Today, I’ve reached a point in my photography where I’ve learned what I need to know (for now) in order to do the things I love to do (blog, write cookbooks). I am enjoying that place for now. Over the past two years, though I still love photography every bit as much as I always have, I’ve found that I’ve had less and less to blog about in the photography realm. Again, I still love photography. I just don’t have an overflowing font of content to fill a whole website section and keep it updated regularly.

I will still be posting here on Pioneer Woman Photography, it will just be less frequently. For now, though, here are some quick links of some of the most fundamental posts here on PW Photography for those who are looking to brush up on the basics!

* What the Heck is an Aperture? (Series of posts on exposure)

* Exposure Compensation Has Changed My Life

* Posts on Photoshop (Lots of fun tips!)

* All posts by the fabulous Miz Booshay

As for photography contests and assignments, I’ll definitely still be having them and will keep you posted!

Lots of love,
P-Dub

 
 
 
This one freaked me out a little bit because it made me think of John Lithgow and the Twilight Zone movie.

That’s why it was a little blurry.

I was trembling.

 
 
 
But then…ahhhh.

 
 
 
Unfortunately, my photos don’t really do the sunset justice. There were millions of colors. It was stunning.

 
 
 
And then I looked down. And there was Manhattan! It felt like we were flying over an atlas, I could see everything so perfectly. There’s Central Park! There’s the Hudson River! There’s that falafel cart I love so much!

Just kidding on that last part.

But it has happened.

Raise your hand if your child has ever used your phone to post a photo of himself on your Instagram account without your knowledge.

*Raising hand*

The other day, just after I noticed my baby had posted his self-portrait on my Instagram account, which, by the way, had been many hours earlier, I posted on my Facebook page.

“What’s it called,” I wrote. “When your eight-year-old child takes your phone, snaps a photo of himself, and posts it to your Instagram account? Someone needs to come up with a term for this infraction.”

Here are some names that were suggested:

Instafoul.

Instafraction.

Instabombed.

Ghostposting.

Instaswipe.

Tech Savvy.

Instaham.

Kidsnapping.

Instabusted.

Instajacked.

Facelifted.

And my personal favorite:

Gram Theft Photo.

People are funny and clever,
Pioneer Woman

 
In the photo above, I exposed for the sky. “Exposing for the sky” means I told my camera that I wanted to capture all the beauty and color variations of the sky and not to worry about letting enough light in to see my baby. By “telling my camera” I mean that I made the necessary adjustments and tweaks to my camera settings to make sure the sky was properly exposed.

 
 
In this case, I took the easy road and simply dialed back the exposure compensation until it let in less and less light…to the point that I was satisfied that it was capturing the sunset accurately. If I had left the camera to its own devices, it would have tried to “expose for the subject” and let in enough light to see the detail of my son’s face. If this had happened, my son’s face would be visible, yes…but the entire sky would be a white/light blown out mess.

That’s always the decision when you have a subject against a setting or rising sun: Do I want to capture the detail of the subject? Or do I want to capture the detail of the sky? Without a flash of some sort, you generally can’t have both. I happen to think silhouettes are nice and kind of emotional sometimes, so of course I chose the sky.

Anyway, short little lesson this morning. I just wanted to explain what “exposing for the sky” means.

Photographers, please feel free to weigh in! You likely know way more than I do about this stuff.

Love,
P-Dub

Do you remember a few years ago when I ordered you to get in the picture? Well…out of all the posts I have written for Ree, that one the most popular.

I have taken it to heart and take pictures of myself all the time.

 
Haha

Your computer camera is brilliant for this very thing!

And recently as I was posting some pictures on my blog I thought…couples need to get in pictures more often!

Everybody does this for their engagements and weddings…but after that, life becomes hectic and sadly, lots of parents stop thinking of themselves as a couple. But gosh, this one little thing could be such a blessing to your relationship and for your children.

So that is my new battle cry. Take a picture with your honey.

Hold that cell phone out and up, put your noggins together and go for it!

 
 
 
Have a professional take your picture. Take advantage of a mini session that is being offered. Or hand the camera to your child or friend and ask for a quick shot!

 
 
 
This picture is of my parents. I cropped it a little funny, but I wanted you to see that my dad has his arms all the way around my mom’s waist. Isn’t that the best part! The affection! (I think so.) Pictures of my parents are some of my greatest treasures!

 
 
 
Get in the picture with your honey!

You will be happy you did it.

I promise.

Encourage one another,
Miz Boo

Second, I don’t think I’ve ever done this in the history of my photography assignments (or maybe I have! I’ve slept since then!) but I am selecting three winners of the phone photo contest. There were so many amazing submissions, and in the end I just couldn’t decide. So I decided not to!

Each of the following three winners will receive a $300 gift card from Amazon.com.

 
Winner #1: Erinhkw! Erin, the composition and subtle tones of your baby-in-the-bathtub shot are just out of this world. I love this one the moment I saw it. Congrats!

 
 
 
Winner #2: glutenfreegreenbean! I chose this photo as one of the winners because it’s such a once-in-a-lifetime shot…and because it really captures the spirit of what phone photography is all about: capturing those moments that would otherwise be missed. The rays of sunshine hitting the deer…this photo almost makes me cry.

 
 
 
Winner #3: JenaK2009. The spirit and personality of this shot really does it for me. It perfectly captures what being a little boy is all about: Fighting against evil and having a loyal puppy by your side.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to EVERYONE who shared their amazing phone photos over the past couple of weeks. I loved looking at all of your photos!

Feel free to shout out your favorites, of course.

 
By AmandyP.

 
 
 
By Kirsten Patel.

 
 
 
By Erinhkw.

 
 
 
By psych mamma.

