Kirsten Andersen Photography

Getting sharp / in focus photos

2011-12-16T15:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time (long time)
I shouldn'a left you (left you)
Without a dope beat to step to (step to)

LOL yes..... its been a loooong time since I've blogged.. anyhoo I do really want to blog more but I've been so busy lately with Xmas coming up, shooting a friends wedding and another's engagement its just been so crazy! leaving for Sydney next friday and am SOOOOOO looking forward to some good quality R&R. Not sure if that will be possible with my friend Rata haha.

Anyway I came across this video about getting sharp images.. some of it I already knew but I just thought it was soooo helpful and wanted to share with all of you! It's in simple, plain english so if you are familiar with most photography terminology you will find it easy to understand. I just thought it was great to get tips like these which are really hard to figure out yourself starting out in photography. So here you go. Watch and learn like I did! =)

How to get sharp images (My top 10) from James Beltz on Vimeo.

Photowalk #18 - Rotorua

2011-09-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

So we had our photoclub photowalk last week in Rotorua and it was sooo much fun! We all went down just for the day and visited 3 sites down there. Wow it was soooo much fun to finally go on a roadtrip. I just love roadtrips and going down with friends makes it 10x MORE fun. I definately wouldn't have had such a great time if I wasn't down there with my photog mates :) I really enjoyed the redwood forest, boy those trees are huuuuge!! It was a damn shame I didn't have a lens with me that could shoot wide angle.. but I made do anyways ;) here's a shot I took just stitching the pix together :) If you are wanting to do the same, just make sure you are shooting manual so your settings don't change from picture to picture ;) I just use photoshop to stitch it together.. its really easy using photomerge. Click on the photo to see it a little larger ;)

I loved Hangarua Spring too. It's just amazing!! The water of the spring remains sooo clear because it's contantly releasing so much water the dirt just doesn't get a chance to settle. It pumps out approx 4.5 million litres of water every hour.. amazing right?? Here's Doug looking down on it haha >>

On the way from this 2nd location to the 3rd, Steph (our leader person :) ) stopped her car and we were like huh is something wrong?? nah she just wanted to stop and take pix of the railway hehe. Which was cool with us :) I took some funny pix of Doug at this spot.. it still cracks me up :D

This is why I love him, he constantly makes me smile. <3

And just to make the post complete, here's a few shots from the 3rd location. All locations were free how choice is that? :P I especially liked the larger mud pool.. there was heaps of steam there.. made some nice shots :)

Doug again with his craziness lol

Till next time, happy weekend guys! :D

Photo's from Justin & Julie's Wedding

2011-08-31T01:16:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to share a few of my favourite shots from my first wedding shoot that I did back in July :) It was very last minute and was done as a favour to a friend :) They did end up giving me a koha which I didn't expect at all! But was very nice of them :) Thanks guys!!

Overall the experience was great!! I was SOOOO nervous though. Even though it was a cool day I was sweating bullets!! I just really wanted to do a great job for these guys :) This day was a long time coming too. They have been together for 15 years before they finally decided to get married ! :) It was awesome to see Justin wear his cultural attire too :) Enjoy!

Next wedding is coming up in November!!! Am really looking forward to tackling another big challenge, and a longer shooting time too. I was only able to stay for the ceremony for Justin & Julie but for the next I will be there from the bride getting ready through to the reception!! So will see how I go !!! If any of you out there have some tips for a novice wedding photog please do leave us a comment :D

The bride gets ready :)

2011-05-26T01:36:00.000-07:00

So my lovely friend Lily got married in Wellington a few weeks ago (15th May 2011 to be exact). Boy was it fun to go down and be part of it!! I was not only chosen to be the maid of honour but also to take pictures as she got ready on the wedding day too. So I was a little nervous as I had ALOT to do! haha. But it all turned out perfectly in the end. It was just so great to see two families come together and have a great time. The emotion felt on the day was soo great. It was awesome to see my friend walk down the aisle in her dress. It was certainly dramatic! And what an entrance she made. It was my privilege and pleasure to be apart of it! Here's just a few of the shots I was able to get :P

Isn't the tiara pretty!

check out this dress! (and there's me in the mirror haha)

So happy for you my friend. :)

First engagement shoot - Cornwall Park

2011-05-24T03:05:00.000-07:00

I'm always kinda nervous just before a shoot but once I get going it's all fine!! These two were great in front of the camera and made it very easy for me. They seemed very natural and I am really happy how the photos came out! here's one of my favourites! Meet my friends Poko & Pearl :D

On top of the World

2011-04-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

WOW., what a day. Just finished watching the Royal Wedding in London and I really didn't think I would get all caught up in the hype but I totally did!!! Just watching all the programs before hand re-telling of Royal weddings in the past and the history behind all the buildings etc etc, wow it was just awe-inspiring. Now more than ever I am looking forward to Doug and my wedding Day ! So exciting !! The dress was simply amazing. It was traditional but I think Kate pulled it off brilliantly. She looked amazing and she had the amazing body to do it. Her sister was a knock out as well. Kate just looked stunningly natural and beautiful.

The whole thing was just amazing, the venue, and I especially loved the trees lining the red carpet in Westminster Abbey. That was amazing, the bright fresh green contrasting with the red carpet made for some amazing video shots.

Anyway this is another short post because I totally can't sleep because I'm still buzzing over it all! I also thought it was super cute how Will and Kate kissed twice on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. I totally missed the first one anyways haha it was too quick. And then another one!! Just shows how in love they truely are.. Real love. <3 aww warm fuzzies all round ...

oh ok, so this photo totally doesn't relate. hmm what can i say to make it relate lol. I suppose these people are having a blast feeling on top of the world just like Will and Kate felt today. The look on their faces was pure happiness. Wishing them all of God's blessings in their marriage. :)

I can't wait till I get to have my turn to be on top of the world :D

Oh and please, if you haven't already, don't forgot to vote on my photo here. The instructions are on the description of the photo. Doug and I are in a competition to win a photographer for our wedding. We are still in the lead!! Thank you so much to everyone who has voted and are continuing to spread the word for us. It means so much to us!!

Apartment Living

2011-04-25T04:09:00.000-07:00

Living in an apartment is cool. Its small., but its cool. . . I love the view. will miss it when I eventually have to move.. :( Hope you all enjoyed your Easter weekend!! Another short week.. wooooo

Oh I just wat to quickly add in here - Doug (my fiance) and I are in a competition to win a photography package worth $2,500 for our wedding. We're really trying hard to win because I mean, come on that's a pretty awesome prize =) We're currently in the lead but we need as many votes as possible to win it! So please, if you haven't voted yet.. please go to this photo, read the caption for instructions and like =). You'll need to like the TZ Studios page first.

But yeah - the support so far has been amazing!! Thank you to everyone who has already voted!! xx

Are you engaged? Holla at me :D

2011-04-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just want to say I am obsessed with Jasmine Star atm! I know it sounds creepy but omg I looooove her work =) And even more than that I love the way that she does business. She's all about the Jasmine Star experience. How friken cool is that? haha. And even though she's wildly successful, she still responds to those who email her. I know , because she responded to me. ^_^ :O! I enquired about how much she charges (wondering if I could ever be able to afford her for my wedding :P) I really appreciated her getting back to me, and unlike alot of other photographers I've enquired with, she was pretty up front with her prices which I thought was cool. Too bad though its Waaaaay outta my budget but if I did have the money, this is the chick I would choose to shoot my wedding. She's amazing you must check her out. Here's her website.

You probably already guessed - but if you didn't know, Jasmine Star is a well known wedding photographer from Orange County, California. She has an amazing blog, which I have been glued to this week. She takes her inspiration for her work from magazines and fashion. Could I love her anymore? Don't think so!! Everytime I read her posts or browse her photos I'm like, this is soooo me. I'm sure we would be best buds if we ever met.

If I ever could become a professional, I think I would like to be like her. I love her style. It's very crisp and she mentions she's a big fan of prime lenses to help her achieve this. That's it, now I gotta go out and get one ha ha. Sigh. *dreams*

She's also very generous with the knowledge she's gained over the years from growing her business into what it is today. I have already learned so much from her blog and also from a recent online streaming of a workshop she held on creativelive.com. I could not leave my computer, I was so glued to the screen - I just wanted to grasp each little tip and trick as she openly shared for free. I couldn't believe it!

After watching that creativelive broadcast I just felt so motivated! I've been asked to shoot a couple of weddings for friends and I thought yusss, now I'm gonna channel my inner Jasmine Star WOOP haha. But as much as I love her work, I love what she said in the live stream and that was to be the best version of you. Something that she said really hit home to me and that was that if you try to be the best at this type of photography or that type of photography, its extremely likely that there will always be that someone who is better. But if you go out there and rock "you" and your own "unique" style, no one can duplicate that. Wow, light bulb. Why am I always so nervous thinking this person or that person is SO much better. All I should worry about is myself and my own growth :) I am on a journey to find my own unique style :) And I'm so inspired I just want to get out and practise!!

SO, if you know anyone that's engaged, let me know if you want to volunteer to be my models so I can "practise"! Linda and Tua, you're first on the list LOL. :) Hit me up if you would like a free engagement session ^_^ Don't be shy! It'll be fun. :D

OH, and if anyone has suggestions for photographers in NZ that have reasonable prices please let me know =) I'm still on the lookout for our wedding photographer for next year.

AND, cause this has been alot more writing than I expected when I started this post :/.. here's some photos to spruce up the page. They were only taken with my point and shoot but I still love it for the versatility. And if you're wondering how I took em, I simply attached it to the car window with my joby gorillapod and used the "party" setting with a 10sec timer. Oh how I must look strange to passers by, but that has never bothered me :P As long as I get my shot *cheesy smile*

For as long as I can remember, this has been my favourite thing to do, spend time with those I love and take photos! xo

Oh and this photo was taken by putting the tripod on the ground ha ha ha. But I like the angle in this one :) Sorry bout it Doug. xx lol yesss this is my handsome fiance :D well done babe well done :D

Stay cool guys :D

Twitter pic

2011-04-11T02:45:00.000-07:00

If you're on my twitter you would have already seen this picture as my avatar =). Haha and I know it's photoshopped to the max.. but hey lol. Sometimes I like to live out my dreams on the internet lmao ummm ok awkward lol!. I just love the light I get from our apartment windows.. creates pretty catch lights!!

It's a killer week at work this week for me with year end... :S just gotta suck it in and get it done!!
But to get me through the week I am looking forward to hanging out with Linda and Tua this weekend (old school mates). They too are engaged and we are all gonna go and check out the Grand Wedding show at Sky City on Sunday. My first one so will see how it goes! Hopefully will get some good info and maybe even some deals to mull over =)

Have a happy week all , whatever you may be doing! xx

My Sister

2011-04-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

Ok I just wanted to share this edited pic of my little sister I took this week. Isn't she gorgeous!! She takes after her older sister.. ha ha ha WHAAAAT!? lol. My friend Steph suggested I take clone out the background and it made a huge difference! Thanks Steph =) Planning to print this to display =) I curled her hair before hand. It seemed to really boost her confidence for our little impromptu photo shoot =) And I just love the lens flare coming off her hair.. just gorgeous =) Front page material! xx

Engaged =)

2011-03-21T02:38:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in FOREVER.. SORRY!!! .. if you didn't know, I got engaged last month so have kinda just been a bit swamped with all the excitement of being engaged! But yeah, Doug and I got engaged on Valentines Day. awwwww.... it was so very romantic.. few tears were shed but a very happy moment =) =)

and here's my lovely ring =)

Anyway I just saw this short video on Youtube by Nigel Barker with some quick tips on group photos.. thought it might be helpful to share =)

Kinda getting bored with this layout on my blog.. might look at changing in the near future.. watch this space. =)

Waitangi Weekend =)

2011-02-06T00:32:00.000-08:00

Such a beautiful weekend here in NZ! It's Waitangi weekend but unfortunately we don't get a holiday this year due to the day falling on a Sunday. Darn it! But it was a beautiful sunny day here in Auckland and I was just grateful to get out and about without worrying about the rain!

