Photography assignment #2

Well first off Am I the only one doing these? I really am enjoying it and I am learning a ton.

I kept my aperture on 1.4 for the first Liam's and Addy's, I had to adjust it for Olivia and Lizzy's because there was more light

Classic Addy Face

I know my focal point was more on her hair which was an accident, but I like how this picture looks

Intrestingly enough with these blondies I actually had to adjust, I think the light just reflects on their face/skin so it was actually too bright

Ratatouille

"Oh yeah, that Disney movie about the rat that wants to cook" is what your first thought was. However, I am talking about the French dish in which the rat was named...At least I assume that was his name, as I haven't seen the movie yet, and thus will probably be corrected on my pronunciation of it. So, Ratatouille is a dish of colorful nutritious fall vegetables cooked in a tomato herb sauce. And when I heard that if you just double the amount of vegetables you're eating, whatever that amount is, the result will be about 9 lbs of weight loss per year, I thought I might just give it a try. So I made it, adding seasoned chicken to the bottom of the baking dish to make a complete meal, baked it for 90 minutes (The recipe calls for 2 full hours), and it was suprisingly good. What's even better is that the leftovers tasted even better, as the flavors had time to really soak in (I was a little more generous with the spices that the recipe calls for, too). So, if you want a healthy, yummy meal to feed your family tonight, her is a link to the recipe I used, just click on Ratatouille. http://www.zonya.com/healthy_recipes.html

a while back I came up with an idea that has worked well for us for family home evenings. I was trying to figure out how to do conference talks as lessons in a meaningful way. I bought a note book for each person in the family even those who cant read or write and put their names on them then we watch a conference talk i have picked before hand while everyone takes notes in their notebook. then we take turns reading our notes and talking about the talks. it really works well. i keep the notebooks in a secure location so they are always available on family nights. the church has a website that is just the latest conference talks so I have it bookmarked and it is easy to pull up with very little prep.

Photography Lesson #2 Aperture or f/stop

Photography Lesson #2 Aperture or f/stop

Aperture refers to lens openings or a hole that opens up to let light into the camera. The smaller the f-stop or aperture number (say f/1.8, f/2.2 or f/3.2), the larger the lens opening is to let light in. So the larger the number (f/18, f/20 or f/22), the smaller the opening is.

The thing to remember about aperture is that the lower numbers give you less depth of field (or more blur) in the background and the wide open or higher numbers give you more depth of field (or less blur) in the background. So if you are shooting mountains you will want higher numbers. If you are shooting a child’s face you might want the lower numbers to blur the background.

Also the farther you are away from your subject the more depth of field you automatically have. So if you are shooting a football game from the stands with low light, go ahead and use a lower f-stop number to add more light into the scene because you are far enough away from your subject to still get clear shots. At 15 feet away, a child’s entire body will be in focus with an f-stop of 2.8, but if you move in closer to his face looking down and only couple of feet away, his face will be in focus but his body will be blurred. If you get really close you can have one eye sharp and one eye blurry.

Different lenses give you different f-stops. Fixed or prime lenses (that don’t zoom) are typically sharper and can give you lower f-stop numbers. My 85mm 1.8 lens will stop all the way down to f/1.8. My zoom 24-105mm will only stop down to f/4. So your ability to get more blur in the background also depends on what lens you have.

This picture of Joseph is shot with an ISO 400, f/1.8, and a shutter speed of 1/400. He is facing my south family room window with the front door behind him. Notice you can't even see the door because of the blur. There was a light blur in the upper right corner that was my front room window but I photo shopped it out. Notice that his arm is blurry because it is a little farther behind his face, where I focused.

Most point and shoot cameras have very little ability for less depth of field or blur, but they will give you great focus and distance shots.

Assignment: 

Set your ISO and then put your camera on A or Av which means aperture priority. This will let you pick the aperture and the camera will do the shutter speed. Set it to the lowest f-stop or aperture number. You will want a subject that is basically stationary for this assignment, a posing child or an object and you will want good lighting. Early morning or evenings are the best light in which to take pictures outside. Or if you want to do it inside, place your subject by or facing a bright window. Place your subject with some kind of background and move in close. You will want to focus on the same spot each time you take a picture. Then take a picture and write down in your notebook the ISO, Aperture or f/stop and the shutter speed. Move the aperture up a stop and take another picture and so on until you have taken pictures of all the f/stops on your camera and recorded them all in your notebook. You will see the background come into focus as you move your aperture or f/stops up. Post 2 or 3 of your favorites on the blog. 

Where are you Monica?

All right Monica, this whole thing was your idea and I haven't seen hide nor hair of you on here. Where are you and all the great things you want to share with us?

