Neglected Blog

Well, I haven't started the year out very well on the blogging front. The whole point in doing this blog was to use it to help remember all the little things that happen in our lives. I'm going to try and do better with the blog from now on. I have a list of things that I should write about to catch up on, but since hockey has really been in the fore front of my mind lately, I think I'll focus this entry on how my hockey photography has improved over the course of this years RIT season. Hockey is a very new sport for me, I've always been a basketball girl, but after seeing a few RIT games last season, I am now hooked. I can't believe its taken me this long to realize how much fun hockey is, especially RIT hockey. Our whole family has gotten into it which makes it even more fun. It's something we can all do together. Photography is a hobby of mine as I'm sure you know, so putting them together seems logical. I love sports photography, but don't get a lot of opportunities to shoot it. Basketball really is the only sport I've photographed. Well, I guess also I could count the high school football games of my brothers I photographed with my 35mm camera, but that was Sooo long ago. Learning the game of hockey over the course of the year (Thanks Deb!), I can really see an improvement in my hockey photography. I can now somewhat predict where the good action will be. I still have a long ways to go, but here's a little look at how my hockey photography has improved over the course of this RIT hockey season.

First game:



Faceoffs, learning how to stop the action, so you can see the puck. Other than that not much good about this photo



Alittle improvement, I captured the celebration after a goal. Photos still alittle dark.



An okay in action shot:



Action shot, but way blurry:



A better angle on the faceoff


Good facial expressions



Getting better, goal shot



Better:


Nice angle:


Latest photos I've processed, very happy with these:











I know I still have alot to learn about the game of hockey and a lot to learn about photographing hockey, but I must say I am truly truly enjoying both! I'm so glad hockey is a part of my life now.. I can't believe I went so long without it.

GO TIGERS!

If you've got an hour, enjoy some of my latest photos

Ok I was seriously behind on my photo processing. I spent all last night catching up, and I managed to process and post all the recent photos waiting on my hard drive, but I still have a bunch still on my memory card that need to be uploaded to my hard drive and then processed, but hey one step at a time. When I say I spent all last night on this, I really spent a lot of time, (after all there is NOTHING on tv on Wednesdays and since I had control of the computer I wasn't about to give it up to Doug to play his video game), but it feels good to be mostly caught up. I had photos going back to September still to process. Here's a look at some of my favorites and links to the rest of the sets:

Dansville Hot Air Balloon Festival





Coloring with Riley


This was a game night turned coloring with Riley night. We were playing Wii and while Deb was sitting out one round she asked Riley to color, and from that point on everyone took turns coloring with Riley.

Doug's Poker Birthday



Barktoberfest


There's something about this photo I really love. It's not the best photo of Nyssa and its not even the best photos I took at Barktoberfest, but I just love it. I took it while we were waiting for Riley to finish jumping in the bounce house. It's like she's saying, "OK Dad, when's it gonna be my turn to play?"

Random Everyday Life


Riley actually took this photo. She's becoming quite the little photographer. There are some funny photos in this set. Some random everyday life kind of photos. Stuff that didn't fit anywhere else, but were fun and I wanted to share.

Kai's Poker Birthday




Riley Fall Photos at Tinker Nature Center



Riley at swimming lessons


I also uploaded 2 videos for the first time in this set. They are set to friends and family only. Uploading videos was cool. I like having them right in the set with the photos that go along with them.

Pumpkin Patch



Pumpkin Carving



Seneca Park Zoo Boo



Halloween Trick or Treating



And some RIT hockey photos. I think after the seasons over I'll do entry showing off my favorite from the season. Photographing hockey is hard, but I think I'm starting to get some good shots. The more I learn about hockey, the easier its getting.

RIT vs. Holy Cross
RIT vs. Clarkson
RIT vs. St. Lawrence

I came up with all kinds of ideas for scrapbook pages based on the photos I processed last night, so I'm looking forward to working on them. I think at least for some, I'm going to try some more digital pages.

Photoshop Upgrade

I just upgraded from Photoshop 2 to Photoshop 7. A huge upgrade. I'm so excited. I've been missing so much. There are so many new cool things I can do with my upgraded Photoshop. I've been playing with actions, they are so fun, but I still have a lot to learn. Check out these fun images. This is one I took of Riley at the Pumpkin Patch.

This one is the SOOC (straight out of the camera) image. Nothing done to it.


Here's what I did with it:

The first one is a very subtle enhancement, brighten and a little color pop.



The second one is alot of brighten and color pop



Not sure what to call the next one, but I love it!




This one is just fun, it's a grunge/urban look.


I'm having a really hard time deciding which one I like the best. They are all pretty cool. Which one is your favorite?

Photoshop a Vintage Look

Andy shared this interesting article in Google Reader about how to give your photos a vintage look. I thought it would be fun to give it a try. Mine doesn't look as good as the example, but it was fun learning some new things in Photoshop Elements.

Before:
After:

I think it's still alittle darker than I would have liked, but I like it.