I did a mini photo shoot with Lilly and Jeremiah yesterday...this is one of the shots I got. And no, this isn't posed. :)

-carlotta

It's a rainy day, full of thunder and downpours.

While it's storming outside, I've been...

doing Latin homework.

listening to MeMe prepare for her Girl's Club, which meets for the first time this afternoon. Yep, she started  her own club and 7-8 girls are expected to show up.

smelling baking biscuits for the strawberry shortcake Jeremiah is baking.

messing around with my camera (what else is new?).

and telling myself I should get out of my pjs...hasn't happened yet.

Also, today is my beautiful big sister Amanda's 21st birthday. She is the younger of my two (technically half) sisters that live in Germany. Happy birthday Amanda...I love you:)

What have you been up to this lovely rainy morning (or maybe lovely sunny morning for you :))?

-carlotta

1. As you may have noticed, I've done a bit of spring summer cleaning on my blog. I have a new header, my blog is wider (which makes the posting space bigger), and I've made the photos larger. What do you think? 

2. Three weeks from tomorrow, I'm going to be heading to Nashville, TN, for a youth conference. My wonderful friend Emily is going to be there (she lives in Iowa) - we became friends when both of our dads were at the seminary. I can't wait to see her!

3. I am still being blown away by what my camera can do. 

Yeah...I'm just a little obsessed with aperture right now...I even dreamed in focused subject/blurry background last night. I may need some therapy. 

4. Lilly has a crush on one of the guys that's working on our AC...his name is Frank - and he's bald. I have absolutely nothing against bald guys, but I find it hilarious that Lilly likes him. She had MeMe write "Frankie" on her bulletin at church today. Snort.

5. Be on the lookout for another giveaway in the next few weeks, as well as more photography tips!

I'm going to wrap this up so I can watch the Germany vs Australia soccer game...go Germany! :)

-carlotta

I've had a day to play with my new camera and get to know it a bit more. I think it's unhealthy how much I love that thing!

Yesterday, the first thing I did was try to get close ups - and try to get the backgrounds blurry at the same time. I found out how to adjust the aperture and starting shooting. When I looked at the photos I had just taken, my subject was blurry and the background was in focus. All morning I tried and tried and tried to achieve that look that I so badly wanted. I became more and more frustrated, until I threw my hands up and gave up for the time being. 

Worried that it was a problem with the camera - and not a user error - I googled "Nikon D3000 faulty close up" to no avail.

I decided to gave it one last shot (no pun intended) and headed back outside. For whatever reason, I held the camera a bit farther away from the subject and took a picture. I looked at it...and discovered I had done it! I succeeded in making the subject clear and the background blurry. I was beyond excited.

I realized I had been holding the camera too close. I was used to the lens of my point and shoot, which is not as sensitive, and shot the picture far too close. I now know that I would have needed a macro lens to be that close. 

As you may be able to tell from the above pictures, I went a little crazy with the blurring. But seriously, you don't know how excited I was! Figuring out how to use a DSLR camera - or learning photography for that matter - is all about trial and error.

And so, yesterday, June 11, 2010, will now go down in history as The Day Carlotta Learned To Correctly Take Close Up Photos With A Blurry Background (I can't for the life of me remember the correct term for this look). Hip hip hooray!

On a side note, I promise this will not turn completely into a photography blog. I'm just really excited about my camera. ;)

-carlotta