The Witness Couple

What started as a series of "coincidences" has turned into a quest for some kind of record. Back in July, Doug and I set a goal to attend the temple twice a month. In our previous 2 years of marriage when we attended Doug would always wishfully comment that he wanted to be the "witness couple" but sadly, we were always consigned to sit in the middle rows. In July, after our new goal was set, Doug was finally rewarded with us being asked to be the witness couple, and continues to be rewarded every time we go. Since then we have been asked to be the witness couple in every session we have attended, even in the St. George Temple when we were out there at Thanksgiving. At that point, we thought our streak had ended, as we showed up minutes before the session and joined in the chapel along with 100 or so other people. But No, picked from the middle rows of the chapel, Doug and I were asked to once again be the witness couple and the streak was kept alive. With it comes a certain celebrity status, a few sessions ago a woman came to me in the changing room at the Columbus Temple and mentioned that she and her husband who live in Pittsburgh, PA come to the temple each month and remembered us as the witness couple in their previous visit as well. Do not worry, we have not let our fame change us, in fact we are more determined to keep the streak alive.



Seriously, we are grateful for our opportunities to go to the temple, it brings us closer together as a couple, and being the witness couple is an extra joy in the temple. We hope all of you will attend regularly and feel the same joy, and one day, you might be famous like us.

Super Quick and Super Easy Cheesecake

The other day down at the Flat I fixed this for Sunday dinner and it wasn't one of my best but it was still quite yummy and I thought I would share it :)

Crust=
1 & 1/2 pkgs of crushed Graham Crackers
3TB of sugar
1/3 cup butter (melted)
Mix together and press into the bottom of a 9X13 pan and bake @ 350 for 10 minutes

Cheescake=
1/2 pint sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. sugar
12 oz coolwhip
1/2 tsp. vanilla

cream the sour cream and cream cheese together then add the rest of the ingredients.
Spread onto the baked crust and chill over night in the fridge (or you can flash freeze it if you're in a hurry)
Then top with your choice of fruit and sauce and ENJOY!

Don't have a wheat grinder?

As many of you know, I have an extremely intelligent 'gitterdone' handyman for a husband. A few years ago, he was aware of my daydreams of someday, when we could afford it, perhaps I just might have my very own wheat grinder to make some use of these buckets o' wheat we had in our budding food storage and be that ultimate homemaker that even grinds her own wheat to make her healthy homemade bread for her family every week. Well, so my wonderful husband had a few seconds on the internet before he discovered that a $30 coffee grinder does the very same work quite reliably as a $300 wheat grinder does, just in smaller quantities. I have ground wheat and all other grains in my little coffee grinder about every other week for two years now, to make my breads and other goods for my little family and it has never given me a single problem. When my family triples in size and, of course, when we can afford it, I just might upgrade to the wheat grinder, but until then, I am quite content with my little coffee grinder. The only downside to it perhaps would be the disclaimer you would have to give your Relief Society President when she saw it on your countertop...

So, I went to buy a few cake pans at the Bosch Kitchen Store in Orem, and they just happened to be having a class on grains and other healthy delights just as I walked in, so I sat down, and learned of a few great healthy tips. The guy giving the class was just a young guy, probably younger than me, but I sampled some of his treats, and they were great! I was introduced to things like Chia seed and sucanat and agave that will be great substitutes for the not-so-healthy things in my pantry. The recipes he used are all on his website, and I visit it regularly. Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://dc89vintage.blogspot.com

Butcher Boy

(I know I posted this on MY blog but thought I'd share for those who don't frequent it.)

See these hands?

they belong to this guy.

pretty much the sweetest grandpa

but did you know he own's one of these babies?

which rips apart these with ease

and want to know how long 1 beef takes to process

... 8 hours

it's hard work but worth it

especially when you get to hang with the butcher boy

Polite kids

I have been in Vernal this week helping my bed-rested sister in law.  On Monday I took the kids down stairs to play "red light green light", and, as usual, there were sad little kids that weren't as fast as the bigger kids.  My seven year old nephew suggested we play " Mother may I?" instead.  I had completely forgotten about this game.  The kids LOVED it ( we played for over an hour).  It didn't take long for the kids to "make" it possible for each kid to have a turn being it, and they always laughed  and shrugged their shoulders when they were caught moving before saying "Mother may I?".  So, for anyone who's tired of kids fighting in the house because it's too darn cold to go outside...may I suggest "Mother may I?" ?   ( And as a funny side note, the kids basically used "giant steps" and " baby steps", but for some reason when it was my turn to go, they would ask my to do " 11 cartwheels " or "15 cartwheels" almost everytime.   My nephew says I do "oompa-loompa cartwheels" :) )

A trip to Urgent Care

I really hate taking my kids to the doctor. Five out of six times they can't tell me anything I don't already know. But this morning Bella's breathing was just too scary so I called Joe home from work (at 6 am) and took her in to Urgent Care. Her oxygen levels were at 88%, so they gave her a breathing treatment and a steroid, which she responded to quickly. Xrays showed a general cloudiness of the lungs, which the doctor tells me is better than a centralized concentration. That would be an indication of pneumonia or other bacterial infection. So, in an effort to prevent that from developing, we're getting a nebulizer today and putting her on three prescriptions. I hate to have all the hassle and insurance issues, but I'm grateful for modern medicine, as imperfect as it is, so that my baby can breathe.

