My Week of Photos - Black and White

This week, I focused on taking pictures with my DSLR of subjects that I thought would look good as black and white photos. When taking pictures with my DSLR, I usually use Lightroom to do some basic editing.  These photos are basically straight out of the camera, just converted to black and white.

ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/50 sec

When the weather is nice, I like to ride my bike after dinner. During the winter though, my bike doesn't get much use. It looks really nice in black and white against my daughter's playhouse in our backyard.

ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/100 sec with 50 mm lens

Did you know that two candy canes put together in just the right way make a heart? 

ISO 1600, f/1.8, 1/80 sec with 50 mm lens

This was one of my grandmother's tea cups. She was one special lady and I love having a few things that belonged to her.

ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/30 sec with 50 mm lens

My daughter and I are having fun with the Scrabble tiles we have in our entry way.

ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/200 sec with 50mm lens

Sure was a surprise to see this Gerbera Daisy blooming in my backyard! Still waiting for my daffodils and tulips to bloom.

ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/80 sec with 50mm lens

Yes, I love to bake. Made a batch of Heath Bar cookies this week.

ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/640 sec with 50mm lens

Clothes pins are still hanging in my backyard...and I love the bokeh in this one!

ISO 800, f/1.8, 1/50 sec with 50mm lens

Travel has been on my mind this week since it has been a year since my Compassion trip to Colombia and two years since my Compassion trip to Mexico.

Do you ever take pictures and convert them to black and white?

Now to figure out what I want to practice on this next week...

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 10

Yes! Made it to double digits of this Kickstart to Clutter Free challenge! Only four more days to go! Today's task was the laundry room:

Our laundry room is right off the entry area of our home and my main path into our home from the garage.

I love having a laundry room in the house rather than in the garage like we did in our first home. Since this is not an overly large room, I have tried to make good use of the space.

But like most rooms in our home, there is definitely some clutter that needs to go away.

Take this basket of clothes pin for instance. Now there have been times when I have needed to hang laundry to dry, but do I really need a whole basket full of clothes pins? No. I bagged up half of what was in this basket and they are going with me on my next trip to the thrift store to donate.

Once I put away the shirt that was on the back of the door, got the extra laundry soap and stuff off the floor, and cleared off that shelf, the laundry room now looks like this:

And that shelf above the washer and dryer now looks like this:

Now you might be wondering about those papers attached to the front of the cupboard. When my son was in high school, we focused on some life skills and one of those life skills was laundry. He typed up a paper on how to wash different items, like whites, darks, towels, etc.  The paper comes in handy when for some reason my husband needs to do a load of laundry.

And those drawings, they make me smile. So they are definitely staying where they are.

If you are wanting to tackle the clutter in your home, I know you will just love Kathi's eCourse, Kickstart to Clutter Free.  

Next task is the medicine cabinet...

My Week of Photos - Macro

For Christmas, my daughter gave me a set of macro lenses that screw into the front of my camera lens. I haven't really used them much yet. So this week, rather than follow daily photo prompts, I used the macro lens each day on different subjects.

ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/15 sec

When using your normal camera lens, there is a minimum focal distance. So to shorten that minimum focal distance, you can either purchase a macro lens or use these screw in lenses. Obviously, the screw in lenses are much less expensive. And since I am not sure how much macro photography I am going to do, these screw in lenses will work for what I want to play with for now.

ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/40 sec

One thing about using these macro screw in lenses, you have to put your lens on manual focus. So what may look like it is crisp and in focus on a small LCD screen, actually may not be that crisp when you transfer the photo to your computer. Work in progress, right?

ISO 100, f/5.3, 1/800 sec

The big difference between the photo of the rose and this photo of the yellow flower, inside vs. outside. Inside, I had to increase my ISO to get the lighting right, which also affects the shutter speed. But outside, the ISO was at 100 so the shutter was able to react much quicker.

ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/100 sec

Again, this photo was taken outside vs. inside. 

ISO 1600, f/4.0, 1/40 sec

I could have spent the whole week taking macro photos of flowers, but there are so many other things to try this out on. I have spent quite a bit of time sewing lately, so I thought spools of thread might make a good subject. 

ISO 200, f/3.8, 1/250 sec

Back outside. I don't use this clothes line very often, but it sure comes in handy on really hot summer days to dry towels, or to hang my freshly washed pillow to dry.

Have you ever tried macro photography?

Kickstart to Clutter Free - Day 9

Phew! I survived day 8 of Kathi Lipp's Kickstart to Clutter Free by clearing out a lot of my hobby/art supplies, so now onto day 9 - 25 items in my family room:

Overall, the family room is not too bad. But there is always room for improvement. So I decided to tackle my corner...

My  corner of the family room is where you can find my laptop, my current pile of books I am reading, my current knitting project. Oh, and of course, other items that probably don't need to live there.

Amazing how much stuff is in one area once you really start looking! The pile on the left ended up in the trash, and the pile of the right found ways to their new homes in other places.

So now, my corner of the family room looks like this...

Ah! Much better! Now, the books I am currently reading are 'in' the basket instead of piled next to the basket. 

I have to say, going through this course is helping me make better choices about where I put things as I go through my day. My dresser is staying neater, my desk is staying neater, I am still working through the piles of stuff in my craft room. It feels so good to get rid of stuff that has no business being in my home!

Are you tired of the clutter in your home? I encourage you to take Kathi's Kickstart to Clutter Free eCourse. Her tips and daily videos are an encouragement!

Now, onto the laundry area...

Compassion Share & Tell

Today is the second friday of the month, a day that a lot of Compassion sponsors set aside time to write to the children they sponsor. This morning, I was finishing up letters to my kids and wanted to share what I am mailing to them this month.

As letters come in from my sponsored kids, I am trying to respond to those right away so that I make sure I am answering any questions they may have. But once a month, I want to set aside time to mail extra things with the letters.

So this month, I wrote to each of them about going ice skating with my daughter. I also asked them if there is anything special they like to do with their mom and what sport do they love. Along with the letter, I sent a photo of the two of us ice skating, a postcard of a sea otter and a Bible verse printable I found on Pinterest.

One thing extra I did create this month was this printable stationary using Canva. You are welcome to access this file and use the printable stationary when writing letters to your own sponsored children.

If you are a Compassion sponsor, I pray that you are setting aside time to write to your sponsored children on a regular basis. These kids love, love, love letters from their sponsors!