Thursday, March 15, 2012

Cabin Fever Camera Experiments

Boy who I live with...and kinda like...just a little...;) okay, a lot, decided to jump on the DSLR train a few weeks ago. I've had a Canon EOS XSi since graduating from grad school in 2009...and he has slowly been monopolizing it. When he realized that he wanted to do video (which the XSi does not have), the "Great-Camera-Selection-Saga-of-2012" began! As he was secretly researching behind my back after I was asleep, I was only consulted for the final selection which came down to a Canon EOS 7D or 5D....with the final rose being awarded to the 7D! (Sorry for the bad Bachelor reference, but I couldn't resist.) Anyway, back to the saga...after many trips to all of the local camera stores in our area resulting in testing, purchasing, returning, and exchanging various equipment...I can now say that we are the proud commandants of an army of lenses, (including a macro lens which is my favorite) tripods, filters, bags, flashes (okay, only 1 flash), chargers, memory cards, batteries, etc, etc, etc. I am glad that he stuck with a Canon so we can share just about all of the new stuff he added to our camera artillery. Bonus for me!)

We have been setting up still-life's in our house and trying to get out of the house as much as possible to take pictures and learn about all of our new stuff. I've had my camera for 3 years and honestly haven't learned ANY of the technical aspects of it. I've always taken my photos based on "feel", not technical knowledge, so now is my chance to learn. Here are a few snaps:

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Shot with my new Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro...still trying to get the hang of focusing a Macro lens

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Princeton Boat House at Night, shot with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

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Canon EF 17-35mm f/2.8L or Sigma Lens

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Macro lens STRIKES again! I love the watercolor vibe of this photo.

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And lastly, boy who I love, setting the scene!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Dry-Erase your Entire House!






















































Dry erase paint...giving me visions of drawing on EVERY surface of my house!



I know there is chalkboard paint, but I can't stand chalk dust and the way it dries up my hands...If this dry-erase paint from IdeaPaint.com really does work, I will definitely have to put this into my mental file of things I have to do when I am finally not renting. It looks like it only comes in white right now, so they'll have time to develop it in colors by the time I can afford a house. Now all I need is some odorless dry erase markers, so future home will not smell like a toxic wasteland.