Doug and I decided to take a lil ride around the bays this morning and it was soo picturesque. We went in the morning to try and avoid the midday heat - which we did. I was glad coz all afternoon it was incredibly muggy. Reports suggested around 80% :S

Anyway I got this software a few months back that enhances your photos and I bought it because I don't have a full version of photoshop yet and just wanted to experiment with post processing in a different program. It's quite fun but the adjustments can seem a little too "fake" for my liking but it is quite fun to see what you can do with it. You can adjust the sliders to reduce how fake or realistic you want a photo too look so I tend to not just use the preset, but tweak it.

It works with iPhoto also which makes it really easy and fast. (I like) The program is called Adjust by TopazLabs. The reason I couldn't use it for a couple of months was because it kept crashing on me. So I emailed the support crew at Topaz Labs and they gave me a different version to download which seemed to fix the problem which I was really happy with =) I only use a couple of the functions on it so I don't know if I would recommend anyone to go out and purchase it. But if you do like to enhance your photos alot or like to make your photos look like paintings, there are a few options you might enjoy.

Anyway here are a few photos I've been taking this weekend.. really been enjoying the sunshine and I think I got a lil tan!! wow go Kirsten haha (whitey). I did use the program on all of these to give them a lil pop. By the way these are all taken on my compact =)

Have a happy week!

New Year - New Direction

2011-02-03T02:49:00.000-08:00

So I have really been waaaay too slack on this blog!!! I want to try and make this blog a little more personal this year and maybe just get back to what I really love and that's capturing and sharing memories. I don't know, I think I tried to be all formal with this but hey I don't know if that's me.. haha so I might take this lil blog of mine in a new direction this year. Gonna work on a new layout when I get the chance and start posting more! Maybe more often but not as loooong. :P

I just got back from the warehouse tonight after buying yet another photo album. I just love filling it with all my favourite photos taken over the months. And as I do this, I just happen to glance over old ones. There's just something about having something tactile to hold and look at. Memories in a book - I LOVE IT!! "oh remember that time?" "oh look how young we look!!"

Anyway here are a few memories from New Years 2011 that I've filed carefully away.. The fireworks were just amazing this year (click here to compare with last year!).. I think that it sets the tone for what's to come in 2011.. onwards and upwards NZ =)

Summer & Holidays

2010-12-26T17:17:00.000-08:00

WOW I haven't written a post in AGES!! wow. I've been too busy holidaying my bad!! haha. Hope you are all having a wonderful holidays season. Summer is again upon us but I do wish we had a bit more sunshine!! Can't complain I suppose it is lovely and warm just a tad muggy :S

BUT anyhoos.. Thought I'd post a few fav pix from my holidays. I went to on a little shopping trip to Melbourne and just went a tad bit crazy on the shopping LOL. I have since paid off my credit card and I am sooo proud of myself LMAO. I thought I was gonna have to get a personal loan there for a min but I was all good... :D

yeah like I said.. I went a little crazy haha i love this massive shopping bag!! Bridge road all the way =) (Bridge road is a famous road in Melbourne known for outlet stores)

Being a tourist means its acceptable to take pictures of anything and everything haha. I generally take pix of things I find interesting that we don't normally see back at home. Loved the wall art down town and also inside the casino they had that fabulous sparkly roof. it was amazing. Couldn't really capture how cool it was in a picture but I tried =)

It was great to catch up with my old friend Korina too who lives in Melbourne.. Everytime I go visit her I'm always like I need to move here ha ha.. i love melbourne.. =) Shopping is insane =)

Till next post =) which hopefully won't be 2 months away ha ha.. Happy holidays all!

Photowalk #9 - Eden Garden

2010-11-15T00:25:00.000-08:00

Yes I've been a bit AWOL of late. :S But anyway I'm back again YAY lol. Alot of stuff has been going on with me and so this blog has kinda been put on the back burner. Sorry about that!

So I was naughty and didn't go on the 8th photowalk in Rotorua. The guys had a great time down there even though it was a little bit wet it didn't stop them! Good on them. I think I was feeling just a tad bit lazy that day :S my bad... we all have our days right?!

So I was greatly looking forward to this one. And seeing as this post is so late.. I'll make it quick with just a few of my favs. Hope you enjoy the pics that follow from our 9th photowalk (can you believe it?!) at Eden Gardens :)

My friend Terence doin his thang:

Pretty Autumn leaves! :

Joy looking so cute in her hat! :

My favourite Tree in the whole garden:

Pretty white flowers :

Lots of joy was found :) :

Terence getting started even before we got inside! hehe:

Blossoms:

Short post this time.. next photowalk is coming up soon yay! I missed the previous one :S :S just so much stuff going on I have been too busy *cry* I couldn't make the 10th one because I was doing a skydive!! that was sooo awesome.... :D Might do a seperate post on that :D

New Phone! wooooo

2010-08-30T03:56:00.000-07:00

Ok., so I haven't splashed out on a blackberry or an iphone or anything.. But I love my new phone! Yes its pink :P But the reason I really love this baby is the 5MP camera.... Yeah so its not that HUGE but hey its a phone for crying out loud!

mmmm shiny LOL

I took some shots with it last friday at work and with the niece and nephew on the weekend and I was just so incredibly impressed by the size and quality of the photos. Crisp, vibrant colour and even when I cropped, the detail is still there. Top marks from me :-)

Swan chicks!! awww cuties

And to top it off.. the price was fantastic :-) I got it from 3deals for less than half its RRP (about $230 incl shipping I think it was). WOOO nice one :-)

Here is my old phone, which I still love by the way. I'm handing it over to my mum to use. (mm yes look at those scratches LOL - I'm so clumsy, multiple drops onto concrete :P still works! *WIN*)

It's still good , plays up sometimes on the keypad but not often. Still a decent phone. My mum still owns one of those very old nokias haha.. with the green screen. WOW lol :P I think its a Nokia 1100

So yeah... all in all I'm very happy with the purchase. Doug also bought one in silver but he's having problems with the phone accepting his sim. Still working with 3deals to get this sorted. ITs very annoying!

Last pic with my camera phone. Me pulling funny faces haha. It has a flash on it too, which I don't recommend you look straight into because its like looking straight into the sun - it will literally BLIND you O_o

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I missed out on my clubs photowalk this month :(. I decided not to go with them to Rotorua.. it was just too risky (in terms of the weather) for my liking. But heard they had a fab time anyways! Can't wait to see everyones photos :-)

Adding sunflares

2010-08-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

I started writing this blog post ages ago but never got around to writing it up! Life gets so busy sometimes doesn't it! Anyway I have finally sat down to do it so here it is!

I wanted to write about this lil trick I came across in Photoshop elements because well its just cool ok! Sometimes its not appropriate but it can really add something special to a shot when used correctly. See below a picture I took of a forest up at Orewa (Alice Eaves Scenic Reserve). I was trying to get a nice sun flare by including the sun in my shot and hiding it with the tree in the foreground. I'm still perfecting this skill and I know that it also depends on the lens that you have but I still got a pretty cool flare there. But by using photoshop you can REALLY up the ante with your flare.

All you need to do is go to Filter > Render > Lens Flare (see below for the menus). FYI I'm using Photoshop Elements V4. yeah yeah I know I need an upgrade ha ha ha. It still works for me for now!

Now there's all sorts of different flares that you can add to your picture. What I like to do is to try a few out and see which one looks the best (and or the most natural if that is what you are going for). All you have to do is point the Flare centre to the source of the light by using your mouse. Its very easy! For this photo I decided to use the 50-300mm Zoom flare. I like the obvious circle it makes! pwetty :-)

Then just click ok! Simple!

And here is the final shot:

Hope you like! Try it out its fun!

Have a great weekend all! xo

Our Drykey

2010-08-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hey guys.,

Just wanted to do another quick post to share my latest and favouritest (ok not a word but I wanted it to rhyme lol) pictures of Dryke. He's grown so much in the time that we've had him and I just love him to bits. His personality has really developed and he just adores both Doug and I. He always pushes his luck with us but he's just so loyal, constantly happy and its just so hard to stay mad at him even when he is naughty!! I love these photos of him at the beach because I feel his personality just really shines through. He loves it at the beach., digging here and there and running around in a crazy fashion.. its fun to watch ;-)

Oh by the way., have no idea what beach this is ay. I couldn't find the name of it., but its around Hellensville way (West Auckland).

Oh isn't he so cute! hehe. Honestly you might think he looks scary but he's such a sweetheart xo

In terms of my photography., I've really been pushing myself lately to use manual (most of the time I'm lazy and just use Aperture priority mode :P). It can be difficult at times and sometimes not appropriate, but I find it much better having control over both shutter speed and aperture to get the exposure that I want. Especially if I want to over expose it slightly to blow out the background as in the below photo. (This is Dryke's ball hehe)

I tend to focus on the shutter speed these days., just because I want my shutter speed to be fairly fast most of the time to make sure my photo's come out sharp and not blurry. If I just can't get my aperture low enough , I just bump up the ISO slightly and it tends to work! :P Also with a fiddly subject like Dryke who is constantly moving, I need a fairly fast shutter speed to freeze the motion. Photography is an art., sometimes it takes a bit of trial an error to get the shot you want. Anyway that's what I've been experimenting with lately!

Happy Weekend All!

PS: sorry I don't know why my comments function isn't working. ARGH! I'm working on getting that fixed! If someone has an idea why it might not be working, please do send me a message. (I've now added a contact me tab :P)

Photowalk #7 - Meola Reef & Western Springs

2010-08-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Meloa reef., Meola reef. Where the heck is that you ask? lol. Well here's the google map :P
(Sorry for my crap as scribble on it lol) . If you can't read the small font, the X is where the Auckland Zoo is.

And here's a little bit of info from good ol Wikipedia :-)

The Meola Reef, or Te Tokaroa Reef in Māori is a lava flow forming a reef peninsula across part of Auckland's Waitemata Harbour, New Zealand. It was formed 20,000 years ago from the final portion of a 10 kilometer long lava flow that originated from the distant Three Kings volcano.
The reef extends for over 2 kilometers across the Waitemata Harbour, to within 500 meters of Kauri Point, on the northern shore.

The reef is easily seen in the west from the Auckland Harbour Bridge at low tide, when much of it lies exposed. The best viewpoint is at Kauri Point, the headland to the east of Kendall Bay. The portion of the reef close to shore is covered by mangroves, and further out, the rocks are covered by rock oysters, then bare. Strong footwear is needed to walk on the lava.

