Random pictures and stuff

I realized that I haven't been posting too many pictures lately on this blog (or any blog for that matter) and I was trying to figure out why.

First, I haven't been taking very many pictures at all. Even with my amazing new camera, you'd think I'd be out everyday with it huh? Well, I think I go in spurts and since the boys are pretty sick of playing "mamarazzi" (me chasing them down with the camera) and I haven't had any appointments, the camera has just been sitting around. Sad I know.

Second, I really need some help in the photo-storage/organization/uploading/blogging department. Seriously. It is ridiculous how many steps it takes for me just to get a few pictures loaded to the blog. Plus, my system for storing them on the computer does not seem very efficient. Start to finish this is what it takes. I take the pictures with my camera (duh), I plug in my card to the computer, put them into a folder in Elements (which I never use), open Lightroom and upload them there, process the good ones and flag them, export the flagged ones to another folder (after making them smaller files), upload those to Flikr or photobucket, and then finally copy the code from the Flikr photos to paste in the blog post. Like I said- RIDICULOUS! I know I could post directly from Picasa and I do that when I want to be quick, but it only allows 4 photos and they are too small in my opinion.

Anyway, enough about that. My point is that I have been a bad picture poster lately and am looking for short-cuts to make things easier- especially since I want to blog while we're in Korea.
Any suggestions would be welcome. :-)

So, since I made such a big deal about pictures, I can't write this post without any can I?!

Yesterday, we went out to Randy's parents who live in the country. I decided to bring my camera and practice some of the things I have been trying to learn about photography.
I was very proud of myself that every photo taken was in manual mode! (most were of flowers, but hey it's a start!) I am determined to get better before Elliana comes home, so I can get good shots of her first days with us. A few of them I post-processed in Lightroom with some pre-sets from Rebecca. Go to her site- her images are just gorgeous and she does some amazing things with photoshop and lightroom. There are so many wonderful photographers that inspire me, but it is the ones like her and Jessica who inspire me the most because they are just regular moms who have a passion for capturing beauty around them, especially their children, and they do an AMAZING job of it!

Ok, on to the pictures.

I love this one of Jensen. I did not crop it at all- he just likes to get close! I used Rebecca's cream with chocolate preset.


My niece Makenna being silly


With the Vintage Wash pre-set:




My nephew Noah. I call this one "Gas me Up." (you can barely see the gas pump in the backround)



This is our dog Biscuit. She is a hunter by nature and a bit crazy. In this picture, she is standing on her hind legs trying to reach up and look into a bird's nest. It is straight out of the camera.

Then the kids decided to put her in the little car for a ride. This is the faded olive preset.


I call this one "The Partridge Family"


It was a gorgeous day yesterday.



Grandma had made a delicious lemon cake for dessert



And then the sun began to set in the distance


I thought this was a cool shot of the RR sign.
Believe it or not this is SOOC:


And I thought it looked neat with a little post-processing as well. This was Rebecca's dusk and then Faded Olive.



More to come later! Have a wonderful Lord's day!