The Minniear Family Blog: 2012

Friday, December 14, 2012

More Fun with Christmas Lights

How to make your Christmas lights twinkle like this:

Set your camera on a steady surface, preferably a tri-pod.

Put your camera on Manual Mode

Set your ISO to 200

Set your Shutter Speed to 10 seconds (looks like 10")

Set your aperture to f22

Turn your camera's timer on

Focus on your tree and hit the shutter button to take the picture.

Don't move the camera or tri-pod.

This exposure takes 10 seconds.

To get more of a golden glow, turn up your ISO to 600 or 1000, etc.

How to make your Christmas Tree Look like THIS:

Using the same settings above (tri-pod, f 22, 10 second exposure, ISO 500ish)

Zoom In close to your tree.

Hit the shutter button to take the picture AND

Slowly and very gently zoom your lens out all the way during exposure.

And This!

Again, using the same settings as above, move your tri-pod closer to your tree so that you only see a small section of it through the viewfinder.

Hit the shutter button and slowly rotate the whole camera from horizontal to vertical.

(on my tri-pod I have to hold in a button to allow the camera rest to move from landscape to portrait)

And This...

Using the same settings above (tri-pod, f 22, 10 second exposure, ISO 500ish)

Move close to your tree.

Zoom In and get a small section.

Hit the shutter button to take the picture AND

Slowly and very gently zoom your lens out all the way during exposure.

Have Fun!!!

Let me know if you try it.

Jodie

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Now Teaching Classes in Mt. Juliet Tennessee A subburb of Nashville

I am teaching one on one photography classes weekly. Classes are $20 per lesson. Each lesson is 2 hours and is hands-on. Call me to set up a lesson: 812-480-5253

If a classroom environment is more to your liking, I teach at The Scrap Room in Mt Juliet.

141 Adams Lane, Suite 21, Mt. Juliet, TN 37122

615-758-9596 / thescraproomtn@yahoo.com

The next scheduled class will be 4 hour workshop Saturday January 26th from 11-3:30. $50

Call to register. Space is limited.

We learn to take the camera out of Auto Mode by exploring all of the creative modes. Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual Mode.

Class Outline:

Lesson 1: Navigate the buttons and dials on your camera while learning Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO and Focus and Depth of Field.

Lesson 2: Learn about metering, focus modes, seeing the light, using flash and white balance.

Lesson 3: Putting it all together. We will discuss composition and the right camera settings for a variety of situations like sports, landscapes and portraits.

This class is designed for, but not limited to the DSLR camera owner. All makes, models and cameras types welcome!

Christmas Shaped Bokeh

Bokeh: the out of focus area of an image

How it's done:

•Focus on something close

•Place your homemade filter in front of the lens

•Snap your picture.

To make a filter:

Fold a recipe card in half.

Cut or punch a shape out of the center.

Unfold.

Settings:

Night portrait mode (flash + long exposure)

The flash illuminates your close subject and the slow shutter speed allows the camera to capture the light in the background.

ISO 400

1/15 second

f5.6

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Hermitage: hermit's dwelling place, a place of relaxing retreat.

Just a few miles from our new home sits The Hermitage, the historical home of our 7th President, Andrew Jackson. This past weekend my friend Duchess, her daughter and I visited the mansion.

Andrew and Rachel Jackson

Andrew Jackson was born March 15, 1767 in North Carolina. His father died 3 days before his birth. Jackson, at age 13, ran around battle fields as a courier for the military. At the time, no one knew the woods and land better then the young boys of the town. His mother died of Cholera, contracted from helping at a military hospital and brother died of heat stroke during the war, leaving him an orphan by the age of 14. He apprenticed with an attorney and got his law degree. Soon after he moved to TN. He met and married his sweetheart, Rachel Donelson. Rachels father cofounded Fort Nashborough in 1780, which would eventually become the city of Nashville, Tennessee.

Andrew and Rachel bought land and built a log home on it. Below is their original home (left) and a slave cabin (right).

The Jackson's began getting involved in State and Local politics and needed a more suitable place to entertain. In 1819, the two story Greek Revival home was built. Today The Hermitage is reputedly our nation’s most authentically preserved early presidential home site. The museum includes original artwork, furniture, textiles, personal items, wallpapers, and much more.

Walking up to the house

The Jackson's had no children of their own. They adopted one of Rachel's brothers children as well as two orphaned Indian children.

Rachel Jackson died about 3 days before Andrew would become the 7th President of the United States.

Andrew Jackson Died on June 8, 1845 (aged 78)
at his Nashville, Tennessee home surrounded by his children and slaves.

A slave cabin. Two families would have lived here. Each family might have had up to 10 people living in the house. Children would sleep upstairs (in the heat).

The back of the house and work yard.

This is one of my favorite photos of the president. It isn't a painting, it hasn't been retouched. It was taken in his last years. It really shows his age as well as the path he has traveled in his life.