Travel to Caribbean

For anyone interested there are some great deals to fly to the Caribbean right now out of Salt Lake. I wish I could go but I thought I would share just in case some of you are interested. You can fly from Salt Lake to Puerto Rico (great for a Southern Caribbean Cruise) for $279 rountrip including taxes and fees. That's a great deal. Also fly between Salt Lake and Ft Lauderdale, FL for $61 each way. Plus there is a cheap Southern Caribbean cruise out of Puerto Rico for $359. Its the same cruise Cody and I just went on. It goes to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados. So you could do a Southern Caribbean cruise for flight and cruise for less than $1400 for 2 people. If you are interested you have to book within the next few days so let me know and I'll send you the links.

Shelley

Questions?

Did someone fix the header to be more clear? David and I have been trying unsuccessfully, but now all of a sudden the pictures are clear. Just wanted to know how you did it. also What is the font used on the post titles? I was trying to change the blog description font and can't figure out how.

Blog Design

If anyone has the time and desire to change the background and/or fix up our blog design, let me know and I'll make you an admin! Susie? Sondra? Anyone?

Also, whoever sees Hiedi and Monterey next needs to let them know to get signed up on the blog. I'll send them another invitation if they need it.

Thanks Angelyn, for putting the pictures together for our header. It looks great!

Hey, I just updated my cakes/mural site. www.flickr.com/photos/sondrasmurals

Free Photography Lesson's anyone? Photography lesson #1 – ISO

OK sisters, here it is. The first week's lesson. I will give you through all next week and try to remember to post the next one on Sunday the 23rd. Even if you don't have an SLR you should be able to do this lesson and some of the others. Happy Shooting!

Photography lesson #1 – ISO             Angelyn Bryce

The Exposure Triangle= ISO, Aperture or f-stop and Shutter Speed

ISO is the first thing you set before taking pictures. ISO used to be the speed of the film you bought. Now it is just another dial on your digital camera. It means sensitivity to the light. ISO numbers range from 100 to 1600 and above. The higher numbers are more sensitive to the light than the lower numbers. The problem with ISO is that the higher the ISO number, the more grain or noise you get in your picture (if you zoom in close you can actually see little dots in a grainy picture), so it helps to use as low an ISO number as you can. If you are in a low light situation you would want a higher ISO number such as 1200 and above. If you are out in the sun, you would use maybe 100 or 200. In the shade you might use 400.

Assignment:  

1-Get a little notebook that you can carry around easily with your camera.

2-Find a low light area in your home and put your camera on P mode or Auto but without flash. Set your ISO to 100 and take a picture of a subject. Write down the settings of Shutter Speed and Aperture that the camera chooses if you can. Then change the ISO to 200 and take another picture and write down those settings. Do this again until you have shot a picture of every ISO number. Notice that as you choose a higher ISO number, the camera will choose a higher Shutter Speed number and maybe even aperture because the camera has more light to work with. Your pictures should also be less blurry from camera shake at the higher numbers, but also may have more grain or noise.

3-Now find a well lit area (by a window) in your home and do the same exercise over again. You will notice that shutter speeds and apertures change but that most of your pictures are still pleasing because of all the light coming in from your window.
If you only have a point and shoot, then read your manual and figure out how to change ISO on your camera. I promise this will make a huge difference for inside pictures.

Post your favorite one on the blog.

ISO 400, f/4, 1/20

ISO 6400, f/4, 1/400

These are examples of ISO. Notice there is more camera shake or blur in the first but more noise in the second. Still the higher ISO is preferable and this shot actually had less lighting than the first. Also notice that the higher ISO is what aloud me to use a higher shutter speed which is what stops the blurring.  But that is in another lesson.

Modesty

So I saw the link to these I was laughing at first because the commercial was a little funny, but in reality everything they said makes sense and I've had those same problems with undershirts. Haven't got one yet but am thinking that I might, just thought I'd share.

The Peacegiver by James L Ferrell

I know that some of you have read this book already, but if it has been a while, I would recommend reading it again. I'm planning to. It is an easy read, but teaches several principles relating to the Atonement that should be internalized. I have mom's copy if anyone wants it.

Spray and Wash

I learned this wonderful formula from my Grandma. She testifies that it'll get almost anything out of your clothes.

1 cup Ammonia
1 cup dish soap
4 cups water


Spray on your clothing and let it sit for awhile before you put it in the washer. :)

Love,
Tia

The New Blog

Hey Everyone!
Monica came up with this great idea to find a forum so that we can share all of the great things we come across (books, ideas, products, cleaning methods, etc., etc.).... so here it is! You can also post questions or issues you are having to draw on all the sisters knowledge and resources. We want news and events too! In reality, we are currently only fifteen sisters, but Jared will eventually find us the sixteenth. Sorry this is so scattered, but I have to go get the kids ready for church. Happy blogging!