What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Friday, October 30, 2009

Foto Friday: Motion


This past week we had the challenge of finding and capturing MOTION. It was definitely a challenging, um.... challenge, wouldn't ya say?

I had TWO ideas for it. The first~ having Matt spin one of the kids upside down and capturing their faces (in focus) but having their bodies blur. Matt was out of town all week (still isn't home as a matter of fact)-so that didn't happen.

My second idea was one that wouldn't require a slow shutter speed (read: anyone with any CAMERA can do it) and that is-to ride a merry-go-round! If you and your subject are sitting still but the background is spinning, it will show some SERIOUS motion in the background while still allowing your subject to be in focus. But, since I am ankle deep in glitter and pinata paste for tomorrow's big shindig, I was unable to get to a park. :-(

So this was the most frustrating of all challenges for me-because I didn't know WHERE to go with it.

Here are my few desperate attempts:



I remember reading a book on a Mennonite Family LONG time ago (like when I was a girl) that shared a photo of this woman's attempt to capture motion with her camera back when cameras were big 'ole boxes that required your own developing. The photo was of her mother feeding the chickens and the chickens being in a total blur because they flutter in excitement at food. I have always loved that picture. I can see it in my head like it was just yesterday my nose was glued to it. I tried to recreate it. Here is my much-less-intriguing version.



~Raiding the Christmas Lights



~You know a girl is desperate when she lets kiddos jump on the bed. They didn't believe me at first, when I asked them to do it. They hesitantly hopped up and looked at me questioningly again before they actually jumped. It took approximately 2.4 seconds for them to go crazy. This wouldn't be a bad shot except all that I see is a legless Corynn and quite frankly, it freaks me out.


It's been raining all week. Blech.

BUT, this once trickling creek turned into torrents which were PERFECT for experimenting in order to create a flowy water (like a painting). I have wanted to figure out how to do that for the LONGEST time. The shutter speed was set at 8 and I forget what the aperture was. (surry)

This is the first time I have actually succeeded in this and it makes me want to go seek out some serious waterfalls!!!


So that's it. My contribution. Even though I felt desperate and frustrated with my lack of ideas and opportunities, I still managed to get PLENTY to share. I couldn't possibly just post ONE!

Now~let's see YOURS.


In order to participate in these Foto Friday challenges, you must take a photo (or several) pertaining to the challenge and post it to your blog (and when you do, please link back to this blog {you may use the button if you like} so that perhaps we can get lots of participants! Because, you know, the more the merrier!) Then simply link to your Foto Friday post with Mr. McLinky here so that we all can visit you and compare notes...

Most importantly~challenge yourself, but HAVE FUN doing it.

We are going to take a break from the list again this week, because the opportunities warrant it.

Since this weekend is Halloween~I thought a perfect theme would be........

DRESS-UP

Now, if you are the sort that doesn't "do" Halloween, don't let that hinder you! You could skip the costume aspects and work the theme into fancy clothes, etc.

Knowing me, I'll probably shoot for BOTH. hehe

15 comments:

Bonnie said...

These are great Rebecca! I love the Christmas lights, what a great idea, and the chickens, and the stream. Sigh.

Unknown said...

AWESOME, Rebecca! I asked my SIL how to do the stream thing...she tried to explain it too me and I was like...HUH? And then "DUH?" *all well scratching my...well never mind* LOL! :D :P

I LOVE THE CHICKENS...where could I see the original?

Anyhoo, I'm off to get some household stuff done that HAS TO BE DONE and hopefully, I'll get to post later...

Beautiful shots once again! YOU ROCK! :D

Amy

Tracy said...

Your pictures are always wonderful. I like the one of the kids on the bed. Even with Corynn's missing legs! :)

Jennifer said...

I really like your water pictures. I have not yet been able to get a nice blur like that...Good Job!!!

I messed up when putting my blog to the McLinky thing. I actually posted the editing page first. Could you please remove it for me and leave number 7.....thanks :)

Jemit said...

Though I love seeing your children have fun.. my very favorite is the water pictures.. they need framed!
Thanks for your comments on my blog too. I am learning to focus better on my pictures I think, and am really enjoying Foto Friday.
Marilyn (Wendy's mom)

Full of Grace said...

Great job as always Rebecca! I loved the water pics the most though!! Beautiful!

Peggy said...

I love the water pictures! I guess maybe it is time to get out the manual on the camera! You keep talking about shutter speed and aperture... If you could see me you would laugh at my facial expression... My eyes begin to glaze over and I get a befuddled look on my face.. huh... But is is great because it is pushing me to learn more! I love the weekly challenges!!

I must admit I looked at the pictures first, then read the text. The christmas lights picture had me confused at first... It was so neat but I just couldn't figure out what it was. I love it!!

Take care and I really look forward to each and every week's challenge.

Off to bake finger cookies...

Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads said...

I love the water pictures. I took a few as well, but I didn't post them as I ran out of time. lol! The first picture reminds me of a portrait that my grandmother had hanging in her kitchen.

Paula said...

You totally need to frame that chicken picture!!

LOVE your water pictures too. Everything here is frozen, so we are really not wanting to drive anywhere. You are so blessed to have that in your backyard!

You totally need to talk to us about aperture and shutter speed and all that jazz on how you get those photos like that!! Especially the chicken one!!

Rebecca said...

Amy~the book is called A Mennonite Woman's Life by Phyllis Pellman Good, Photos by Ruth Hershey Turns out~I still HAVE the book!

DevilDog~I hope you still post them sometime~I'd love to see them!

Paula~there is a reason why I don't explain aperture and shutter speed to you. Because I don't know what I am talking about! Honestly, I am so far in the beginning of learning these things, which is why I got such a thrill out of those water pictures turning out. That was a big accomplishment for me and it helped to solidify shutter speed in my mind. Sortof. ;-)

The Zombeck's said...

Love the pictures. The water pictures are wonderful. It's a great idea to try and picture waterfalls, We are going to try that also, thank for the cool idea and the shutter speed setting. We are still play around and trying new things with the speeds..

Wendy said...

REBECCA...HOW IS IT THAT YOU CAN GET MORE THAN 5 PICTURES ON ONE POST? I CAN ONLY EVER UPLOAD 5. IS THERE A TRICK?

Christy said...

wow. these are so good...especially the stream! so beautiful! i have such a long way to go...! i assume you used a tripod? i need to get one. i am such an amateur. ;)

p.s. that is cute about your kids not being sure that the jumping on the bed request was real! ;)

Rebecca said...

Wendy~ I upload them directly through Blogger (instead of Picasa) and you it allows you to do four at a time...but then you can do four more and four more and...well, you get the picture I am sure. ;-)

Christy~so glad you joined us this week! I didn't use a tripod (I hate those things), just tried to keep very steady.

Oh yeah and psssst.

I AM AN AMATEUR too! :-)

Christy said...

thank you for the article (and for the encouragment!) rebecca! :) i am going to look it over closely and also check out the rest of that site! looks pretty helpful. :-) God bless...