I had absolutely no idea this was here. It was nice to do something different on our photowalk -a slightly more challenging walk than we normally do. It was very rocky and you need to watch where you step otherwise you would get stuck in the mud... literally lol. So glad I bought my gum boots along with me. But I actually really enjoyed it. Here are some of my favourite shots from the localation -

An interesting red plant. Sorry I'm no good with plant names!

Wideangle shot of the reef. You can see the rocks are covered with Oysters!

This part was much easier to walk..

We spotted some others out on the other side. Thought they were part of our group but actually they weren't lol. Lucky we didn't start yelling out to them ay? lol.

A lost feather

I just love love love circular bokeh and the pretty green colour of this lichen.

And next stop was - Western Springs! Everyone knows western springs right? The water is kinda dirty., but no worry.. we can make that look pretty with reflections!

Ok., the following photo was a total fluke.. haha but I love it. I'm totally amazed the sparrow is in focus because I didn't even adjust my settings (had no time to). And the birdie is even looking the right way. *total WIN*

Bird taking flight.

Colourful reflections :-)

Epic clouds. You know I love clouds.. I love the deep blue of the sky. I admit this was slightly enhanced but the colour is true (just deepened slightly)

Ok so the water looks gorgeous right? If you're an Aucklander you know Western Springs is dirty as haha. But you wouldn't know it ay? They make for gorgous reflections - true story!

And I'm really proud of the photo below, I just love the way the ripple looks so smooth. The added feather with its own reflection was just a gorgeous little bonus.

Nothing to say about this one., I just like it so in it goes lol.

And close up shot of the fern

I included this one because of the bend in the tree. Thought it gave an interesting element to the generic tree silhouette picture.

And to end this very long post (hopefully not too long!) some geese! The reflections are almost like a mirror no?

I'll be heading down to the snow this weekend and I can't wait! First time this season so its very exciting. Some friends are coming over from Australia so we want to show them around! Hopefully the weather is kind. You can never be 100% sure of what its going to do on the day.

Have a great rest of the week people! Hope ya keeping dry in this drissly weather :/

UPDATE 23rd July 2010

2010-07-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

Argh! This week has been CRAZY busy at work. Seriously. So sorry I haven't had a chance to update here. I have craved to update but just haven't had the time.

I've had alot of "photography jobs" to do this month which is AWESOME. Extremely challenging and scary but I LOVE it. Had my friends baby's baptism, my other friends art exhibition and and .. ok I don't have a third thing but its been very busy LOL! Its not just the shoot but also post processing. Still trying to get the hang of post processing but I think I am progressing. I really want to branch out with an updated photoshop elements but there are just so many things I want to buy - I need to just wait a while lol. Money doesn't grow on trees as they say!

But I have been loving JULY. It was my birthday month and we had that week a while back where the entire week was just gorgeous in terms of the weather!! God was definitely smiling down on Auckland that week. Its was very uncharacteristic of Auckland weather in July. But hey., don't question it just soak up the sunshine yo lol! I certainly did! If you are a friend of mine on FB you will see how many photo's I have been taking this month just because of the fabulous weather!.. much more than usual!!

I had my friend's little baby Dylan's Baptism shoot. He looked so cute in his lil outfit!! see below. His cheeks are so adorable right?!!?! poor Dylan has been scratching his cheeks alot and were very red and sore so I used the healing brush in Photoshop to try and reduce the roughness a bit. I have been using colour correction alot too to make sure the colours are pretty much true to how I saw them on the day.

The most adorable cheeks EVER!!! This shot was taken near the end of the presenation to the Mass. He was such a good boy., didn't cry at all.

And in terms of the weather.. we have been having some pretty amazing sunsets as you can see!!!

Can you see the moon!!! How awesome.. I loves it

More beautiful weather here at Okahu .. This was taken with my P&S. So very handy!

And this is why we are known as the CITY OF SAILS HAHA. Another compact shot.

An early morning shot around 7:30am. You can see a tiny bit of sunlight on the side of the skytower as the sun rises. I just love the crescent moon!

And just to finish off a shot of me at One Tree Hill. BLUE SKY WOOO! I dyed my hair back to dark brown... you like?

The weekend is here!! Have an awesome one guys!

Dylan's Baby pix

2010-07-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

So my friend and workmate Rachele asked me if I could take some photo's of her 2nd born: Dylan, and I was like... yeah of course!! haha. but then I thought, oh damn., what if I can't actually do a good enough job :/ I've never really taken pictures of babies before and I was like., shivers what if he is to wriggly and doesn't want to sit still, or what if he just starts crying... :/ :/ :/ . Panic set in haha. But I thought., no I can do this!! LOL..

Well., it turned out to be ok. I was a lil nervous as I didn't want to let Rachele down but I just did my best and I think the results turned out ok!! It has pushed me to think about getting a faster lens though. Next one will probably be a 50mm, but might have to wait another month or so as I've been spending way too much money lately !! But anyway that's another story.

Anyway here are my favourites. She wanted these pictures to use as an invite for Dylan's christening. I think they are pretty good for my first real go! Hope you enjoy. To get the black background on some of them., I just asked Rachele's husband to hold a black sheet behind.. hahaha.. cool ay. lol.

have a great week!

drum roll Photowalk #6 - Cornwall Park / One Tree Hill

2010-06-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all! I'm not going to head this post "No tree hill" because this place has heaps of trees!! LOL LOL *dry* LOL I love cornwall park. Its sooo beautiful even though its winter I still love this place. The trees are just amazing :-) Just the sense of history you get from looking at them.

This was our sixth walk as a little photoclub and still we managed to lose some people haha. :/ OH WELL.... We waited as long as we could and finally we had to venture on.

Just for a little bit of background on Cornwall Park, here is some info from the Auckland City Council Website :

"Maungakiekie is the largest and most complex volcanic cone fortress in the southern hemisphere. It has hundreds of living terraces, food store pits, defensive ditches and banks that for centuries supported a population of 5,000 people. From the tihi, signallers would communicate with the network of volcanic Pā across Tāmaki.

Sir John Logan Campbell, who is buried on the summit, gave the name One Tree Hill to Maungakiekie. He was inspired by the sacred Totara he saw on his first visit here in 1840. Te Totara i Ahua was cut down as part of the colonisation of Auckland during the 1850s and 60s. Campbell attempted to replace the Totara however only a single Monterey Pine survived. The tree was damaged after successive attacks by Maori protestors, and was eventually felled for safety reasons in 2001."

So sad, that tree was such a neat icon for Auckland City but unfortunately there is no longer a tree on "One Tree Hill". booo.

Anyway I still love this place. Here are some of my favourite shots from the walk:

I loved the way these shadows fell on the crater slope

Fellow groupies

Like I said, beautiful beautiful trees!

Friends walking & talking - part of the club btw

Some sunlight on the steps..

Detail shot from Acacia cottage

Dryke had a blast on the walk! He loves his walks let me tell you. haha. He will drag me along. He's a big boy now.. still relatively small but strong!

Doug's neice trying to take a rock home lol. Umm no! lol

Well that's it friends.. sorry its not many this time., we had to leave early to take the kiddies home :P..

Oh I've made some exciting purchases this week. I know I'm such a shopaholic!! I bought an ipod touch off the 1-day website, really cheap only $250, I couldn't resist! Its so so awesome. First thing I did was upload some photos on to it!! Now I can share my photos with everyone I meet HAHAHA. . omg. lol. And yes., I did put music on it too *rolls eyes*.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

What camera do you have?

2010-06-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys! I've been a bit slack with the blog lately! The weather hasn't been too kind here on this side of the world lately (besides the last couple of days, they have been beautiful!). We're really into the swing of winter now having 4 degrees the other morning.. brrrrr!

Anyway I don't have any photos to share right now (boo). I will do in another week after our next photowalk on Sunday. For now though I wanted to share this email subscription I get every week. Its from Elizabeth Halford - a photographer who is based in England. You can find out more about her here. I really enjoy her style of writing and photography - its fresh and fun! I discovered her when reading one of her articles on the dps website.

If you are a keen photographer like I am., and/or enjoy learning more about photography, I really encourage you to do what I do and get online. There are thousands of very inspirational and informative blogs and websites that can help you improve in your passion. I find that email subscriptions are also very handy & convenient. Websites can often email you updates as they appear on their websites. If you think its not relevant for you, you can just delete it. But often I like to quickly browse these subscription emails and get my daily fix of photography info. (I sound like an addict huh LOL) Its just great!

Below is one subscription email that I felt I needed to share. I hope that you also find it inspirational, challenging and eyeopening!

Q. “Last year I bought a Nikon D80 as a “more professional grade” camera for myself. Lately, I have been kicking myself because it just seems that Canon shoots better portraits, and my husband says I am already too invested to switch. So, I know that you are a Canon user…did I make a mistake, or can I achieve the same gorgeous shots with my Nikon that I feel others get with Canons?”

A. Hi Kelsey! Oh, I’m so RELIEVED that you asked me that. I really should have thought to cover that myself since I know it’s probably the #1 reason baby photographers quit in the embryonic stage of their discovery. The answer is NO! A Canon isn’t better than a Nikon. And a point and shoot isn’t worse than a DSLR either (yeah yeah I know, people…boo…hiss…get over it!) Photographs have EVERYTHING to do with the photographer, not the camera!

Now you wonder: under what authority do I make such bold statements? Many years of experience, that’s what! Here are prime examples:

The best photos I’d ever taken until recently were when I first discovered that I loved taking photos and had a little Casio ultra compact ‘credit card’ camera. I wasn’t concerned about settings or sexy lens flare. I just learned composition and emotion and those photos are on my wall to this day.
My best wedding to date was done on a Canon 450d. Moving up doesn’t mean your pictures will be better, it just means that you will think you have to work less for them and they’ll be worse. Don’t fall for it – you still have to work HARD.

Now Kelsey, you said “…that I feel others get…”. This means that you’re comparing yourself to other photographers. Which is great. It drives us to be better. Not so great if you’re looking at photos on the Flickr front page like a 14 year old looks at Britney Spears on the front cover of Seventeen Magazine. Those photos have some serious post-processing ‘editing’ work done on them to make them look like that.

When I’m down in the dumps about my photography, I like to go on Flickr and look at the before/after galleries. Or check out Before & After Monday here on my site. It’s so SO good to see what professionals’ photos actually look like before they have been edited. They’ll probably be a lot like yours!

Another thing…camera envy never ends. I now have a 7D and still sulk about my photos not being “as good as their photos”. But it really has so so little to do with the camera.

One thing I've learnt from upgrading from my previous camera, is that just because you don't have the BEST camera on the market, doesn't mean you can't take intriguing and interesting photographes that people will enjoy. The person who is behind that camera makes all the difference. People always ask me., wow your camera takes awesome pictures., hey what about me!!! LOL You still need to know HOW to use it!

I think its so important to realise this and never look down on yourself just because you don't have the latest gears. Of course better gear does give you a few more options, just because you have a super mean camera doesn't mean you are automatically going to be a pro. It still takes alot of practise, experience and hardwork as Elizabeth has outlined in her answer above. Hope you enjoyed that Q&A as much as I did. Enjoy your weekend!

Ok., I just have to have a picture to go with my blog post! A favourite using my old camera Fuji s1000 & a simple tripod, a much cheaper and less sophisticated camera than my 50D and yet I still love this picture...I know I'm bias (pic of my bf) haha but you get my point. »

Photowalk #5a - Bethells Beach!

