new lens

 Let me rephrase that. NEW LENS!!!!! My sweet husband gave me a lens off of my wishlist for Valentine's day and I have been having so much fun learning how to use it. These were taken with the Canon 85mm 1:1.8 lens.

This one is overexposed, but I like the composition. I have had to get used to how much light a lens that stops down to 1.8 can let in!

 I don't love the composition of this one, but I do love those chubby baby thighs!

 I took this jumping picture in the basement at night. I am impressed with this lens!

 Homemade granola bars before they were cut into squares

 Valentine roses from my love

This lens is so sharp. I love it!

birthday candles

 LIVE SNAP LOVE has a tutorial that I followed to take these photos of my daughter's birthday.

I wanted to practice before the real deal.

The boys were happy to help me get a few shots.

The real deal. I love how these turned out! After a combine 25+ years of kids' birthday parties I finally know how to take a candle picture. Yay! 

sunburst

I can't wait to play around with this technique some more and even include it in some of my lifestyle photography. 

Things to remember to create a sunburst effect:

*smaller aperture (ie-smaller than f/11)

*partially block sun with something

*don't look directly at sun through viewfinder. (ouch!)

reflection

I have been reading up on landscape photography, and while my focus will be on lifestyle, I would still like to learn the basics of how to take a good landscape photo. I don't own an ideal lens for landscape, so I debated on whether I should use my "nifty fifty" lens or my zoom lens for these and I decided to go with my zoom. They are not nearly as sharp as I envisioned, but I didn't use a tripod (which would have been helpful). I wanted to capture the reflection of the trees and the clouds on the lake in the late afternoon.

With the next two photos I was experimenting with something I learned: if the sky is lackluster the foreground should take up 2/3 of the frame and sky 1/3 and vice versa. I tried it both ways because the sky had some pretty cool clouds I wanted to capture and I also wanted to capture the reflection of the clouds on the lake.