 
 
 
By glutenfreegreenbean.

 
 
 
By JenaK2009.

 
 
 
By barefootstephco.

 
 
 
By Jenny Modesitt.

 
 
 
By Mrs.Stoked.

 
 
 
By lucylumac.

 
 
 
By Coy Townson.

 
 
 
By nattibethphotos.

 
 
 
By allison.waken.

 
 
 
By Fidgetblogs.

 
 
 
By reana_ramos.

 
 
 
By beekay259.

 
 
 
By john.cobb.

 
 
 
By CoriK.

 
 
 
By mildewpie.

 
 
 
By heavensevans.

 
 
 
By PiecesofmeJen.

 
 
 
By CoriVaughan7.

Winner will be announced Tuesday!

My next order of business—please light a candle for me—is to go through all the groups of submissions and pick one or two from each group. This is going to be very, very difficult.

I’ll post the finalists in the next day or two!

 
By kimmin121. What a fabulous doggie!

 
 
 
By heavensevans. Awesome agricultural shot!

 
 
 
By fuschiafusion. Wow—very cool. Love the perspective.

 
 
 
By Coy Townson. Goodness, this is beautiful.

 
 
 
By mildewpie. Stunning edit.

 
 
 
By photoangie. I absolutely love this photo. The edit is perfect.

 
 
 
By CoriVaughan7. What a precious, precious photo.

 
 
 
By shelly n. Really great shot.

 
 
 
By kcvoiles. This really is an awesome photos. Great reflection—great idea!

 
 
 
By courtneysclicks. Just awesome. So funny.

 
 
 
By CleverlyInspired. Very creative! Love this.

 
 
 
By qhanson. Oh, dear…this is darling.

 
 
 
By PiecesofmeJen. Another great one, and I love the quote on the photo itself.

 
 
 
By shelly n. Stunning, gorgeous, stunning.

 
 
 
By ShoelessLinda. Fantastic wild horse shot!

 
 
 
By jennifurla. I really like this. Subtle colors, candid moment. Really nice.

 
 
 
By bschmidthess. Splendid!

 
 
 
By bmurphy77. Lovely and wonderful.

 
 
 
By julnewc. What a beautiful kitty kitty.

 
 
 
By Observer of Life. Perfect shot to end things up!

See you next for the finalists!

Note: This contest has received (I believe) the most entries of any photo contest I’ve had. Thanks for being patient over the past couple of weeks! I’ll probably wind up doing one or two more groups, then will start narrowing down the finalists in the middle of this week. It’s been so much fun!

 
By ChristineAnderson5428. Oh, I love this. Beautiful colors.

 
 
 
By john.cobb. Uh…wow.

 
 
 
By degrado2011. Black-and-white was perfect for this one.

 
 
 
By allison.waken. Gorgeous light!

 
 
 
By akclark19. Total gorgeousness.

 
 
 
By Mesmerizing Moments. This is just gorgeous.

 
 
 
By mrslisajnelson. Love this! The composition is great.

 
 
 
By Ksugarandspice. Lovely colors and very cool perspective! Awesome one.

 
 
 
By MissPamelaJean. Ahhh…Fabulous! I’d love the know what this filter is!

 
 
 
By mjhknsjhjhrj. Baby spiders—remarkable!

 
 
 
By Julie under laundry. Julie, I am loving your sketch photos. So cool!

 
 
 
By CoriK. Oh my gosh, Cori. This is spectacular. Love the perspective, love the edit!

 
 
 
By mildewpie. How beautiful. The edit is just stunning and the photo totally says “D.C.”

 
 
 
By photoangie. Very, very nice photo. Great mood.

 
 
 
By aebphoto. I love this. It’s sort of timeless…in an urban kind of way. Awesome!

 
 
 
By MichelinStar. What a shot!

 
 
 
By whitney.messer. Nice lines!

 
 
 
By Michelle*G. Cows and fog. What a combination!

 
 
 
By kellsbells12. Wow. What a spot!

 
 
 
By fatmuslim. I love everything about this. The subject, the flare, the colors. Wow.

 
 
 
By laylaD017. Oh my. Just glorious.

See you next for Group 9, everyone!

 
By Alizarin10. How lovely is this?!?

 
 
 
By Erin Nicole. Beautiful!

 
 
 
By franciscan heart. Really cool and abstract!

 
 
 
By Mamapj1990. So pretty. Love the selective focus.

 
 
 
robinjanflickr. Stunning sunset!

 
 
 
By callmeshmi. Amazing edit! What filter is this?

 
 
 
By mfrankmph. Awesome. Totally awesome.

 
 
 
By sarah cakes. Oh, wow. Very cool!

 
 
 
By beekay259. So pretty! Love the colors.

 
 
 
By MissPamelaJean. Oh my gosh. This is just fantastic.

 
 
 
By 3sweets. Love, love, love the texture.

 
 
 
By RedRockinGal. Gorgeous and serene.

 
 
 
By natnekou. This made me tear up, and I can’t explain why.

(The caption reads “Second year of medical school. prepping for surgery. my dreams come true.”)

 
 
 
By mocridhe. What a luscious kitty shot! So pretty.

 
 
 
By reana_ramos. This is so striking and emotional.

 
 
 
By anni katariina. Such awesome clarity! (And beautiful eye.)

 
 
 
By PiecesofmeJen. This is so amazing. How’d you do it?

 
 
 
By Katie.putz. Awesome. Totally awesome.

 
 
 
By lreyes1982. Gorgeous girl!

 
 
 
By sweet potato pie. I’m in love with this edit. It’s beautiful!

 
 
 
By ElleAuvil. Wow…what an amazing experience that must be. Looks so still and peaceful!

See you next for Group 8, everyone!