2010-06-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

HAHA., so last sunday was our 5th photowalk for our club. And we actually had 15 people come along this time! The only thing was, I got lost haha. There is no mobile phone reception out at Bethells beach and silly me, I thought i would be able to find everyone. But no... lol. I was there on time but I eventually gave up on finding everyone as I didn't know what everyone's car looked like and started driving back home. I got to Swanson and realised I had 2 txts from Joy. I pulled over and called her and she told me she was waiting near falls road. So off I sped, back west.

SO YAY., at least I found Joy, Kenneth & Fatma. But alas , we headed off in the wrong direction and did a different bush walk that was actually planned. BIG FAT FAIL lol. ha ha ha. But hey., we still got to see some very awesome landscape. So because this wasn't the "official" photowalk I named it #5a. LOL.

Joy doing her thang

I merged two photos in photoshop to get the photo below. Otherwise , due to the harsh light, you wouldn't be able to see the lovely green of the forest below us. It would just be black like the one above.

I was lazy and just did an automatic enhance on this photo in photoshop. I don't usually like using this as it can sometimes give some obvious fake results, but I liked how it looked and so kept it :-)

Ok this is probably my favourite pic of the bunch. I just love the mist against the strong rock face in the distance. The relatively small people in the photo also just remind you of how rugged and awesome this landscape is!

And like I told Jane, this photo below was actually an exposure accident!! haha. It was totally overexposed. But I kind of liked it when I removed the colour. It becomes mostly white except for the surfer (my subject).

Oh how I just adore reflections!! This photo basically speaks for itself. However, I would have preferred to have the surfer on the right hand third instead of the left, but I was too slow., what can you do lol.

And we found a sea cave turned sea arch! Awesome. I was a bit scared about walking through here., there was a bit of dripping going on., but I made it out the other side untouched lol.

Enjoying someone artwork someone left behind.

Last fav of the day. I like the light in this picture.

And., Tip of the week: Make sure you check your settings regularly! Alot of my photos have visable noise on them. Darn me for forgetting to bring my ISO back to normal from a previous shoot. Its something you can easily forget.

Have an awesome rest of the week peeps! Only 2 more days till the long weekend!! I hope the weather is good and that we can all get a chance to get out there and get shooting. :-)

White teeth the easy way!

2010-05-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to do a quick post to share a picture from my sister's birthday party on Tuesday gone. I was pretty lazy with my photography on this night as it was a week night and I was hella tired from work. But I noticed that curtains make great backdrops... right?!

I also did a little fiddling around in photoshop to reduce saturation just a tad and reduce the redness overall - haha my sister always has very pink cheeks!! I also whitened up the teeth a little on my Mum :-) I like to do this sometimes because I think it really makes a person look younger! (My mum looks pretty young for her age anyway don't you reckon?! Sorry I'm not going to reveal her age here :P) I didn't do too much editing as my mum didn't really need it. Its all about trying to keep the photo natural but enhancing it at the same time.

To lighten up the teeth slightly I reduced the yellow tones and lightened it. To do this I made a selection around the teeth using the magnetic lasso tool. Once I have my selection I created a new layer by going layer > new layer via cut. The next step is to go to Enhance > Adjust colour > Adjust Hue/Saturation. I then change the drop down menu from Master to Yellow, then use the sliders to reduce saturation and increase lightness. You can do the same thing to reduce redness or overall saturation to you liking.

I don't usually edit each individual photo like this in photoshop, I normally use iphoto. But I do like to fiddle with family photo's to make then a bit more special . It's not everyday that we get together as a family, so its nice to have a few memorable shots. And because I was only using my compact camera, it did need a bit of sprucing up!

Hope you all have had a great week!! Another blog post is in the pipeline so watch this space :o)

April Photowalk & Some EXCITING NEWS!

2010-05-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Our April photowalk was located at Eve's bush and Orewa beach. Now I think so many Aucklanders really underestimate Orewa. We tend to see it as one of those places you stop at on your way north , or on your way home. But its actually a really nice beach., its spacious and there is a good sized grass area where the play ground is and space for volleyball and basketball. It's not half bad if you ask me! I must admit though., its not my first choice when deciding on a beach to visit but I do like Orewa.

So here are some of my favourite shots along with the usual blurb...

Oh and just a little aside note., its a definite no no to go into the bush wearing only ya jandles LOL. I learnt my lesson the hard way haha. Got eaten alive (mozzies). But it was worth it. I got a few cool shots I think ;-)

I used the wide angle end of my lens for this shot below and was therefore able to capture the maximum amount of scenery that was in front of me. I have to be careful using the wide angle end, as I tend to go a bit extreme sometimes and it can often have a distorting effect. But I still like how this turned out :-)

Ok so all day I was trying to get those cool lens flares in my shots. I didn't quite get it (haha FAIL) but I like this shot. I like how I have one trunk in the front but you get the sense its one of many from the blurred background.

Could be my favourite pic of the bunch. This shot is bathed in light. . .loooooove. To get the spider web in focus I used the manual focusing ring. The auto focus just can't hack it :P

I took two different exposures of this one., and chose the lighter one. Sometimes I think that its too light., but I like this anyway. I like the rounded bokeh. . . awesome... I tried to keep that moss in focus as well.

I love pink so this picture just speaks for itself. ;-) gorgeous colour. This didn't really need to be enhanced or tweaked at all.

Waiting for sunset. . I like this photo because of the repetition of the trees and how it goes from big to small. . Couldn't have arranged it better myself.

Daisy pointed this out to me., the seagull on the pole and I thought., yeah its cool but I wouldn't be able to pull it off., the light being too low and it was quite far away. . But I think I did ok! The gull was making a good ol racket up there so I waited till it had its beak open again and took the shot. Before hand I increased the exposure compensation because I knew otherwise it would be too dark. This way you can still kind of make out some detail of the bird and the weathered pole.

I LOVE FLUFFY GRASS. Does anyone know the name of this yet? ANYWAY., originally I hadn't thought to put this shot in black and white but Joy mentioned it might look good - and she was right! I just converted it to B&W in iphoto then increased the contrast slightly as well to really make those fluffy heads stand out.

So we waited., and waited and waited., no sign of a sunset. SIGH... "oh well guys lets go home.," and just as we started walking back to our cars, THIS HAPPENED. How cool is that ? Just when you think it was going to be another FAILED sunset.

Never give up., you never know how things can turn out. ..

And on that note., I would like to re-announce that I passed my Foundations exam!!! (Previously PCE1). This is a professional accounting exam that you need to sit in order to become a Chartered Accountant in NZ. There's still one other exam to be sat., but the fact that I didn't pass PCE1 first time around makes this victory all the more sweeter. . . I was kind of shocked actually!! But BOOYAH lol. I passed the workshop and all 3 exam questions. They have made it harder this year (changes to the curriculum), so I'm just sooo stoked I made it through.

Just want to say thank you to my family and everyone who has been wishing me luck and praying for me. All my hard work and late nights paid off!! I'm so glad. :-)

“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”

—Tony Robbins

TRUE THAT! Enjoy the rest of your week pebbles :-)

Pacific flavoured ART

2010-05-09T02:29:00.000-07:00

Ok., so quick update :-) Yesterday I had the privilege of helping out my friend Ernest Auora to get some shots of his artwork to send off for an exhibition. It was very last min as the deadline was today!! But we got it done just in the nic of time ;-)

I decided it was best to take the pix outside as there was more light., and the fact that it was a little cloudy really gave some favorable lighting conditions. His artwork is awesome and I just love the vibrancy of the colours. I hope that he is happy with the result! I thought it went pretty well... Below are some of the pix I took.

For reference purposes his Facebook page is here.

Its really hard to get a feel for the size of these pictures because of how small they show up on this blog., but they are actually quite big.. about 2 x 1 m (rough estimate) but you get the idea.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these prints., please email Ernest at trunesian@gmail.com.

Random fireworks... I'll have some of that!

2010-05-04T19:07:00.001-07:00

So I was sitting in my living room eating dinner when I heard fireworks. I turned to my right and there they were. Not the pitiful ones you get from the warehouse but the proper professional type!! Talk about midweek excitement! (ok so it was monday).

So frantically I put down my fork and ran to the bedroom, trying not to bump into anything in the process. Rushed back with my bendy tripod and camera meanwhile I had no idea why there were fireworks or how long they were going to last. Its was almost torture seeing the beautiful fireworks and knowing there was a possibility that by the time I had my camera set up it would all be gone....noooooo. And no one would believe me if I don't get a picture right?!!! LOL.

I finally did get some pictures., some were crap and blurry so I had fun being arty with them in photoshop. Does anyone know what they were for?

2 days till the weekend people wooo :-)

2010-04-28T02:36:00.000-07:00

I'm back! Well I've finished my exam but I won't get the result till later this month. So finger's crossed!! It takes so much energy to try and overcome something that you have failed in the past but I'm proud of myself for going back the second time :-) even if I'm not successful. I did my best, I studied hard and whatever happens , happens.

So thankyou to everyone that wished me luck and gave me support. It meant alot :-)

But boy I've been lacking in my blog! :(

It's been basically a whole month! SOOOORRRRY . I still haven't talked about the photo's I took on our 3rd photowalk with the gang (we have already completed our 4th!) It was lots of fun and our group has grown heaps :-) We went out to the Auckland Botanic gardens. It was lovely, there were so many different kinds of plants to try and shoot it was great!

So some of my favourite photo's are below :-) I accidentally had my ISO on a bit too high than normal but its sometimes necessary when the light is getting low to maintain a fast enough shutter speed to reduce blur. But actually I think I did ok! But let me know what you think in the comments. But of course its a good reminder not to over do the ISO.

Because my fellow members were slightly late this time (they had to come from the shore all they way to south Auckland!) I was able to take a few photo's before they arrived (haha cheating LOL hey its not a competition lol.) I took this. I love the green colour but also the way the grass reminds me of bamboo...

Below is one of our new memeber's doing his thang. hehe. I allowed the flax to be included in the foreground here to give that paparazzi feel. :-)

I got alot of positive feedback about the picture below :-) I thought it was good but didn't expect it to draw so much attention due to the fact it is so simple :-) But often simple works extremely well in photography! I also submitted this to my little online photography course that I'm doing (which I need to pick up again btw), and I got 100% as my mark. booyah LOL.

As the afternoon sun started to set, it provided some really nice warm even light to shoot with. I love this pic , simple for the light and the way it shows up the veins in the leaves.

There's a huge variety of cacti at the botanic gardens in Auckland and this was one of them. You all know how I love my clouds, so I incorporated them into this shot doing my very ametueristic method of HDR. haha. By using layers in photoshop elements I was able to merge 2 different photos to achieve a lighter exposure for the bottom half, and a darker exposure for the sky to enable me to show detail in the clouds. I should really have spent long on blending the two pictures but I was lazy lol but I still like this photo. This is something for me to work on! If you are wanting to know how I did that , post a message below or you can always do what I do and search youtube for tutorials haha.

The funny thing about the next photo is I thought it was ruined :( (due to my high ISO, there was visable noise when I was viewing on my computer). But a little bit of manipulation it actually turned out to be my favourite of the bunch. (Probably because its pink and green!! haha my favourite colours).

