.   To set the aperture to f/2.8 or so, I would choose different sets of shutter speeds/aperture ratios till I found the one I wanted.  Sounds confusing, I'm still trying to learn it myself!

After trying different angles, exposures, placement of the Twisters, and redo-ing the whipped cream on top, I finally found what worked.  I thought the end result turned out quite nicely and was worth it.  I have my sisters to thank for helping me get the pictures before the Twisters completely melted.  Not to mention getting them eaten before they melted, also!

What do you think of the end result?  Do you like Twisters?