Word Art Wednesday

This weeks verse from Word Art Wednesday

is Psalm 9: 1-2.  It talks about praising the Lord for all the wonderful things He has done. His creation fills me with JOY.  I can't get enough of it.  Thank you Lord for creating such a wonderful world full of glorious details.  Take time to seek out God's glory in creation. 

Linking to Scripture Thursday and Word Art Wednesday

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Word Art

We are very fortunate to be able to travel all over the United States.  Below is a view from the top the Shenandoah Mountains.  As we travel we take time to BE STILL and take in all of God's creation.This is one of my favorite verses.  No matter how busy or overwhelming your life is you know that God is in control and we should just take a deep breath and be still. 

I am sharing this with Word Art Wednesday and Scripture Thursday

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INSTAGRAM

I have recently gotten an IPhone.  So I had to jump on the Instagram bandwagon.  As most of you know it is a fun FREE app you can put on your phone to take pictures and put different filters to get cool looking retro shots. 

We were taking friends around Washington DC this week.  So since I have a ton of "normal" pictures of DC, I thought why not "instagram" a set of DC pictures. 

You can take the picture in the Instragram app or take it with your camera phone and put it into instragram later.  I did a bit of both.  I think I like taking them with the regular camera and cropping and filtering in the Instragram app.

My eye was drawn to mainly three of the thirteen filters.

Before I got the IPhone I wanted to see if could get this same effect on my pictures.  If you are a Photoshop expert you could figure out a way to create the same effect.  But since I am NOT, I found a site that you can download your photos to and place filters on them to create the same effect.

Here are the link to the PC/online site:  PicYou 

I thought I would leave you with this great link about travel photography.  When you travel, whether it is just down the road or to another state/country.  Try to capture not only (in this case DC) monuments but also the details and feeling of the area.  I try to tell a story with my pictures so other will feel they have been there with me.  I am not sure if I have gotten to that point in my photography, but it is a goal.

Here is a detail of DC I want everyone to remember.  Please never forget the sacrifices our military give for us each and every day to protect the freedoms we so enjoy!

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Wednesday Word Art

Psalm 119:105 is the verse given over at: Word Art Wednesday

Go over to their site to see all the beautiful art that the design team made.

When I saw this verse I knew I was going to use a sunset picture from our many travels.  The Lord paints the sky each evening and shines His light on us everyday.  We must dig into His WORD to be drenched in His light.

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Word Art Wednesday

This weeks verse is Job 19:25.  Head on over to

 Word Art Wednesday website to see all the beautiful creations made by the very talented design team.

This picture was taken up on Sandy Creek Lake.  My hubby fishes and I take pictures.  I love taking pictures of all of the Lord's creation. 

You can click on the above picture and save it to your computer.  Feel free to use it and all of my Wednesday Word Art for cards, screen backgrounds or any other creative idea.  All I ask is you give me and my blog some credit.  Pin It

Word Art Wednesday

I decided to join the ladies over at Word Art Wednesday this week.  Each week they give a scripture PNG to use in creating a card, scrap page, art journal page or any other art project.  I decided to use it here on my photography blog, so I can use my flower pictures.  I can't wait until the spring flowers start to pop up around my yard.  Until then I will use this picture I took at Longwood Gardens

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Silhouettes

Today I am dreaming of warmer weather!  If you want to read a good article about shooting a silhouette picture, go HERE

 These pictures were taken last year in sunny Florida!



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Portraits (Engagement Photos)

I am NOT a portrait photographer.  In fact I prefer to shoot inanimate objects.  They don't move or talk back to me.  But to save $$$ on the old wedding budget, we decide to take my son's engagement pictures ourselves. 

Mananass Stone House

 The first thing to consider when take portraits is LOCATION.  I drive past this stone house everyday on the way to the gym.  The battlefields have great scenery.  They are plain, but interesting in textures and views.

 Next, shoot in the morning or evening if possible.  We weren't able to do that so we used the full shade of the house to get a better light.

 Focus on the EYES!  If you have a Portrait setting give it a try.  I use my portrait mode and sport mode.  I like the continuous shooting ability so I don't miss a shot!

 Try different angles and positions.  I had a couple of great subjects!  They came up with all ideas for the pictures.  I like the more candid shots vs the "staged" pictures.

The Annanie moto, "Have fun"!!!!

 Matthew was saying,

"Walk cute my mom is taking our picture."  LOL

Love the hands!

 This last one I took with my Iphone and filtered with Instagram.  Its one of my favorites.

Lastly, take bunches of pictures.  I took 200 pictures and they picked out about 25.  You can use engagment pictures for slide shows, labels for wedding decorations, save the date cards and scrapbook memories!

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SNOW

Today we were blessed with a little bit of the white stuff!  The birds really hit the feeders hard during the storm. 

The male Cardinals popped against the falling white snow.

Our feeder attracted Downy Woodpecker, Juncos,

Cardinals, Chickadees,  & Nuthatchers.

Of course we had to go for a walk. 

I didn't even notice I caught a glimpse of Michael and

Blue between the branches.

The horse farms look so pretty in the snow.

Tomorrow, it will be 50 degrees again, sigh..... 
It was a nice little treat today!
For a great article on taking picture in snow go HERE Pin It

Christmas Lights in NYC

The best time to get those Christmas light pictures is right at dusk!  We hit the streets around Rockefeller Center and grabbed some fabulous city shots.

I used my night landscape setting.

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Shooting in Low Light

As we went through the holiday season I am sure you had many opportunities to take pictures in low light situations. I have read many articles on the subject. My pictures use to get very grainy, until I discovered ISO. You can read about it HERE  

When I took these pictures below I had my ISO set to over 2200+  depending on how dark the area was.  Also look around for how the area is lit.  Try to get behind the spot lights, so you get more light.  I have a wide angled lense so it automaticly lets a bunch of light into the picture.  But having the higher ISO setting let me turn off my flash.  

ISO 2400

Of course having a tripod would help steady the photo but I didn't want to lug it around with me.

ISO 2500



ISO 2500



This was WAY up in the ceiling and I set it to 3500.  I didn't even notice the red until I loaded the picture on my computer. 

So next time you are at your childrens concert open up your ISO as high as it will go and shoot away! 

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Frosty

We woke up today to a frosty wonderlamd.  So I grabbed my camera to catch the frostiness.

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Birds

I love watching birds. I have several feeders in our backyard. But trying to get a photo of them is a bit tricky. They move fast and are startled easily.

On our trip to Colorado we saw some interesting birds. The key to shooting birds is a good zoom and shoot in your sport mode that has the continuous shooting. My pictures are not in great focus but those darn birds move so fast. I gave it my best shot!

These Lorikeets were at the KC Zoo.  We were able to feed them nectar in a cup.  That gave me the opportunity to get a good picture of them.

This Mountain Blue Bird was sitting on desert grass in

Red Rocks, Colorado.

We found the Ptarmigam while waking a trail. 

 He was hard to see because they camouflaged well.

We caught a shot of this Steller Jay

sitting on a pole at a trailhead.

You can get some great bird shots right in you backyard. Hang a birdfeeder outside your window. Put your camera on tripod near the glass. Dress in dark colors, so you don’t scare them away. Set you camera on continuous and snap away. I would love to see your pictures. Happy Shooting!



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