i love iGoogle

I recently discovered something amazing. Something that is going to revolutionize my life.

I'm already dreaming about what I'll do with all the free time I'm going to save myself. My closets will be clean. My photos will be organized. My marketing plan for the year will be finished.

The clouds will part. A chorus of angels will sing and a beam golden light will shine down on my world.

I have discovered iGoogle. Matter of fact, I'm typing this blog post from my iGoogle home page. Not only can I post to my blog... but I can tell you it is 28 degrees outside, thousands are fleeing Fargo as floodwaters rise, 13 people visited my blog yesterday and our niece is playing volleyball tomorrow morning.

I have a new best friend.

The big burn

I had the opportunity to tag along at a prescribed fire yesterday. It was fascinating. Here are a few photos from the day...

Shakin' it up

I feel like throwing my hands in the air and saying "Ta DA!"

What do you think of the new look? It's the result of a favor I asked of some of my closest family and friends.

My "day" job is marketing communications, so I know the importance of branding your business. The workshop I went to last fall taught me that in the world of photography it's more important to brand... yourself.

Me? Well, that's interesting.

Try putting who you are and what you're about on paper. I started three separate notebooks and nursed half a dozen migranes. After scribbling out pages and pages, I chucked my sharpie. This was tough.

I was making it far too complicated. Who better to tell me how they see me, than those who know me best. My own focus group if you will. The verdict... I'm a blue/green person.

Since I can't hire a graphic designer to custom design a blog for me, I've been searching for the perfect blogger template. And realized it doesn't exist. But... I think this is pretty close. Minus the ugly orange Pyzam banner at the top. I don't plan on changing it until I can have a stellar site designed to my specs, so I had to like it... a lot.

Hope you do too!

It's all white

Photoshop is so much fun. One photo....

...turns into four.

Ahh, but would you believe me if I said all of these photos are straight out of the camera? I didn't touch them with photoshop... at all. Didn't even open the program. No lie.

I took these photos using the same shutter speed and aperture. The only difference...

White balance. Different types of light have a different tint to them. That tint can affect the colors in your photo. To accentuate the difference, I shot these on my white kitchen counter top.

Almost every camera has built in white balance settings. Sunshine, shade, fluorescent, and tungsten. Pick the setting that best matches your environment. There's even an "auto white balance."

The best option is always "custom" white balance. Fill your frame with something white - in the light you'll be shooting in - and take a picture. Select custom and then pick the photo you just took. That's the only way you can guarantee correct color.

But finding something white (unless you carry a note card in your camera bag - hint, hint) can be tough. Not to mention setting custom white balance takes awhile. Generally auto white balance is pretty safe. It'll get you pretty close, and doesn't take any time to set up.

Happy white balancing!

Rain, rain...

...go away! The weather has - well, had - been phenominal lately. Course the weekend I want to do some shooting it rains. And rains. And rains. I was so bummed. Turns out it was a great thing. Forced me to try a little harder.

But after the rain stops, it leaves behind puddles. And they make for some really interesting photos. Reflections are so cool!

Gus becomes more interesting too...

Have a great week!

Laugh at yourself

I got a text from my niece the other day. They got a new puppy, and I’m oh-so-excited for them. Their dog Chase passed away right before Christmas. Anyway, back to this text. At the bottom was my niece’s signature. (Never mind that I didn’t even know you could add a signature to your text messages.)

Allie <3 volleyball
Less than 3. Umm….huh?

I wish I could say I only stared at it for a few seconds before I realized what it meant. Oh, no…it was like five minutes. When it finally dawned on me, I burst out laughing.

Just like yesterday. At 3 pm I realized I hadn’t brushed my teeth. I climbed out of bed and built myself a little cocoon on the couch. I only moved to switch dvds. I didn’t take a shower, didn’t even change out of my pjs. I’d been fighting a cold the past few days and decided Sunday was my self diagnosed rest day. I pulled the covers over my head and giggled at my lazy self, which was immediately followed by a wave of guilt for doing nothing all day.