Post Processing

I have been post processing in more ways than one. First, we are finally getting caught up from being gone for a week. Second, God has been challenging my thinking and stretching me in some specific areas lately (more on that later). Third, I've been processing all the photos from the last few weeks month. What a job! I expected to have tons of pictures to sort through during these first few months (years?) of learning the ropes of photography. I just didn't realize how much time it would take to actually do the sorting/editing.

This has really been my first attempts at doing any editing outside of basic crop, straighten, contrast and red eye removal. So the learning curve was pretty steep, but I think I'm starting to understand some basics and stepping out of the box a little too. *Warning.. this post is heavily photography related. If you want real life updates, skip to the links at the bottom*

BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND -unknown 

(This is on a second grade classroom door at one of my schools. Good advice, I think)

I hope that I eventually learn to compose, expose and capture the picture that I want to end with, instead of taking hundreds a few pictures with different settings so that I have all my bases covered when it comes to editing. One thing I wasn't sure about and have learned, is that composition isn't as crucial as I thought. I find that I almost always crop my photos down a little and so the hundreds several pictures I take with the subject in different parts of the frame aren't as necessary. Also, I'm starting to discover my style and what I like my pictures to look like, which will help me be more selective in how many pictures I take 'just in case'.

I also started shooting my pictures in RAW+JPEG. This eats up a ton of memory.. but has also saved some photos I would have otherwise ruined because I forgot to reset my white balance or didn't check the exposure etc. I also find that I like the results from editing the raw image over the results from editing just a jpeg. Basically, I'm sold on raw ... even if it means I'll probably need a bigger memory card and an external hard drive for my computer. I like it that much.

So as I process images, and experiences. I'll leave you with some links to the retroposts about recent events, rather than loading this post with pictures.

Pendleton on A Sunny Evening (my first editing)

Spring Break in Mexico

Easter

A Windy Afternoon

Date Night

A Windy Afternoon

Thursdays are one of my favorite days.

First, my schedule is nice and I basically play with preschoolers all day - fun.
Second, Thursday is {almost} Friday.
Third, Thursdays is Bible study night, which I look forward to for the obvious reasons of fellowship and studying God's word.
Lastly, Thursdays are often the first night that I don't have to work after work, which gives me time to run errands, work late, or stop and take pictures at the park when the light is gorgeous. [segue].

Here are some pictures from this Thursday afternoon. I really love blossoms.

I like the creamy bokeh in some of these pictures but other than that I'm not actually that happy with them. It was really windy that day so in some pictures I put my scarf on the branch to show the movement of the wind. I like the colors and the contrasts but I'm really not sure how to edit these ones. I feel like they need something to liven them up and give them some character. I kind of feel that way with all of my pictures actually. They're okay.. but nothing special. It's time for me to get serious about post processing. Any suggestions?

Edited with Picasa, using Lomo-ish filter.
(I have no idea what that means)

Basic crop/contrast/lighting with Picasa

Basic crop/contrast/lighting with Picasa

Crop/contrast/lighting and saturation with Picasa

Basic crop/contrast/lighting with Picasa

Date Night

Blake and I rarely have a traditional 'date night'. We like to make the little things in life special by doing them together when one of us could do them alone. Grocery shopping, for example, is kind of like a date for us. We really enjoy strolling through Costco discussing life. We don't get to spend a ton of time together - two weeknights (and one of those nights is Bible study night) and Saturdays are it really. We occasionally get up for the early service on Sundays, which makes some afternoon time together but I still have to hurry off to work eventually. So just the luxury of curling up on the couch and watching a tv episode is special to us. We like our little routines and just enjoy the moments we have together.

Tonight, however, we went all out ;).

We started in the afternoon with a movie (The Hunger Games movie because Blake just finished reading the book last night), then we went to dinner (Famous Dave's - A guilty pleasure. As much as I try to avoid chain restaurants... man I love their pulled pork!). Next Blake drove us out to a hillside that he'd scoped out before and determined that it would be a great spot to watch the sunset (and he sat there super patiently for an hour while I snapped pictures). After the sunset we went into our favorite local store called Sweet Treat and got some frozen yogurt to bring home and eat while watching an episode of a tv series we're Netflixing our way through (Criminal Minds).

Here are some sunset pictures :). Edited with Picasa, mostly just crop/color/contrast/lighting and some saturation and boost adjustments.

Rattlesnake 'Mountain' ... I think

The view behind us, gotta love the wind mills.

Easter 2012

We landed in Portland, OR, got in the car with my younger brother and his girlfriend (a.k.a. the Jordans) who were kind enough to pick us up in our car and drove to Bainbridge Island, WA for Easter. It was a long day of travel, but I really can't complain when part of it was a flight home from a fantastic vacation.

It was a short visit, but a great one, nonetheless. It could only have been more complete if my brother Jared was there (instead, he was at our house because of work. Irony!) and maybe a dear cousin or three with my other aunt and uncle and their families. Still, it was great to see my parents, the Jordans and my aunt and uncle. Easter is fairly self explanatory.. but here are some pictures anyway. Also, I got to try my hand at some family pictures, which was fun.

The cooks in the kitchen

Easter Eggs! Which came in...

Easter 'baskets'! Basically, my mom rocks and even though we're
all grown adults.. she still made us Easter baskets!

(This was the fun inside the bag!
Isn't my mom great!?) :)

Sisters

Our hosts, Aunt Sandy and Uncle Rodney

My parents

I couldn't pick just one.

The Jordans

Us

The obligatory family dinner table picture :)

We took the ferry over to Seattle on the way home, and I had to take the opportunity to try out my wide angle lens. 

Spring Break in Mexico

This was a fantastic vacation. One of those vacations that actually felt like a vacation. I returned home fully rested, rejuvenated and refreshed. It was also extra special for the following reasons.

01. Blake and I work a lot. Specifically, in March we worked an extra lot. We were so ready for some extended quality time together. We just love hanging out and that darn work is always getting in the way.

02. We were returning to the same place that we went on our honeymoon, two and a half years ago. I thought we might go back there for our 5th anniversary, but it just happened to work out for spring break this year.

It was so fun to relive our honeymoon a little and so incredible to see how much we've grown since we were there last. We both agree that our honeymoon was magically perfect. Yet, we also agree that our love has done nothing but grow since our magical time two and a half years ago. It is a total credit to God's faithful love and good work in us. Sitting in the same lounge chairs and taking long walks on the same beach really drove home how much greater marriage gets every day when God is at the center of it. We just walk through life a little closer now than we did before. We know each other better and we communicate better - usually with fewer words. Not surprising changes, just more obvious because we were in the same environment but a few years older.

03. Our good friends Jason and Whitney Saura were down in Cabo for spring break the same week we were. Whitney's grandma gave them use of her timeshare as a Christmas present and it happen to work out for us to be there at the same time (different resorts, but not too far).

And now, here are some pictures. Oooh the pictures. I took about 1000 (926 actually) and narrowed it down to about 150 keepers. I'll try to narrow it down even more here ;)

Dinner, our first night

Followed by a walk on the beach. I didn't realize I was doing
this with the lights.. but now I know how to do it on purpose!

These crabs were everywhere!

On a sunset cruise.

The whales really gave us a show!

Sunrise

Early morning fishing

After this picture, Captain Victor told me that I take too many pictures.
Psht. If he only knew.

Blake caught a Yellow Fin Tuna! Mmm!

Relaxing on our balcony

Blake could watch the waves crash all day :)

Whitney gave us a scare and got sucked out into the waves.
She ate some sand and saltwater before making it out okay.

Oops.. here comes a wave!

All safe and sound back on the dry sand.

Goodnight!