My tip of the week (month lol) is something very simple but very cool that I learned while out on our 4th photowalk (thanks to Steph lol). If you have a lens hood., you can almost always, turn them the other way around when you are wanting to store them (the whole time I have just been leaving them as they are - LOL NOOB). I was so excited when I found out you can remove it and put it on the opposite way so that its not sticking out so much and can fit in your camera back much more neatly!

April update

2010-04-15T14:01:00.001-07:00

Well as you all now I've been extremely busy this month., unfortunately not with my photography :/ Audit has been on and my professional exam is only next week!! Its going to be tough but all I can do is do my best right?!

Anyway I thought I would make a quick update and just post up this link to the NZ online photography magazine. Its pretty cool and its free! They have lots of tips and tricks and educational articles for budding little photographers like us its quite neat! Have a look here if your interested.

For your info the website is: http://www.nzphotographer.co.nz/ and I believe they send out mags roughly every month. But have a look at back issues you might find something to your taste.

Anyway I hope you are all well and that you are making the most of the beautiful weather we have been having (beautiful and more to my liking dry!). Autumn is here and the leaves are starting to fall. Could make for some beautiful shots! I have my monthly photo walk next week. I'm so excited! And our group has grown so much too. It literally has grown out of nothing and its so cool. Steph is doing a great job of organising everything :-)

So that is my little update post. If your interested follow me on twitter! Its my new love :-)

Tip of the week: Don't forget to look up when your shooting. You might see an interesting cloud formation like this - I saw this on the way out one day. I thought it was kewl. And it again reiterates the point to always have a camera of some sort with you! I just love the reflection of the light off the apartment windows onto that wall. Its reminiscent of clothes on a washing line don't you think?

Apologies

2010-03-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry peeps. March and April are going to be quiet months here on my little blog. But I promise to be back to normal after my exam on the 21st April :-) Stay cool, stay happy and hope you are all improving your photography - capturing those memories!

I really haven't had enough time to get out as much as I would like this month as its all about the study these days. BOOO I know but it must be done! Today was sooo cold! I can't believe it but such clear blue skies - beautiful! Hopefully this weekend I will get a chance to get out there and shoot even if its just for a little while.

Untill I can really get back into the swing of things you can follow me on twitter :-) If you're interested haha. I will be posting random favourite shots and flashbacks. Let me know if you're on twitter and we can join forces. Its my new obsession :D

And the photos of the blog are below haha. It was Doug's birthday last week so I took him out to dinner at Vertigo. It was on a top 10 list for Valentines Day so I thought it might be somewhere nice and romantic to take him. He of course LOVED it :-) The food was pretty awesome too.

Duck breast - YUM. Love the way they drizzle that sause around not only is it yum, its artistic hehe.

Doug had the Salmon - also very delicious :-)

Tip of the week: If you are wanting to use your flash on your compact but don't like the effect of a strong flash, highlight blowouts or shiny foreheads. Try putting a tissue in front of the flash while you take the shot. It will diffuse the light slightly, making it a much softer burst of flash. Sometimes you can even save those photos with too much flash by post processing them in sepia or black and white. Black and white photos love big contrast.

Shoot early, shoot late, shoot often

2010-03-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. This month I'm going to be sooo busy. I have my (accounting) professional exams coming up in a month (just received the material) and so I really have to study hard. This means either shorter blog posts or less frequent blog posts - so I hope that ya'll forgive me :-) Sorry been watching too much American YouTube videos and I am now adopting the slang haha.

This weeks blog is titled shoot early, shoot late, shoot often. Some simple, but wise words. I borrowed this from one of the blogs that I follow - Thephotoargus. On this blog they share a cheat sheet of tips for photographers which I will also share at the end.

Shooting early and/or late in the day gives you a much more even amount of light and can really make your photos that much more dramatic. Try it! You can see a huge difference from photos that are taken when the sun is high in the sky to when its very early in the morning or when the sun is setting. The colour in the sky can often add that something special.

Compare this to when you take photos during the middle of the day, shadows are much harsher which can sometimes ruin your shot. In this case most photographers look for some shade to filter out the sun's harsh light. Or if you are clever, you can use your camera's flash to balance out the sun's light - but getting a natural result is often quite difficult. Don't be afraid to use some fill light though during the day though, it can often improve your photos if you use it sparingly. But even if you're an amateur like me, you don't have to take a technically perfect shot for it to be appealing. Don't be shy to try things even if its a bit out there. In this digital age we can afford to take those millions of photos. WOOP. WOOP. LOL. You might surprise yourself.

And again, you don't have to have the most expensive camera in the world to take the best shots. I've seen people take better shots with a point and shoot who know what they are doing than with people who have a fancy SLR but don't really know how to use it. So use what you have to its full potential!

Last Saturday I went out to Pt Chev with Doug & Dryke. The sun was just setting and so as per usual I grab out my trusty P&S and shoot away. Excitement plus! I love point and shoot cameras sometimes, sure the picture quality isn't always up there compared to my SLR, but I just love how convenient it is. I have posted a few of my favs below:

I like to use sepia now and then, I think it adds a bit of interest and I like the effect when you have the warm sunshine as well. The sepia enhances the sun's glow in my opinion. Oh and my glow hahaha whatever. LOL@ Doug's expression.

Doug working the foliage hahaha

I love deep blue skies. If you're camera has a vibrant colour setting try using this to bring out the colours. My canon also has vibrant green and blue which I'm yet to experiment with.

OOOOOO sun flare...wooooo

Silhouettes are pretty! A side note - try using a wide angle setting on your camera (if you have it) for landscapes. If you dont' have one, try cropping to postcard like dimensions. I like the dimensions of this shot below. Try 4x6 or even 3x6 to mix it up! I use iPhoto to crop my photos to how I want them to look. If you don't have photo software, have a look online or maybe have a look into picasa and see if it works for you.

And finally last tip from the header - shoot often. Practise makes perfect, and its no different with photography so I've heard! I'm still learning and still trying to "perfect my passion".

Tip for the week: This week's tip is a link of all sorts of tips. I sourced this from a blog that I follow. Take what you will from it. Author: Jason Anderson. Click here to download the sheet. There's some good stuff there even if it serves only as a reminder.

Photowalk : North Head Tunnels

2010-03-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hello my fellow blogger's and blog readers. I can't believe its March already!! I work in finance, so March for us here in NZ means financial year end; which means ALOT of work! But I think its ok because I have been through it once before, second time round I should be much better equipped!

Summer is sadly coming to an end. I can feel the nights getting shorter. NOOO. But I still try to get out and about to make the most of the sunlight.

February was a great month. I got alot of feedback on the photos I took while touring round the Whakatane region. Doug also mentioned to me that my photos are starting to get quite good. Now I suppose he has to say that being my partner haha., but I thought, gosh, its probably time I get onto improving my work flow and get a watermark.

Youtube really is a great source for learning all things photoshop. I have learnt so much from watching Youtube tutorials. I found a tutorial that shows you how to add a simple watermark to a batch of photos. Exactly what I was looking for! Now at least if people decide to save my photos for "whatever" I can have my name on them at least. So from now on, the photos I will be posting on Facebook and on this blog, will have my name: Kirsten Andersen Photography. Awwww what. lol. Its simple text but I actually like it. It does the job.

I got together again with my little photography club a couple of weeks ago. HAHA - still cracks me up so cute :-). The three of us. We had a great time at North head. It was my turn to choose the location and fortunately for us the weather was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. Steph was so kind again to let us use some of her gear. I got my frills because she let us use her speedlites. I will definitely be getting one of those in the near future. The speedlites with the heads that swivel (like Steph's) allow you to point the light in almost any direction you desire. This is fantastic! This means that you can bounce the light off walls, basically anything! I was like a little kid with a new toy! Using these in the tunnels on North Head was so much fun. I got to see what it actually looks like under there. The speedlites reach much further than the on-camera flash.

Anyway here are some of the shots I took. You may now notice my watermark in the bottom left corner. I like this font, very casual yet elegant - just like me I suppose. HAHA.

The following photo (and also the photos above except for the first one I think) is using Steph's wide angle lens. I must say, I LOVE THIS lens. When I become rich (haha) I probably would love to buy one of these! But they aren't cheap that's why I say.."when" I'm rich.

And these two photos below were taken using Steph's macro rings. You can buy a set of these for around $100-$200 I've been told, which is extremely affordable! Once I get myself a 50mm prime I can get some macro rings and get some more practise at macro photography. I think macro shots are so so pretty. You have a ginormous depth of field - which confused me at first because I was like, why isn't it getting in focus haha (noob). If you see the photo below it is actually incredibly sharp its just focussing on such a tiny object that the rest of it will be blurred out. These remind me of the default desktop wallpapers you get.

Ok, I just looooove green.

I have a few photo's of the plants below now. Not sure what they are but the pattern they have is so cool.

And then the sunset came. We had met up around 5pm at North Head and because its summer here in NZ, we still had quite a few hours to kill. Which isn't hard, just give Kirsten a speedlite and she'll be entertained for hours HAHA. Eventually the sunset did come and it was beautiful. The photo's I think speak pretty good volumes. Imagine the real thing!

Tip of the week: This week's tip is a bit of a general tip about composition. Now composition I believe is and can be very subjective. One person may like one way of framing a shot and another person may not! But a problem I see alot of people making, is that they don't frame their shots very well. They tend to leave alot of empty space in a picture. Now sometimes photographer's do this intentionally but generally I think that cropping your pictures to better frame your subject really makes your shot that much better. Especially with portraits, its better to frame the picture with peoples faces in the upper third of the photo, not smack bang in the middle with alot of space above their heads. Also generally having people stand to the side when taking pictures with backgrounds is better than framing the shot with people directly in the middle. You might think this is common sense but I notice alot of people do not pay attention to this stuff! Try it out and see if you like the results. And if you don't always get the perfect composition first time, you can of course crop it once you are back at your computer.

But as they always say, rules are made to be broken, continue to experiment!

Till next post guys - have a fantastic week!

Photography, Rain, Camping & Small Towns

2010-02-22T21:44:00.000-08:00

Boy do I love a good roady! Doug & I took a couple of days off work to go camping down the east coast of NZ over the Valentines Weekend. If you haven't been down there, you really should go its beautiful! As is all of NZ like hello LOL. We just took it pretty slow and stopped often. If you know what its like to travel with me, you have to stop alot because whenever I see something cool I want to get out of the car and take photo's. ha ha ha.

I just can't let a beautiful scene pass me by. One photo is never enough.

Which brings me to another point. I might start adding weekly tips on this blog for beginners (like me!) Personally, I follow alot of other blogs and websites to learn new things, to help me improve. So if I find something worth while sharing I will try to add it here :-) It might be a new technique I have learned, or a fancy new accessory that I'm eying up.

But first, a few of my favourite shots and the little stories behind them :-)

Below is a multiple shot picture that I joined in photoshop elements. Thats all I have at the moment, but I am intending to buy a more complete version. This was kindly donated to me by a friend :-) Thanks Tim! This is pretty easy to do, you just have to create a canvas that is as wide as the number of photos you want to go on it. E.g, if your photo is 3168pixels across, you just times that by 5 to get the total width you need for your canvas. If you need more specific details, I tend to refer to the very pretigious youtube for step by step tutorials. Its great try it! But one tip is, you need to make sure the lighting on each photo is tweaked so that it looks like one seamless photo. You do this by adjusting the levels.

