A Father’s Day gift

My husband is away for work overseas and won’t be back until middle of next week, so that means, he won’t be able to celebrate his first Father’s Day with us. I have been thinking of what to give him to “celebrate” this event on the special day itself, so I came up with the idea of doing a portraiture photo shoot of our son and email the compilation in slideshow format over to him. He loved it and I’m so glad he did!

ians-portrait-slideshow-wordpress-copy.ppt

[UPDATE]

Okay, here are the photos in the powerpoint file which I broke it down into individual files. Thought I could upload the .ppt file into WordPress’s public server, but… Anyway, here you go:

Song sparrow

The song sparrows have been frequent visitors to my backyard these days, eating seeds off the ground dropped by the scrub jays which eat messily from the bird feeders above. One of those days while I waited patiently for these birds to come, I managed to capture this picture of the song sparrow perching on our fence for a whole 2 minutes. I love this picture not only because I managed to capture and “freeze” the wings-flapping and feather-fluffing action, but also the expression this tiny bird exude from its eyes. Personally, I think it seems to carry an air of pride for its beauty. What an attitude!

Seagulls

Took these photos when we went to the beach during the recent Mother’s Day weekend. The flying seagull photo was just a lucky shot – no fancy lens was used (everything in auto mode, hand-held)!

      

  

My favorite flower

Gerbera daisies have always been my favorite flower. I love their vibrant colors and today, I had the opportunity to buy them from a gardening center, where they had a sale. Took some practice shots of the blooms before they wilt, and when I uploaded the photos into my computer, I realized I forgot to dust some dirt off the petals (see the close-up pic).

    

Free online tutorials

I was searching for some D-SLR cameras online when I came across this UK website (www.dcmag.co.uk). I have seen its magazine in a Borders store last year and the book copy itself contained a wealth of review information on several newly released digital cameras (both point-and-shoot and SLRs) as well as some photography tips of the month. But what I wish to highlight is its online website, which sets aside a section for tutorials covering most of the essential tips that aspiring photographers like me ought to know. So here it is:  http://www.dcmag.co.uk/Vital_Skills.aN_XJz4.html

Have fun reading!

Unit 1 tutorial

Last Friday, I received my bonus 8 coffee table-style books on photography from NYIP and another 1 booklet of postcards on photographs by Ansel Adams. Then just yesterday, I received my Unit 1 tutorial package… yippee! In this 1st unit, I’ll be learning the basics: Eye Of The Photographer, Camera & Lens and How To Use Your camera. After studying this Unit, I’m required to submit some photo projects based on the school’s requirements for the teachers to review my progress.

Spring Tulip Festival 2007 (Part 2)

We went to the tulip farm again yesterday morning (Easter Sunday), but unfortunately we didn’t manage to catch the launching of the hot air balloons. According to the tulip farm’s website, there were 6 balloons launched at around 7am, so I missed a good photo opps there… too bad! Well, I just have to content with these shots of mine instead: