So behind

Okay...I have fallen way behind and today you will get 4 in one and I'm still one behind.

Today's will be as follows:
Sunset
Lens flare
Landscape
Dynamic tension

With sunset I stopped my local park and snapped a great one. The sun set I took at a low angle over the trees.

Lens flare happens when you are looking at the sun or light source. I took this one at mockingbird station today :)

Landscape was also snapped at my local park near the creek.

Lastly we have dynamic tension which takes multiple diagonal lines moving away from each other in different directions. This draws the eye out of the picture in contrasting directions.

I still owe you a portrait. I so badly wanted to go downtown and take one of a homeless person but I don't have my own shiv yet XD most homeless people I've met are nice but you never know. See you on the flip side :)

Bokeh

Oh man what a week. I've had too many mornings of dragging myself out of bed and driving in patchy fog before 7am. Not to mention my allergies and sinuses have been bother me. It caused me to have the worst case of vertigo in my life. So much dizziness and nausea I couldn't get out of bed. But I am happy to say I feel much better today and I have the day off tomorrow to catch up on rest and continue my 30 day challenge.

Let's see so we left off with silhouette. The day after should have been sunset but the sun has yet to show all it's beautiful glory to be captured. Yesterdays assignment was bokeh. Now bokeh (pronounced boh-kay) is a term in photography that is defined as the way in which the lens renders out-of-focus points of light. I adjusted my aperture to about 3.5 and set manual focus so I could adjust it to how I wanted it and snap! I got a couple of good ones. I would definitely like to try this in the city with an actual person or I saw this cool picture with a clear coke bottle next to the city street.

This technique for me was not very easy. I had to mess around with a lot of different depths to eventually get it how I wanted it. Now today was suppose to be a lens flair but I ran out of time :/ so tomorrow you will get a double dose. Sweet dreams friends.

Mi hermano

Jeremy Todd Cepeda :) is the best little brother one could ask for. I say "little" but he's over 6 feet and can pick me and my sister up with one arm. He's very passionate about martial arts and loves to practice wing Chung. We had so much fun this day. We grilled fajitas, laughed, and watched blade runner. One of the best Arnold movies there is :D I did a lot of these in black and white. It seemed more manly. Jeremy is very photogenic. Just completely opened up for the camera. Good job bro!

Silhouette

I had an idea for my silhouette photo but there has been no sun for the past two days. Also today's assignment was to be a sunset. Looks like that one will have to wait. So I did what I could for my silhouette and I honestly like this one. My little helper Harvey came out so curious. Enjoy!

High and low angle

I have failed! I skipped yesterday and I feel terrible! But it seems sleepiness won the battle last night and I gave in. So today you will get a double treat.

Today's assignment was low angle and yesterday was high. I ventured into Dallas and had a great afternoon :) there was a Dallas skyline, Starbucks, wonton soup, sesame chicken, a walk on Katy trail, and a diner visit that served old fashioned root beer floats.

I would like to say the low angle was easy but the high angle was harder just because I had restricted access to the roof top. Over all i think they are good. Especially the one of that root beer!

Texture

I had a great day today. Work was slow and I got to spend time with my family. I cooked a huge dinner of chicken picatta with a lemon white wine reduction. Paired nicely with mashed potatoes, green beans, and chocolate cake :) yum. I also got a chance to watch pitch perfect. I laughed so much. It's definitely a must see. I don't care what anyone says Adam Devine is such a cutie pie!

So today's assignment was texture. Preferably something rough. There are these trees growing in the center of the mall next to the water fountain. It looked like they were pealing and felt pretty rough so I shot it. When I took the picture though I think I might have had it in a mode that made the subject stand out and the background blurred. I guess ill watch that next time.

So I hope you guys are enjoying these daily blogs. I know they can tend to get boring but Im pretty happy with some of the results and it gives me a chance to visit new places and talk to new people. Tomorrows shot should be...interesting :)

Also last but not least please keep my father-in-law in your thoughts and prayers. He visits the doctor tomorrow and we are hoping for very good news. We've had too much bad this year. Let's hope and pray for some amazing news this time.

