Q&A {answers to random questions}

Well, I am attempting to answer a few of the questions you’ve been asking recently:

Any ideas where I can get those beakers? I got mine from a guy named Skeeter (see another use for them here). It was a random find, but you can find similar spice jars at home stores.

Do I have to have Photoshop to make those letters? Yes. It is a simple Photoshop template. I don’t know how you would create them without Photoshop other than cutting photos.

Is 09.01.01 your wedding date: Yep!

Did your frames come with glass and velvet matting? Glass – yes, Velvet-not sure…they were a gift from Natasha

Can I move in with you? How well do you handle organized chaos?!

Where is that blue dress from? It is actually grey…from Dillards nearly 2 years ago!

Where is her quilt from? My aunt Sandy made it. It is out of Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric.

Where is her blanket from? My mom made it…no idea on the fabric. Sorry.

Where is her apron from? I got it at The Christmas Gathering store in November. I tried finding it online, but can’t.

What is your favorite playdoh recipe?

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tablespooons cream of tartar

1 cup water

food coloring

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Combine it all, cook in a skillet over medium heat, stirring the whole time. When it forms a ball, remove and knead it.

Where are her pillows from? The raspberry pillowcases are from Target (2 years ago). I wrapped a panel of tangerine Amy Butler fabric around them. The others I made from Amy Butler fabric.

How big is that letter “B”? It is about 9 inches tall.

Love your jeans. What are they? Gap clearance rack a few years ago…rolled up dorky like so I didn’t get mud on them 🙂

Are a lot of your photos out of focus when you use a shallow depth of field? Yes and No. Using a shallow depth of field like above (f/1.8) takes practice for sure. The farther you are from your subject the higher your chances of getting things in focus…the closer you are to the subject the more likely you’ll get more out of focus. I rarely shoot a moving subject (like a kid) at f/1.8, but in this case I had great lighting (fast shutter speed) and a good distance for what I wanted to capture. The more you practice at shallow depth of fields the less often you’ll get out of focus shots.

I find a hard time determining if something is in focus or not when I look through my lens. Why is that? First check your diopter (read this link).  From there it matters if you are shooting in automatic focus or manual focus. I basically never use manual focusing. I use the lens auto focus…thus can hear a little “beep” when things are in focus.

Can you tell us what you used to edit these lovelies of your babies? I import all photos into Adobe Lightroom. I use Lightroom for batch editing and organizing everything. I do additional tweaking and prepare for web in Photoshop CS4.

Where did you find the Wonder Woman shirt? Old Navy last summer.

How do you keep your photos from being ‘dragged’ and copied online? It is just a safety feature that is part of my ProPhoto blog template.

White balancing: do you leave it at Auto or adjust accordingly? I leave it on Auto 99% of the time. I do make minor adjustments in Adobe Lightroom if needed.

What is the exposure for the photos above? I’m not sure exactly what you mean by this question. I do set my exposure meter on my camera to be ‘overexposed’ just a bit because I find that is tends to be underexposed for my taste otherwise. The settings for the actual photos are included on that post.

Would you mind sharing why you like the 85mm f/1.4 lens? It takes beautiful portraits. It is sharp. It can capture gorgeous bokeh (blurry part of image). I like prime lenses (meaning you can’t zoom in and out) because it forces me to be more creative than just stand there turning my hand.

If you had to choose between the 24-70 and the 24-105 lenses, which would you choose? If you are talking about the 24-70mm f/2.8, I would choose it for the ability to shoot at f/2.8 (blurry backgrounds that I like).

If you could only buy ONE camera lens for everything, but mostly everyday shots of your kids, which would you choose? The 24-70mm f/2.8 (see answer above).

I have always wondered if you photoshop every image you post on here, the colors and clarity are always on spot! Yes. Sometimes it is very minor, like re-sizing and sharpening for web. Other times I have more time and play with more dramatic actions and so on. I do typically adjust the Curves (contrast) on most photos I post online.

Are we supposed to clean our cameras? Yes! Especially if you like to change out your lenses. I am going to get into the habit of having my camera professionally cleaned once a year. It isn’t cheap, but it is surprising how much it affects the clarity of your pictures.

Well that’s a lot of Q&A….and it was all very random!