Below is another pic of Doug. I just like this one, because you can see the slight rim light on his hair which separates him from the background :-)

Dryke is growing up fast. If you have seen my earlier blog posts, he was so so small when we first got him! Check it out here . He's so cute even though he's gotten bigger. I love how he's so loyal. In the pic below, Doug and I took a picture of our footprints side by side, and Dryke decided to add his. HOW CUTE IS THAT?! I also like the fact that it was taken at the wide angle end of my lens. You can get a sense of perspective drawing your eye from Dryke out to the open ocean. It does distort the horizon slightly but I still like it. I don't know am I talking a whole lot of crap here? LOL. Just listen to me ok. HAHA.

I wish I was really smart and could tell you of the name of the plant below but I can't. Sorry LOL. I just thought the shape of it was really cool! I like how the sunlight is shining on the leaf in contrast with the shadows. And I like the other leaf in the corner how it gives some comparison.

Below is a shot of Hawai beach, on the east coast past Opotiki (click here for a map). The beaches around here have a very secluded feeling. You feel like you're on an episode of LOST or something haha. But its beautiful. And even though it was drizzly on this day I found it to be very pretty. The landscape is so majestic, and cloud cover always acts as an excellent diffuser of harsh sunlight. I like how you can see the mist coming up from the whitewash.

So it had been raining for a while and then it stopped. I told Doug : "Stop the car!" LOL. I had read in a few photography articles how its sometimes very beautiful to shoot plants just after it has rained. I think it worked :-). Raindrops are like nature's diamonds.

Valentines Evening was amazing. Sunset GORGEOUS : 14th February 2010. The clouds formed these unusual disk formations.

Oops sorry for the longest post haha. This is but a fraction of the shots I took. If you know me, you will know how I get a bit trigger happy on holiday. Can you say TOURIST!? LOL. Nah homie I'm a local LOL. This is probably my fav of the bunch. I love the beach and I love clean waves! I increased the saturation just slightly in iphoto and I just love how it turned out.

Tip for the week: If you're camera has an apeture priority setting (usually Av), you can use this setting to blur your background by using the smallest number setting possible. This means you are allowing more light into your camera which also creates a shallower depth of field. This means that the things closest will be in focus, and the background will be out of focus. If you only have a point & shoot you can also experiment getting a similar effect using your portrait mode. Most camera's will have these. Practise practise practise, have fun and get creative!

Assignment - Ghetto Touch Final 10 Feb 2010

2010-02-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

"No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up". I remember this saying from one of those forward emails. I've always kept that in the back of my mind to remind me not to miss out on life's opportunities because you never know how its going to go. You will never know if you don't turn up! This little shoot was one of those opportunites. It was raining on this day and I was extremely nervous given the conditions, but I decided to go anyway. Can't let my friend down :-)! Luckily the weather dried up just in time for the games.

I was so priviledged to be asked to photograph my friends Touch team 'Ghetto' for their final mens and mixed games. I was like cool man, for sure I will do that for you. It was a great opportunity to put into practise all the things I've been learning and reading about; about thinking on your feet. And boy did I just have to hit the ground running - literally. For both of these teams to make it to the finals is awesome and it was no wonder. These guys are FAST. haha . And I had to do my best to keep up with the play which was quite a challenge! But I very much enjoyed the experience. Alot of people came to me from the other team going: can you take my picture.. lol. I was like aaaa (like an egg I didn't know what to say hahaha).

Another challenge was that they swapped sides after every try , so like a true hardcore photographer (lol) I had to run down to each end of the field after every try. So the team wasn't the only one getting some exercise. But it was definately a good experience. I learned to just get in there and do it even though I wasn't totally sure of my settings etc etc and my lack of a fast zoom lens. I took alot of shots in the effort to get the shot that I wanted. And I did get a few that are quite cool (I think). Some of the facials are really quite comical! There are a few cool actions shots too including some of the tries. Again I have to give it up to the guys / gals for being very interesting subjects! When these guys go out to play, they really go out to win. Awesome.

Here are some of my favourites:

Sideline

This guy means business

So all in all I think it was a success. Jacob (my friend) seems happy with the pix which is good. The organiser of the competition also saw some of the shots on Facebook and they want some of them for their club website. Woo hoo. Ok so I better get onto creating some kind of watermark. Next thing on my to do list!

My new photography peeps

2010-02-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

So if you have been following my photo uploads you may know that I now belong to a new mini photography club. (LOL inside joke!). Actually I just got together with a few friends from North Harbour church (who also are photography enthusiasts). It was so much fun that we have decided to try and get together again and hopefully make it a regular thing! But it was so cool. Its really cool to be around people who actually know alot more than you do about photography, its a great chance for me to learn and get inspired :-) Steph, who actually does this for a living was so kind, that she even let us try her lenses, even her super zoom lens :-) which was totally awesome :-) Scary though being so expensive! Around 3k she said....:O {shock} But it was so fun.

I just read another article about inspiration from DPS, a great learning website for photographers. If you are interested I recommend it! click here :-)

I realise that I am a bit slack with my photography. Having a look at Steph and Joy's photos from the same day and location, I am so impressed. I did expect this from Steph being profesh :P But also really loved Joy's photo's. I think I am a bit blase when it comes to photography sometimes. Or maybe I was a bit shy this being my first outing with these guys that I didn't want to do my usual roll and tumble and crouch to get that shot lol. (Cause its even more FAIL when you go hardout then they say can I have a look at your shot, well SUX LOL). But yeah, I really want to try and be more purposeful with my shots next time. I think this time I was a bit laid back and as a result I didn't get alot of shots that I was totally proud of. Hense I did not upload them all. Too shame. LOL.

But its such a nice feeling when you see the "like" from your friends on FB. Its like oh really you like that one??? LOL. Its funny because sometimes you think that photo was "ok" but others actually like it. Perfect example is my shot of the sky tower below: I thought it was , yeah ok but I got like alot more comments than I was expecting! (taken with a compact btw)

By the way, FAIL is my new buzz word LOL. It really was appropriate for the sunset on our photowalk in the fact that there wasn't any! How come that the one day we go out to the west, the sunset doesn't show! And I know for a fact that most nights we have been having amazing sunsets...SIGH. I probably should have made the horizon straight on this one but I think I was too focussed on getting that wave crashing. So I will be looking out for that next time.

Anyway hopefully our next outing will be more successful. I have to choose the location. My favourites are, domain/winter garden, north head, cornwall. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment :-)

Ok sorry for the delay on this post. I have been super busy with month end at work. But its better late than never right :-) Below are some of my photos from our photowalk out at Karekare. I might post some of the others photo's at a later time if they give me the "ok". Steph took a few pix of me and Joy with our camera's and I like got my frills LOL. I was like wow you made us look cool LOL.

Beach grass

I love this fluffy grass so much. We still don't know what its called. So for now its known as fluffy grass :-)

wild lilys
Another wild flower

Karekare falls (first time being here !)

Its funny how most of my favourites are when I was using Steph's lens...hahaha. The bomb. Still doesn't compare to her photo's yet. They are cool!! You can view the rest of my photo's here.

My next assignment is a touch final game next wednesday. Was asked by Jacob to come and take some snaps. So cool! My first lil assignment haha. So watch this space next week: I will be updating it with my favs from the game.

Hot Summer Daze

2010-01-26T18:47:00.000-08:00

Yay for warmer weather! Its finally warm enough for me to wear singlets. And yet when I get to work its on with the cardigan. Silly air con. Mind you , I wouldn't be able to concentrate without the air con. Its just funny when you go out side, you have to take your cardi off.

I thought I would just share a few photos I took with my favourite little models (Doug & Dryke) when we headed out to north head one Saturday afternoon. It was so extremely hot. But I was soaking it up. Its been summer for two months now and its only starting to feel hot to me! Poor Dryke was feeling it though with his black coat. He was so funny, he was really pulling on the lead when we were walking. I only realised why when we got to a row of trees, he fully stopped and lay flat on his side. HAHA> obviously too hot for Drykey. It was too cute. This guy lies anywhere its so funny/cute.

Anyway, here are a few of my favourites. Although the lighting was harsh being the early afternoon, I think I came away with a few good ones. If you read my blog (anyone) please leave a comment, preferably nice comments lol. I do check them!

Just me - sorry about the facials, I think Doug was getting smart as usual LOL.

Grassy

One of many yellow flowers I came across: really like the pattern of these.

Doug sporting his all natural fro haha. cute. x

I SO want to do this one day. So lucky to see someone parasailing on this particular day. Have not seen anyone do this at north head before and I've been here quite a few times. I've seen people do this at Maori Bay but not here.

And again, if you happen to be reading this, please leave a comment LOL I don't want to have to ask you again LOL.

Summer walkabouts

2010-01-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

So January...what have I been doing in January. WELL glad you asked LOL. Actually I've been doing alot of walking! I love summertime and the longer days (I may have mentioned this before). And I love being able to walk around town where I live at 8:30 at night and still feel safe because its still light. I love walking around the viaduct and dreaming about living in those waterfront apartments haha. Walking around the neighbourhood feeling like I'm rich but NOT REALLY LOL.

Oh and I finally gave way to the twitter sensation. Gosh I thought it was boring before but now I'm hooked. Its amazing how addictive these things can become. I actually follow some peeps off youtube. Its so funny some of the random things that come through.

Anyhoo , since I have been doing alot of walking around town , I've been taking some snaps now and then as I go. ( I take my compact for convenience). Although the quality isn't there is just so much easier. I've picked a few of my favs and hope you enjoy ;-) It kind of reminds me of that movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey - funny movie. There is a girl in that movie that goes for early morning runs and takes photos while running lol (Blurry ones). So if you see me running along the street with my trusty compact just wave a friendly hello haha.

Halo effect

Hmmm should I take my umbrella? Naaa She'll be right. LOL

How appropriate for me to find a boat called the long white cloud ;-) We definately are a cloudy country. But I love clouds, and I love the dynamic elements they often add to a photo.

The thick cloud cover definately adds something special to this pic reflecting the sunset light.
I like how the light shines around the LV letters on this building. Hey like I always say, dreams are free. Unfotunately LV is not. Has anyone ever been inside that shop? I've been twice now, has the feeling of a museum haha. And I love how the doorman opens the door to customers. You can feel rich even though you aint. LOL.

The quality of light is very important when you go out shooting. I just love the intense sunset light on the tower in this shot.
Hope you enjoyed that short snipit of a recent walkabout I did. Try it yourself, not only are you getting some exercise into your day, you are also having fun. Well I was!

ciao for now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010-01-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year?

I'm late you say? Doubt it., I'm early. I'm wishing you a Happy Chinese New Year. HAHA> And its the year of the tiger. I say its my year this year :-) Things are feeling good, feeling positive for this year. Kudos for me yeah?