Black and white

Stopped by my neighborhood park on the way home and snapped a few shots. Edited them in black and white. I wish the ducks would have been more corporative but I think they came out great :) maybe next time ill bring them some bread.

Rule of thirds

So today's project "rule of thirds" is defined as :

The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines. The guidelines proposed that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

Seeing as today is Sunday and I didn't want to change out of my pajamas I asked David to help me trick Harvey with treats to corporate. (Hence the mouth watering in the picture) so when looking at this picture Harvey is my subject. The two horizontal lines sit at the top of the brick wall and the middle below Harvey's ears and mouth. The vertical lines are intersecting with the horizontal line at Harvey's eye.

So in this photo we can see that Harvey is the main subject but you can also see the what's going on in the background. This would work better if maybe we would have went to say the park and had more activity in the background. This isn't really a "rule" but more of a guideline and can make for better pictures. I will keep that in mind when taking more photographs.

Tomorrow class we will pick up with day 3 :) hope you enjoyed it.

30 day challenge take 1

Can I just say how awesome Pinterest is! They have some of the most amazing ideas. One in particular I liked was the 30 day photo challenge. So for those of you who would like to follow along with me will be in for quite the ride :)

So day 1 is a self portrait. When I saw that I was a little afraid because i don't like pictures of myself, so I did the best that I could. Afternoon lighting is perfect and the thing I love most about my apartment is my huge window in the living room faces the sun during that time of day. It's soft and I thought that would be perfect. It took me forever to get the right angle. Harvey thought I was crazy and hates the clicking sound my camera makes. Anyway here it is and ill catch you guys tomorrow for day 2 :)

Fun in the sun

So much energy came out of this shoot. These two had me laughing so hard and I loved it! It was a nice day at cold water creek. Something is so soothing about that place. Nice waterfalls and bridges, ducks, and all of my favorite shops. Antropologie was the best part :) oh and the frozen yogurt :)

My best friend

Once upon a time there was a little girl. She was born on a winters day January 12, 1995. She had big brown eyes and never cried at night. My father even called the doctor to make sure that was normal. "Count your blessings Mr. Cepeda and try and get some rest" said the doctor. We still to this day laugh about that. My parents named her Sarah and her hair was curlier than Shirley temple. He sweet giggle and those bouncy brown curls and you were putty in her hands. She loved to dance and only liked chicken nuggets. For a while she used to love me to read R.L. Stine's fear street books before we went to bed. Five minutes and she was out. I miss those days. I think then is when she developed a love for horror stories, movies, and haunted house. Haha your welcome ray! We have been there for each other through everything. A lot of laughing. A LOT! I know that no matter how bad my day is she is there to turn it around. She turned 18 years old this last Saturday and I could not believe how fast time flies. How those little curls became gorgeous thick brown flowing waves, how her smile got more radiant, and how close her and I got over the years. For those who remember last Saturday was kind of muggy but I thought it would be perfect to take birthday pictures. As we walked around downtown McKinney the pictures were coming along but it was foggy, muggy, and starting to rain. Sarah was hilarious and kept making silly faces but I captured some really sweet ones too. I love you Sarah Renee Cepeda. I'll always be here for you! Enjoy :)

Best Sunday ever

I had an early morning drive out to Denton this morning to see my best friends Erin and Alex. We had a morning walk through the square for their save the date pictures. I love the square and something about the bright sun and the streets being empty made it absolutely beautiful. Very cold though. But I like the cold so it was okay. As we walked around the square I honestly didn't have to do much. You could see it on their faces all the love those two share. Two of the most fun, generous, caring, good lookin people you will ever have the privilege of meeting and getting to know. We laughed so much and I'm so glad they asked me to do this. I really liked the breakfast afterwards! I will have to go back and visit :) best breakfast tacos and orange juice in a martini shaker. Ha! Super cute. We also ended the day by seeing le mis which was......good gawd I can't even say it without getting tears in my eyes. It makes me want to sing all day long. If you haven't seen it yet do it!!! See it again and again! So here are a few of the sweetest ones from this morning.