Day 31 - A Waterfall

From the beginning of this project I've wanted to photograph a waterfall. I wanted to capture silky and smooth running water. I read that to get this effect I need a very low shutter speed.  I found this waterfall in town today by accident and took many pictures with many different settings. This is the best shot I got. I still want to take more pictures of waterfalls. I am so fascinated by this smooth effect. I know that in order to get the perfect shot, a tripod is a must. Also, it is best if the sun isn't too bright, which it was when I took this picture around one in the afternoon.

Day 30 - The Dog at the "Spooky" House

Every Halloween this house's front yard is converted into a scary graveyard with spooky skeletons, coffins, ghosts and really scary noises. It is open to the public and every year we dare to go in and check it out. We now call it the spooky house and this is where my son sees this white dog every day. It was very foggy today and I can see the mist around the house. I wish I had gotten a sharper picture of the dog, but I wasn't too comfortable getting too close to him. I didn't want to scare him...

Day 29 - A Helicopter

 

My kids asked me what the picture of the day will be and I told them I didn't want it to be another building. I love to photograph them, but I told them I really needed to photograph "moving subjects". They told me to photograph a pet or a farm animal.  Everyday on our way to school William sees a fluffy white dog he wants me to photograph. I went to the house where he sees the dog, but the dog wasn't there. I went to a farm and saw a cow and a horse but they were inside and I only saw their heads. I took some pictures, but not great....As I was driving by the high school I saw this (another "still" object) and decided to stop and take a picture. It wasn't easy because I didn't want the building on the back to be in the picture.....

Day 28 - Another Building in Town

The schools in town had an early release due to the snow. Not knowing how my day would go and wanting  to make sure I had a picture of the day I came to this site.  I knew I could take this picture from the car since it is so close to the road. This is the Chatham Historical Society building. I like the bell on the corner and the pretty red doors.

Day 27- The Arrigoni Bridge

Another cold day to take pictures outside. I took these very quickly with my zoom lens. What a nice surprise to see all the birds flying right in front of us!

Day 26 - Juliet and Vanessa

Day 25 - A Castle

St. Clement's Castle is such a pretty site with a beautiful view of the Connecticut river, and it is only 2 minutes from our house. So, I knew it would be part of this project. I am just wondering how this photo  would look if the sky were bright blue. I guess I will have to come back and find out!

Day 24 - Lake Pocotopaug in the Winter

We go to this lake in our town so many times in the summer that I knew it will be in this project at some point. I am sure I will have a picture of it for every season. It was 8 degrees this morning when I took these.

Day 23 - A Covered Bridge

I promised myself I will come back and photograph this site when it is at least 10 degrees higher than it was this  morning. It was 10 degrees and my fingers froze.

Day 22 - Robins......and a Squirrel

I wish this bird was perched somewhere with a white or green background so we could appreciate better its beautiful colors. I'm sure there is a feature in Photoshop I can make those changes. I appreciate though this robin waited  patiently for a long time while I took many pictures of it, even when I got relatively close.

Later in the day I noticed that our backyard was covered with robins. I couldn't believe it. How could it be that on one of the coldest days of the year, there were so many birds out there? I went out with my camera, but no hat or gloves. I was so cold, but was able to get many pictures including this one.

I also saw a squirrel eating the crown of a pineapple I had brought to our compost pile.

Day 21 - Another Red Barn

My husband and I took William to piano lessons today. On our way, I saw this old barn which I had never paid attention to before. We came home and watched the inauguration. When it was over, I told everyone I had to go out and take the picture of the day. I stopped right on the street and took this picture with my 50 mm lens.

Day 20 - William and a Sunset

I used the 50 mm lens for this shot. My goal was to get a sharp subject with a blurry background.

My husband was chasing the sunset. We made it just in time. I used the 50 mm lens. This is straight out of the camera. No editing.

Day 19 - Photo of the day Challenge

It was a bit of a challenge to get the picture of the day. I had to go to work, be there almost all day and then go to church right after. There was no time to slow down and I was afraid I wasn't going to have a chance to take a picture. Before leaving the house (in a rush), I saw birds on a tree. Right before I got in the car, I decided to photograph those birds. I noticed the pictures were coming very dark and that perhaps I wasn't going to be able to edit then. I did some editing and got this.

Once in the car,  I drove a bit, then stopped and took a picture of the sun. I used the zoom lens. I didn't get the flare I was looking for. I got this.