I love this time of year., the sun is out (most of the time), the weather is warmer. People are on holiday and it just seems like everyone is in a better mood. Its a great time to stop and re-evaluate your life and where you want to go. For me, I have a number of personal goals that I want to improve on this year, as well as resit my PCE1 which I failed a year & a half ago :'( feel free to shed a tear for me LOL. But look its time to get off my bum, no matter how I feel, dust it off and try again. You've just gotta get back up on that horse. Easier said than done, its taken me this long to get my confidence up again. The stink thing is that they don't actually send your exam paper back. So how on earth are you supposed to improve I ask? Its all pretty dumb really. But I have to do it if I want to get anywhere in my industry. Please pray for me haha.. no seriously please pray for me.

So I have consciously been getting out there and shooting lately. I had a ball at New Years. As you may or may not know, I live in a small apartment in town with my cool jap chick flatmate. We good friends now ay Aiko :-) She's a very good flatmate :-) Anyway she headed off to the Coromandels for the NY and so I had a few mates over to watch the fireworks. Ok so normally I would say that the fireworks on NY in Auckland aren't that great. (Well they really aren't compared to Sydney I admit). But being so close to them this year was totally friken awesome. I will share my photos below :-) It was pretty much click (wait 3 sec) click (wait 3 sec) click (wait 3 sec). Each pic seemed to be totally unique :-) gotta love it!

This shot was taken on the very moment :-) It was sooo cool counting down. I can't say I've actually ever done that for real. I think this year was a first. Thanks Channel 1 for advising the time. 2010 baby, first day of the new decade :-) I thought this was a little overexposed but still its cool :-) So the shots that follow will be a lil less BRIGHT! Hope you enjoy

I don't know why but this picture really reminds me of the 4th of July. Probably the colour ay? :P

And the cherry on the top was the full moon on New Years! Beautiful!
I love night photography. I really need to get me a new tripod. My current one was perfect for my old Fuji s1000, but for my canon 50D, hmmm. Lets just say its fine for normal landscapes but not very ideal for portraits. It actually starts to slide of kilter. Funny but annoying. Its a Kathmandu tripod that Doug bought me :-) Thankyou bub. Having a tripod is very very handy sometimes. Especially when you can't trust giving your camera to anyone to get the composition you want. And of course you simply can't go without it for night photography or any photography when you want that slow shutter speed. So I've been eyeing up a few tripods. I might just get one off trademe for around the $100 mark. I saw some very very nice ones at the photography store but I'm really not willing to pay $200+ for one just yet. I'll be saving those precious pennies for a speedlite :D

Anyway I think thats enough for one post. Speaking with Jacob who recently started up his own blog : http://jsauni.wordpress.com/, I felt motivated to post my own since I haven't done one since last year. I think I will really try and post at least once a week even when I don't have new material to share, I might share some old material and old favourites etc etc like I have done previously.

Hope you all had a fab New Year's celebration. Till next post!!

First pic of the New Year - Doug & I after the fireworks:-)

Summer Time Fun

2009-12-27T03:22:00.001-08:00

I know I've been a bit slack this month! 5 entries in November and nothing in December yet!! tut tut tut. Sorry about it. Work has been extra extra busy. But I've finally gotten around to get outdoors and take a few pictures. Doug took me out to the beach early in the morning on Christmas Eve and it was so cool. We cooked breakfast there and it was just great to be there early when noone was around yet. Not even the life guards had arrived on duty. The light was very nice and even in the morning and I was able to get a few good pictures of the beach:

(Bethells Beach - Te Henga)

Doug & Dryke

I took a few family pictures at our xmas gathering as well. I should have been a bit more prepared than I was. But I still got a few good shots. Definitely need to improve on my portrait photography. I find it quite challenging sometimes especially with people who feel so awkward in front of the camera. So I take my hat off to all those professional portrait photographers. I have many things to learn but hopefully I am improving. I might read that e-book I bought again but the thing is the more you shoot and practice in reality the more it will become second nature. Here are a few of the shots from Xmas Day:

My sister being a test subject lol

My sister, me and My Mum

Yeah, can't really take credit for the above picture as Doug took it, but anyhoo I like it. :-) I had no idea my uncle wanted me to take a pic of his family too! Haha. But hey I don't mind, free for all :-) They were surprisingly very co-operative and photogenic I think. Much easier than dealing with my cheeky sister hehe...still love her but she can't seem to sit still.

My uncle Len with his Wife, Son Herbie & Mother-in-Law

The weather has been fantastic these past few days. Starting to warm up nicely now. On Boxing day I was surprised with a visit from a friend who lives in Invercargill whom I hadn't seen in a long time. She turned up with no warning! She's leaving for Adelaide (for good) soon, so it was great to see her again. She's no stranger to the camera either which was pretty awesome. Just like the good old days when we used to hang out as teenagers, stay up late and do nothing but walk around and take pictures lol.

Portrait of my good friend Ada

My good friend from Invercargill (Caryll) - cute Caryll!

An artistic shot of a flower - Bastion Point

So after spending a bit of time at Bastion point we headed out to Piha. I've never been to fond of Piha only because its windy getting there and I always get car sick. So I always drive there now when we go. Its was so much more beautiful than I remember. I'm not sure why but it was particularly beautiful on boxing day.

We met up with some of the Ponsonby boys and just hung out which was pretty cool.

Hanging out

Here are some more pix of the beach...gorgeous gorgeous setting.

Rugged landscape

I love the haziness of this shot

Sunset :-) Always love a sunset

And my proud attempt at HDR (High Dynamic Range photography)

And I don't think its all that bad do you ;P you can probably see where I joined two photos but hey I think its not bad. I just took two photos (different exposures, one for the foreground and one for the sky) and blended them in photoshop elements (the only one I have at the moment) . Free copy from Tim cheers bro hehe.

Thats all for now. Hope it wasn't too long. kind of joined 3 posts into one! A Happy belated Xmas to you all and Happy New Year!

Trip to Thames & Kids Xmas Carnival 09

2009-11-29T19:29:00.000-08:00

I find myself itching to write entries for my blog these days. The warmer weather is really getting me excited and I'm starting to think of more things to shoot, ideas, concepts and locations. As I am still an amateur, I've decided to start with some family shoots. Hopefully I can organise a time to do it as Xmas should be a perfect time to get together for some formal family photo's.

The more I practise, I also find the more I don't know! Some things seem so simple and yet when it comes down to it there are alot of situations which makes taking GOOD photos very challenging. I notice myself being more conscious of the background now as well as different intensities of light. Since getting my new camera I think I've also been a lil obsessed with the Aperture priority mode , more specifically large aperture settings (blurred backgrounds). I think I need to branch out a little! I'll get there :-) I guess I just love the versatility of the blurred background. Its often not possible to get a nice background, so blurring it out is just so darn handy! It also ensures your subject is very much the focus of the shot.

Whilst in Thames for a church visitation, I took a few shots of my sister on the side of the road. Having no obvious appealing backgrounds to choose from I opted for the blurred background effect. It was so funny though, trying to get some natural shots. My sister is so funny , always joking around, and over-the-top obvious posing. It was all in good fun though. And I love her cause she isn't afraid of the camera :-) She had fun taking some photos herself.

Ok so this shot below was kind of inspired by the e-book that I bought from Darren Rowse, editor of Digital Photography School website. You can purchase the book here. So far it has been very helpful and makes me want to do more portraits.

I just added this shot in here because I thought it was so funny lol. Its so obviously posed. Sometimes it just doesn't work haha. But its worth the laugh.

The picture below was actually taken by Doug. I was so impressed I decided to include this in my post as well. I love the composition, the colour and the blurred out background (I told you I'm obsessed with the blurred background :P) And its just so perty :-)

Its also the season of Christmas Parties. Yay. My work puts on a yearly Children's Christmas Carnival. Doug and I took his niece and nephew to it for the first time. I had a fair idea of what it would be like but didn't expect too much. The kids absolutely loved it and had a fantastic time! There was face-painting, a bouncy castle, human fly wall, mini ferris wheel, and a gladiator fighting arena thing. Awesome! I particularly enjoyed watching the ladies doing the face-painting. Talented indeed.

Human fly on the wall

Kids on the Ferris wheel

Don't ask about Cyrus' face paint. Boys will be boys!

Composition Practise

2009-11-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

Time for an update! I think I'm going to try and update this now at least every week. So my challenge is to come up with new content every week! Even if its flashbacks from the past I think it will be cool.

Exciting times these next few months. Summer is coming!!! I LOVE SUMMER. And with summer hopefully comes less rain which hopefully means more time spent outdoors, with more opportunity to shoot. It shouldn't really be an excuse when the rain is out though - I've seen some amazing pictures done when the weather is grey or raining. I'm just a bit scared to take my camera out in the rain just yet!!

I'm thinking to start doing some walkabouts with my camera. Just me and my camera so if you see me around town, give me a friendly smile and a wave haha. Its getting boring taking pix from my apartment although I still LOVE the view. I need something new. My black and white assignment is coming up and I think it might be cool to find some nice old building for that one.. Hopefully one with detail. I've been meaning to go down to the DFS building and take a pic of that at night. I've just been so so busy lately. Its great!! Being busy makes those weeks go by all the faster, which brings my holidays closer wooop.

ok enough of my blabber . I did a small series of pictures one afternoon from my apartment for my composition assignment. Hope they are good enough. I'm still trying to get the hang of my manual settings to make the most of the sunset light. I think I did ok?

Zoomed in on the skytower. Its out of it, when I looked at the picture full size it looked like one of the people sitting in the restaurant was looking back at me!! hahahaha Paparazzi!!

I also kind of like this one of the skytower. I know its crooked this was intentional. But I like how it really stands out against the background. The light on the tower is from the setting sun, and I love the deep blue from the sky and clouds behind.

I just like the look of the clouds in this one. Although maybe the tower is a little distracting if you didn't realise what it was. Still I like it. If you don't, oh well too bad lol.

I was taking pictures in between cooking and doing my washing how funny. Came back to the balcony every 30 min or so as the light got dimmer. I love the colour of the sky at dusk. Beautiful.

Wow I finally found the bulb setting on my camera haha. AWESOME. I know I'm a noob but I never had this feature on my older camera. As long as you hold down the shutter button it will leave the shutter open for as long as its held down. And this means super long exposures for night photography. I was getting my frills getting the light trails from the cars. I totally have to try this effect on the ground instead of up at the apartment.

I am yet to really make the most of my flickr account. I think I should upload some of these. I know its not the new year yet, but all my landscape shots have made me think that one of my goals next year will be to save and get a really cool wide angle lens. Apparently they are the most difficult lenses to learn how to use but I think I am up for the challenge. Always learning always progressing :-)

Till next post!

Favourites

2009-11-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well I decided its time to give an update. I didn't really get a chance this weekend to go out shooting as I was so busy with trying to organise my new apartment. Its so cool. Above is the view we get from the apartment. Its not a big place but I love it.

I was sad when my old flatmates left to go home to China. They were such nice people and really good flatmates. But I was so excited when my new flatmate moved in last night :-) She's cool, she's from Japan. And all people from Japan are cool. lol. Hajimemashte. lol. Sorry I can't do the Japanese characters.Its great to have someone else in the apartment because it can get really lonely living on your own.

I had my first visitor last night too. (Apart from Doug). Sunshine came over! Haven't seen him in ages. He used to live with us as a home stay when I was still at Mum's in Milton Rd. So we had dinner and enjoyed the view. It was cool.

For this post I thought I would just post a few pictures of mine that I really love. And I hope you enjoy them too:

I love trees. I like the diversity in this shot. I love the different colours in the wood. This was taken at Cornwall Park - Auckland.

