photography workshop, crafty things, and more

haven't posted in a while, this is what i've been up to:

photography workshop
grafitti/piggie
crafty

from top to bottom, left to right:

i started taking a photography workshop at lunch once a week. last week (first week) we explored f-stops, and this week, we're working on shutter speed.

• shutter speed: i captured the fountain image using a fast shutter speed---i'll try to put up an example of the same fountain using a slow shutter speed so that the water looks soft and filmy.
• f-stops: for dof, i shot a series of varying f-stops. then i photographed a mcdonald's happy meal kung fu panda toy with bokeh. i'm collecting all of them and want to do portraits of each. here are the ones i have so far (along with other pics related to kung fu pandas and/or just to pandas).

next are miscellaneous photos i took as part of my photo a day project.

• la river graffiti: the first is part of a group that i took along the la river during lunch one day. more can be found here. i had a 50 mm lens which wasn't ideal, it was hard to convey a sense of the space and capture enough of the scene, i might try to go back sometime and shoot with a wider lens.
• microwave piggie: the second is a microwave splatter screen that robinde gave me. i liked that the entire image is white.

finally, here are a couple of crafty projects.

• constantine tshirt recon: one is an older tshirt reconstruction that i did, and the photo is part of my effort to document the things i've made. i took the portrait outside using the reflectors that i bought recently.
• baby mobile: the second is a baby mobile that a few of us made for our friend. we constructed the animals on our own (i made a piggie that i blogged before), then a few of us got together and constructed the mobile from hangers and yarn---we didn't want it to look tacky (handmade, not homemade, as my friend put it)---and were pretty happy with the results.

portraits, piggie, palm trees, and bottles

Originally uploaded by cignoh

i'm continuing to try to take a photo a day. it's hard to keep up---some days i feel like doing it more than other days. i ordered a camera bag to replace my purse and plan to carry my camera with me most of the time... i hope that will make it easier...

this odd little piggie

Originally uploaded by cignoh

today i made a stuffed pig. it's the 2nd stuffed animal/object that i've made, the first being a football. i think that i have a hard time picturing what something will look like in 3d as the piggie turned out to be very oddly-shaped and not at all like i pictured---supposed to be a round ball w/ 4 feet sticking on the bottom, and a tail behind him. instead, he is a little angular, lopsided, and oddly proportioned, but that's ok, i like him anyway. he will eventually be attached to a baby mobile (other people will be making other animals/shapes) and will be given as a gift to a friend who is expecting in june. he is about 4"Wx3"Lx4"D.

tired of piggies yet?

ok, we are probably sick of looking at the same piggies, but i took pics of them again 1. to practice using my new canon 20d that i inherited from my husband (he got a new one); 2. to try to combine the dark background from my first photo with the composition of my second (based on feedback from sukogirl); and 3. because i decided today that i'm going to start taking a photo a day along with my friend risakimu.

more pink piggies and skulls

i took more pics of the pigs in daylight: and another skull:

skull with pink bunny and piggies

i was having a crappy day today, so my husband surprised me with a piggie keychain that kind of matches the lighter he gave me before... when you press the button its head, 2 bright blue led beams shoot out of its nose. i don't recommend shining it in your face when you do that... yesterday, i tried to take a photo of a bunch of toy skulls that we have acquired, but i wasn't happy with the result. here is just one of them: