Belly, Baby, Boy.

I just had to update this post from one year ago.

June 2009:

June 2010:

June 2011:

Tiny Photo Books and Big Travel

I'm leaving soon on a long journey with Julio!  He and I are going to my brother's wedding in Switzerland.  It will be Julio's first time on an airplane, train, and even in a taxi, and I am so excited about sharing the many adventures ahead with him.

                                                                             The last time I flew: with Joe & Diego in '05

I am a little bit less excited about the 17 hours of airplanes and airports between here and there (and then again a week later when we come home!)  Julio is generally a mellow little guy who likes to stick close to Mama, but I know that this trip will be asking a lot of him.  I need some small, quiet things that will entertain my little 22-month-old travel companion.  I have crayons, a new cup, a favorite blanket, snacks and some small toys.  What else do I need?

After making those tiny blank books the other day, I saw this description on Elsa's book blog of why miniature books became popular in the late 19th Century: "One could carry a vast number of books in a small case for when one travelled."

A light bulb went off!  These would be fun to have on the plane, and they are TINY!  I quickly made some miniature photo books to stash in my backpack.  One has family portraits, one has pictures from our last camping trip, and one has pictures of Julio doing all sorts of things that he loves doing at home.  I made lots of them!  They were so quick to make, and I used packing tape to laminate the pages before I folded and glued them, so they look like tiny, glossy magazines.

What else do I need for traveling with a toddler?  I asked some mom friends who travel a lot, and the advice I've gotten so far is this:

     "Bring one new thing for every hour on the plane.  They can be simple things like a new cup, book or spoon."

     "Bring lots of snacks."

And my favorite, so far:

     "Hand out earplugs and cookies to the people around you as soon as you sit down, 'cause you're going to need some friends!"

I'm really hoping that I'll get some payback for all of the times that I offered to hold and entertain young travelers when I was flying solo.  Have you traveled alone with a little one?  Got any advice for me?

Fill Light

I thought that you might enjoy this little photo trick from behind the scenes yesterday, when I was taking pictures of the can lids for my memory game post.

Here was my first attempt at photographing the stack of can lids:

It was on the floor in front of a big window, and I liked the backlight on the stack and the floor, but the front of the stack was too dark and I wanted you to see more details so that you could tell what it was.  It needed some fill light, which just means light that brightens up the shadows without changing the main lighting.

An easy way to make fill light is to use some sort of reflector.  I often just hold a plain white piece of paper for fill on something small like this, but in this case, I grabbed a book that was sitting nearby and propped it open to use the white pages inside for my reflector.

Now you can see a white highlight on the side of the stack, which gives it more detail and definition:

Using a reflector for fill light is a simple trick, but it can be very useful when you're using back or side lighting, or have too much contrast on your subject.

I hope you found this illuminating!

Photos From My Minivan

Street photography has changed for me since I moved to Los Angeles.  Now, there is often a bit of my rear view mirrors showing as I catch a glimpse of LA-style life on the streets.  Here are some of the many pictures that I took through the window of my minivan in 2010:

More Preschooler Portraits

Here are a couple more of my recent favorites:

(Click on them to view larger)

Preschooler Portraits

I love taking portraits of preschoolers.  I prefer to photograph these kids spontaneously when they are in the middle of their day.  That way they are both busy and relaxed and are wearing their everyday clothes and hairstyles.  Sometimes they are even in costumes, or there is paint or food on their faces.  They usually look at the camera and give me a practiced "Cheese" smile, but if I wait just a minute or two, it goes away and something real happens.  Sometimes I try to warm them up by asking them questions or joking around with them.  If I am lucky (and quick), I can catch them in one of those magic moments, and in their portrait we will see a glimmer of their future adult selves or a fleeting expression of genuine emotion.

Hummingbird Resting, Grooming, Gone

Nature Imitates Nature

More to Explore

Extension Tubes

Do you know about Extension Tubes?  They are tubes that fit between your lens and camera body, and they are a fairly inexpensive way to give your lenses a macro effect.

As you can see, they really are just tubes.  There is no glass in them, but they have electronic contacts so that the camera and lens can still communicate with each other for exposure and auto focus.  Mine are made by Kenko, and I got them at B&H Photo many years ago.

Here are some examples of what they can do.  (You can click on any of the photos to get an enlarged view.)  This tiny mushroom was on my front lawn:

This is a full frame of the closest I could possibly get to it with a 50mm macro lens:

Here it is the full frame after I added a 36mm extension tube:

And again:

Here's another tiny mushroom (you can see the blade of grass for scale):

And the entrance to an earthworm burrow:

As you see, they can give your photos an ethereal quality, with a very, very shallow focus.  When you use them, you need to be extremely close to your subject and hold your camera very still, so they're not ideal for taking pictures of anything that moves.  But, if you happen to be well on your way to becoming the world's greatest tiny mushroom photographer... you might enjoy playing around with these!

Macro

A friend asked me for some advice about macro lenses, and I took these pictures this afternoon to show her what a 50mm macro photo looks like.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

These were both shot with a Canon 50mm macro lens at f/2.5, and the focus was set to be as close as possible to the subject, so this is as tight as one could possibly make the frame and keep focus.

With a 50mm macro lens, you have to be a lot closer to your subject than you do with an longer (higher number) lens.  I tried to photograph a fly, but it flew away before I got the shot, because I got too close.  Sometimes I like shooting these kinds of pictures with a zoom lens at around 100mm because I can stand a little farther away, and the shot still looks just as close.  But, a 50mm lens is very versatile, and wider shots (like portraits) that are not macro look really good with this lens.

It is fun to shoot with the lens at the widest aperture setting, because the part of the picture that is in sharp focus is so narrow.  You have to be very precise with your focus, and this makes the part in focus really pop out.  It also makes it harder to get the exact shot you want if you or your subject are moving.

I know some of you will find this post incredibly boring, but if you made it this far... sorry, you're a photo nerd -or- congratulations, you're a photo nerd in training!