See I told you I love trees haha. This was taken when I was in Fiji last Dec / Jan. Beautiful place but do not recommend going there during these months. Its extremely hot and humid. But I loved it anyway :-)

This photo was taken while I was on the Gold Coast for my family reunion. I just love the colours in this picture. The girl on the left is my little sister and the others are my little cousins - all playing in the surf. I think they got hidings from their mum from getting all wet. LOL. Samoan side.

This picture was also taken at the same beach but up on the headland. I really fell in love with this place while I was there. The weather is perfect around 15-20C (It was winter by the way).

I love this shot with the surfer and Surfers paradise in the background. I actually sent this in for my photography course. My tutor liked it ;-) woop

I really have a thing for panorama's. Until I can get me a wide angle lens, I am going to continue to have my love affair with panorama's. Just feel like its the best thing next to actually being there. This picture was taken at the highest point (or close to it) on Whakapapa. Beautiful day as you can see!!! LOVE IT. In the picture is Tim and Doug my snowboarding peeps.

By the way I got 80% on my aperture assignment YUSS. haha. Onwards and upwards :-) And I just want to do a little shout out to all my little followers..All 5 of them :-) Doug, Jacob, Ashwina & Andre and some random guy LOL. Thankyou for your support and tell all your friends to join :P If you have comments please do share. It makes my day :-) Positive or constructive. Hope you all have a great week!

Kirst

ps: all these photos were taken with my little s1000Fuji. Good times good memories.

Weekend shooting, assignments & Dryke

2009-11-09T01:30:00.000-08:00

I just looked at all my old posts since I started this little blog and I just realised I have started all bar one of my posts with "So...". LOL. So I need some practise already, oops there I go again lol.

Its been a bit stressful around my place with my flatmates leaving to go back to China. It was a bit of a surprise to me, but its ok. I have finally managed to find a new flatmate. And its pretty cool because my uncle got me in touch with her saying she needs a room. She's from Japan but her english is pretty good. She has studied here in NZ before. I'm happy I have found someone nice and NORMAL. There are some strange people out there.

Anyway the weekend was pretty good. Daniel, Doug's brother was over from Sydney so we had some family time with Doug's niece and nephew. Salome, boy she is such a poser, but she is so funny. She's a real character that one, loud just like her mum haha. But she's great. Cyrus too, he's a real cheeky one as well.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. I finally got around to doing my 4th assignment too for my Proud Photography course. Its actually quite difficult to find the time and get out there and actually read my assignment and do it. But once I set my mind on it, it actually wasn't that hard at all. The assignment was on Apeture and how to control depth of field. I'm actually starting to get the knack of the manual controls too after watching a vid on good ol YouTube. wooooo. lol.

This is Salome holding Dryke - she's so photogenic hey?

Dryke again sleeping - cute!

Talk to the hand..haha

At the start of this blog I have my first photo submission for my Apeture assignment. We had to submit a photo with a large F-stop (i.e. everything should be in focus). The shot that follows is the second submission where you use a small F-stop and your subject should be in focus with the background out of focus giving you a small depth of field. Its pretty cool learning all this stuff. I was familiar with F-stops and shutter speeds before but having this little course is putting things into a nice organised format. Next assignment is on black and white photography and then on to my favourite stuff = travel photography :-)

Introducing - Dryke

2009-11-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Doug has finally decided to get his puppy that he has been telling me about forever and ever. Its a big decision because he did have two puppies before - Dre and Daxter which he had to sell both because we were looking to move over to Australia. But that didn't happen, mainly because I got my new job and so we decided now we are staying. I mean I wouldn't mind living in Australia but all my family is here. I love NZ , its beautiful here. I can always hop across and visit. You just can't beat shopping in Melbourne, really!

Dryke is the most beautiful lil puppy. But do not be fooled by his cute exterior! He is a tough lil guy. He's a Staffordshire bullterrior. Very tough and when he grows up he will be very stocky. They are extremely loyal dogs and I guess that's why doug loves them. I'm not really an animal person, but last night I just couldn't help but smile as he curled up on the cushion we have assigned him for sleeping. He's just so cute! But he has this problem of biting recently. So we are working on training him to inhibit his bite. But I think Doug gave him a good whack and now he's much more careful. I think you're not really supposed to hit them though so we try not to do it too often but to discipline in other ways. But he's so cute when he's sleeping. I just like holding him.

But you just can't help but love this little guy. He's just like a little baby, he snores when he sleeps and he can't control his bladder yet. So during the night Doug has to take him outside to do his wees...hahaha so funny. And we've been discussing with each other on the best way to discipline him etc. Haha training for parenthood right. LOL. I love how he's so black and small. So cute...haha

Anyway he arrived last sunday so we had fun taking lots and lots of photos ;-)

Day at the Museum

2009-10-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

So last weekend gone was Labour Weekend. Its great to have an extra day to just relax from the week. It just so happened that it was this weekend that Doug was taking me on my special monthly date! YAY lol. It was very enjoyable. It may not seem that exciting to you but I actually like going to the Museum and its been a long time since I've actually been inside the Museum at Auckland's Domain. I took the opportunity to test out my camera with indoor shots. I love this camera! Extremely fast and the battery life seems to be lasting extremely well.

Still doing my photography course but have been lazy lately. A friend of mine who is a photographer said she would also show me a few things some time which was so kind! I must take her up on her offer. If you are interested her website is here. Her work is awesome.

Anyway here are a few of my favourite pictures that I took there at the museum, but would you believe my bag was stolen while I was in the Museum. The nerve of some people!! I suppose I was asking for it leaving it in the front seat of my car. I just thought it would be alright but no. You cannot trust your things anywhere these days. Its sad. So all this week I've been replacing the things that were stolen from my wallet. So annoying but you just have to deal with these things. I'm just glad my camera's weren't in there! I would cry if they were taken.

Gosh I'm rambling on . Check out my favourite flicks:

Flowers from the sensory garden (I think that's what its called)

Dose of Maori Culture

Don't ya just love marine life! The colours :-)

Pretending to be a statue..isn't it obvious?

A solemn moment

Ok, I wasn't going to put this picture on but Doug insisted. He thinks its funny [sigh] lol. So here it is. Spot the odd one out! haha

Learning mode

2009-10-24T04:06:00.000-07:00

So someone told me that there hasn't been new content on my blog. Oh ok., I didn't realise I had an audience. LOL! Ok so I better get my A into G and actually update this thing. I would like to change the layout of my blog. That will be on my list of things to do.

At the moment I'm doing an online photography course which I'm loving because you don't have any deadlines. You can work as fast or as slow as you want so it doesn't get in the way of your other commitments. Like my day job for example. haha. But its quite informative so far. I have printed out my lessons and am up to the 5th one I think? But I love it. I love learning about it.

I've been practising with my new toy as well. Boy its fast. Beautiful. Went out to the Brentwood Ave Church camp out at Peter Snell Camp in Whangaparoa. Its so nice out there. I looked out into the bay and then it dawned on me... I've been here before! Balmoral SDA school camp! WOW., the memories that came flooding back. Its a little different than I remember. The waterslide is still there.

Anyway here's a few pictures I took today. The light was not ideal, but you have to deal with it yeah.

Girls hanging out

My little cousin Herbie

Dad & Daughter

Doug on the swing

Stairs up to camp

SO EXCITED

2009-10-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

So I've finally made my decision on what camera I want to buy :-) YAY. Its been a hard decision. I really like the look and feel of the Nikon, BUT like a good little accountant I am price took priority. So I'm getting the 50D. So I'm joining the canon bandwagon. I wish I could afford another lens but not right now. There goes all my savings! HAHA. But I am totally happy and totally excited. I've been saving up for like a whole year :D

I went to the shop to get it on Sunday but they didn't have any in stock :\. Oh well. So I just have to wait untill thursday.

But wait there's more. I couldn't help myself but to throw in a compact camera as well (IXUS 100). Oh why not! haha. Look at it - beautiful. LOVE THE COLOUR. I miss the compact that I had before and stupid me I sold it. I find its so handy to keep a compact in your bag for those moments where you are just itching to take a picture but your SLR is safe at home. argh. Ever felt like that? Or is it just me :p? But this camera is gorgeous. Knowing me there will be scratches on it soon enough lol.

I love getting new toys. I can't wait to get them and try them out. :D:D

Too many options!

2009-09-29T02:40:00.000-07:00

So Doug said he could get me a panasonic G1 SLR from his brothers work. Argh., just when I thought I had decided on something he throws a spanner in the works lol. From what I read its a pretty good camera. The thing that would make me buy it is its much smaller and lighter than the Nikon's I've been looking at. I'm still drawn to Nikon. I don't know why but from what I've read, they have fantastic lenses and communicate well with their flashes. So I'm still leaning that way. I'm looking for something fast, and good with night photography.

So now the hardpart. Trying to decide on a lens! It's pretty clear that I love landscape photography, but I also want a lens that will be good with portraits and night photography as well. I'll probably start off with an 18-200mm VR lens. But I love the look of the 35mm & 55mm lenses.

Research will continue...comments are welcome.

What I do want to say before I end this post is, that no matter what camera you buy., its not the camera that is going to make great photographs, its the person behind it. I've seen this theme come through in alot of the articles I read.

Here are some photos of the camera's I've been looking at..boy its something about big lenses huh. They look hot. And please get your mind out of the gutter, this is totally innocent speak. Look at the 17-85mm lens..just beautiful.

Nikon D300S (new model which is very similar to the D300)

Canon 50D

Panasonic G1 (cute and little! but not as fast)

Looking for a new camera - DSLR NIkon or Canon

2009-09-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is my first blog on blogspot! Coool. Guess I was inspired by a few photographers out there who have blogs and I thought to add my own. I've been looking to purchase a new camera DSLR. I can't wait. I just have to decide so if anyone out there has any thoughts please do share them with me. I started off wanting a Nikon D90. I can afford it now., but I've been tossing and turning on either to go with Nikon or Canon. I do like the look and feel of Nikon's but I feel I really want a good camera that will last me a couple of years at least. I want something semi professional as I really want to get into photography.

I just love photography. I think my photo's are good, but I need better equipment. :-) So its I've been looking at the Nikon D90, Canon 50D and the Nikon D300. At the moment I can't afford the D300 but I really like it. I like the look of the Nikon's more I'm not sure why. I know Canon is faster, but I don't think I'm looking for speed, but more for quality. Not that Nikon's DSLR's are slow! I'm still not sure., I know both Canon and Nikon have great reputations.

ANYWAY., I think I am rambling on!

The weekend was pretty cool., I got to take a few pix with some friends at lunch at my mums and down at Piha beach on NZ's west coast. I don't really like going to this beach., its lovely and rugged but the problem is I always get sick on the way. Its incredibly windy to get there but I drove so that solved that problem. Just thought I'd post a couple of my favourite pictures from the weekend:

1) Ha ha ha., this is Doug my bf and me. We love the camera lol.

2) Doug and Liki
3) Walking down to the beach. I just love the backdrop of this pic. Rugged.
4) This is Miteora., so cute! With my mum playing with Gordy my little sister's pet rabbit.

The weekend is my favourite time to shoot. I just can't wait till I actually have a camera that can keep up with me :-) But good things come to those who wait ;-)