B&W

I’ve always been a fan of black and white photography. To me it can add such an element of drama. Ever since I’ve gotten more into photography, I’ve begun to not only love it, but appreciate it.

I’ll be the first to admit that while messing around in manual modes, I’ve messed up big time! Mostly with lighting. It really sucks when you’ve gotten a great shot, but it’s too dark. Or too light. Or the colors just look funky.

Enter black and white. With black and white, you can correct for this without it looking bad! Take this picture for example:

I cursed myself when I saw it! I could tell it was a cute picture, but I had the shutter speed too high and the ISO too low and the picture ended up being way too dark. I haven’t found a way to correct a picture like this (in color) without making it look really strange. Increasing the exposure just looks weird in color. But in black and white?

Well it’s still pretty grainy, but at least you can now see the people in it! And more importantly, the cat’s butt and breast pump in the background. Ha. Ok, so it’s still not the perfect photo, but it’s a good example of how you can have a way over-exposed picture that, in black and white, actually looks half decent! I have a ton of these, but somehow I always manage to delete the color version once I’ve converted to black and white.

So this is the only example I had on hand. You’ll just have to trust me on this one. And next time you take a picture that ends up looking bad in color, don’t immediately discard it. Try it in black and white first!

Baby Fashion

A few weeks ago, Nathan’s parents came by to drop off some of his things from when he was a baby/child. Toys for Annabel to play with one day, his favorite books for her to read, and some of his tiny clothes for us to see. It was funny to see how far baby clothes have come in the last 30 years!

Take this little outfit for example:

Nathan’s mom says this was the precursor to the “onesie.” You can open up the snaps like this:

for easy diaper access. You’ll also note (if you can see it) that there are two snaps on each side. This way, it can grow with baby! Snap the top one to make it smaller and the bottom one to add a little bit of length. Pretty clever, no?

So maybe baby clothes haven’t come so far after all where this outfit is concerned!

However, the footie pajamas have definitely improved. Now there are actually shapes where the feet fit right in, whereas when Nathan was a baby, you had this:

Sealed in pants, but no designated space for the feet.

One thing that hasn’t changed? Carters.

I guess they cornered the market a long time ago!

Speaking of baby fashion, am I the only one who thinks that babies in onesies with pants over the top look like little old men? I’d much prefer just regular shirts with pants, but then you have the problem of the shirt constantly riding up and creating quite a draft for baby’s back and belly. My solution? Onsie over the pants!

So much cuter if you ask me!

And if I had to guess, I’d say that Annabel agrees with me!

Wouldn’t you say?

There’s No Denying It….

This

kid

really

loves

her

daddy!

I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual….

Sunshine-y Day!

I’m so behind on my blog! There’s been plenty to write about and share, but not enough time. What with the sleep deprivation, I have no energy whatsoever to do much of anything in the evenings after Annabel goes to bed. I’m lucky to get her bottles ready for the next day, my lunch put together and a shower. Beyond that, I’m pretty worthless. Then the weekends feel like a mad dash to get everything done. Laundry, grocery shopping, house cleaning, errands, sleep catchup (when possible) and of course some quality time with my two favorite people. It feels like there’s little time to relax and just have fun on the weekends these days.

Today was a nice exception.

The weather has been beautiful for the past several weeks, and we had a chance to meet up for lunch with a couple of friends who were in town.

We went to a restaurant that is right on the lake, Hula Hut if you’re familiar. It was the perfect day for it!

It wasn’t really cold enough for it, but Annabel got to try out her Longhorn hat.

Annabel even learned to fly!

After lunch, we did a little shopping and then headed home. It was just the kind of Saturday that I needed after three weeks of being really stressed out by being back at work and adjusting to our new chaotic schedule.

The Difference

I told you in my Christmas Recap that I got an external flash for my camera. What I didn’t show you is the difference it makes. It’s amazing! Here is a picture of Annabel playing on the floor. I wanted to get right on the floor with her and shoot from that perspective. With the standard camera flash:

With the external flash:

Annabel doesn’t look too sure about it, but in time she will learn to really appreciate the awesomeness.

The pictures above were taken while she was playing on the floor in her room. Speaking of her room, I think she likes it! All of that hard work paid off. She especially loves staring at her fabric wall art while having her diaper changed. Or after.

How great is the lighting in that picture?! I know I’m being a huge photography/camera nerd, but I just really love my new flash! It’s so nice to finally be able to take indoor pictures that aren’t all blurry and dark and grainy.

The End.