So, I thought I still needed a picture of the day.  When I got to work I really wanted to take a picture of the beautiful blue sky and the sun. But, I couldn't. There was already an employee waiting for me, and we needed to get things started. So after all the employees got in and I had done all the things that needed to be done before opening the bank, I went out, changed the lens, and took several pictures. I got this. This is the sun flare I wanted.

Day 18 - Squirrel on a Tree

When I got home today from taking William to school,  I heard a noise coming from a tall tree. I thought it was a bird, but it was this squirrel. I went inside and grabbed my camera really quick. I took a few pictures with the zoom lens before the squirrel ran away. Except for cropping and the frame, I didn't make any other changes. This is the one time auto contrast didn't work for this one. 

Day 17 - Old Shed by the Cranberry Bog

It was almost 4 o'clock and I still didn't have a picture of the day. It was starting to get dark and I still needed to take William to gymnastics. After I picked him up, he asked me to stop, so he could place the DVD player on the back of  my seat. The nearest place was the Cranberry Bog. Just there, I had the idea to take a picture of this old building. I took the pictures from the parking lot. It was kind of far. I used the zoom lens.

Day 16 - Building an Igloo

School was canceled today due to snow. We went outside and played. The kids used their new snow brick maker. It was fun!

Day 15 - A Red Train and a Black Cat

Sunday on our way home from church, I thought it would be nice to photograph this train. I went back today. There was a black cat, siting on a chair, on the deck next to the train. I couldn't help it. I had to take a picture of that cat too.

Day 14 - Wild Mushrooms on a Tree Stump

50 mm
f/ 5.6
Exposure: Aperture Priority

Day 13 - Emma and Vanessa

Day 12 - Foggy Day

Day 11 - Cattails in the Winter

75-300 mm lens
Focal Lens 300 mm
f/ 5.6
Aperture Priority

75-300 mm lens
Focal Lens 125 mm
f/ 4.38
Aperture Priority

Day 10 - A Speck of Color

Mother Nature is truly amazing. I go out and see bare trees, dry leaves, white ground covered in snow. But, after looking really closely, I am amazed to find tiny bits of red color surrounding a dry old tree trunk. So pretty!

Day 9 - A Leaf on the Snow

Day 8 - Sunset

I took so many pictures of the sunset today I didn't know which one to post. My daughter chose this one!

Day 7 - A Red "Barn"

Every week on our way to piano lessons, I make a mental note to ask Mrs. Krupa to let me park on her driveway a little longer after the class, so I can walk on her road and take a picture of this barn. But, I either forget to ask or if I remember I realized I didn't have my camera with me. Today, I just drove by and stopped right in front of it. I took several pictures, kind of quickly, since I left the car running. This is what I got.

Day 6 - William and Brooklyn

William saw his friend from school when we went ice skating today at the Cranberry Bog.

Day 5 - Celebrating Three Kings' Day

In celebration of Three Kings' Day I decided to take a picture of the beautiful Nativity Scene at our church in Rocky Hill. This Nativity was created by Haitian artists. The reflection on the back window is the statue of our patron Saint Elizabeth Seton.

Day 4 - The Neighbor's Shed

Today it wasn't as cold as it has been the last couple of days, so I was able to take a little walk on the fluffy snow toward the back of our house.  I first thought about photographing the brook that runs by our backyard, but I remembered that I had photographed this same shed in the fall and decided to get another picture, but this time with snow around. I used my zoom lens.

Day 3 -Girl by a tree

Picture of daughter in Hebron on a very, very cold day.

Day 2 - A Cold, Cold day in Cobalt

Perhaps waited too long to take the picture of the day. It was really cold when I stepped out of the house with my camera.  I took many pictures, but this one, although boring,won for best quality when compared to others. It was taken with my zoom lens.

Day 1 - 365 Photo Challenge begins

I am officially starting a 365-Day-Photo-Challenge. That means that I am going to take and post a picture everyday for the next 365 days. The goal is to learn more about camera settings, the use of different lenses, shooting in raw and to learn more about photo processing.  I won't follow a specific list. I think it will be easier if I photograph whatever works for me on each particular day. For example, today is the first day of the year. We are in our PJs and not thinking about going out in the cold. So, I have to think of something I can photograph perhaps by the window, so I can use the natural light.

So, here is my not so great first photo. It is the photo of a hat made by my son at the library's New Year's party. I put the hat by the kitchen window. After trying different settings, I decided to used the camera flash because the pictures were coming out too dark. That wasn't a great idea. I used my new 50 mm.