a bag of chips

A tutorial of sorts.

I love learning new things, whether those things are useful or not often is the question, but the other day I learned something pretty valuable and useful.  In the latest issue of Digital Photographer is an article on "Quick and Easy Editing Tricks".  I took a look through what they had to say and that's when I saw their little tutorial on Resizing for Web or Email. 

Holy smokes. 

What a difference this has made in the quality of the images I post to the internet.  So, just in case I'm not the last person in the world to have figured this out, try this the next time you post a photo to your blog or attach a photo in an email:

"Resize your image to 72 dpi and 500 pixels at the long side.  Be sure that Constrain Proportions, Resample Image and Scale Styles are checked.  Then in the Resample Image dialog box select "Bicubic Sharper" from the drop-down menu."  (These instructions are for CS2 or PSE, but perhaps the steps would be similar in other photo editing programs.) 

Your image will be teenie tiny but when uploaded to the old bloggity it looks clear and sharp and much better than they had been looking.  Apparently, in the realm of the World Wide Web, bigger is not better.  How is it that after all this time I didn't know this?

Before, uploading a full-size image:

After, using The New Way:

The real differences for me are in the time it takes for me to upload photos, and that when you click on the photos the image isn't so huge that you need a screen the size of Colorado to view it.   

This old dog is waggin' her tail tonight.

Growing up.

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the delightful benefits of being a photographer is watching families and babies grow.  Case in point:

From this:

To this:

To this:

Enjoy your sneak peek, Mari and Bill!

But I'm not complaining. Really.

Not much has changed since two posts ago.  I'm still up to my chin hairs eyeballs in holiday photo editing and it'll be wrapped up in about a week.  Check out my photoblog for recent session faves.

Since early October, I've had 19 sessions, including three newborn sessions and two mini-session "parties".  That might not seem like a whole lot, but considering I really only do sessions on weekends, well, you do the math.  And since I only have the chance to edit photos during baby's naptime and after the kids' bedtime, well, I've kinda been burning the candle at both ends lately.

I've learned a lot this year about what it's like to be a photographer today.  I've learned that sometimes it's not possible to do all the things I want to and need to do and do them all well.  I've learned that I've been spending way too much time away from my family and I miss them.  So I look forward to taking the majority of December off (save for a newborn shoot this coming weekend and two sessions just before Christmas).  Which means I'll have more family time, more scrapping and blogging time, and catch-up-on-my-sleep time, and time to clean and organize and, well, I've got plans, doncha know.

But I'm not complaining really.  I haven't ever loved working as much as I've enjoyed being a photographer.  I love connecting with people on that level, peeking into their lives and into their souls and capturing that on film (well, not film, but "on CF card" doesn't sound as romantic).  I've loved watching wee clients grow and thrive.  I've loved seeing friends become parents and watching families grow.

So, now about what's been going on with us.  Aidan has lost his first tooth and another is planning it's escape.  Makena can write damn near all of her letters, big and little, and is addicted to the new swing set/clubhouse/play structure in our backyard.  She can swing all by herself now.  And Miss Nadia has eight teeth and currently favors cooked carrots and sweet potatoes.  She can sign "all done" and "more" and calls both me and her bottles "mama".  They are all so damn adorable and delicious.

Chris has been unbelievably supportive and understanding.  And, in thanks and in honor of our 7th anniversary this weekend, we're heading to the Hotel del Coronado on Friday night for some kidless adult time to do kidless adult things.  Ahem.

And I decided a few weeks ago that I am over with being over 200 lbs and have started a new plan.  We are going to Trinidad in January, and then CHA is in early February, and then in April, the fabulous Jamie and Chris Waters will be taking our family portraits.  I want to look good for all these things.  I want to lose about 30 lbs.  More is great, but 30 would be perfect.

Okay.  So, now you know what we've been up to.  I hope to catch up again with more photos in the next week or so. 

Peace and love.

Babylicious.

So, remember the newborn shoot I did with my new 24-70 2.8L lens?

You can view a few more here.

Busy as a...

...one-armed paper hanger.

...one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

...photographer during Holiday photo season.

Yes, life has been quite crazy these past few weeks and it ain't about to slow down anytime soon.  And I'm not complaining, mind you, just excusing myself for having been an absent blogger the past week. 

Today is my darling mother's birthday.  She's a young 56 today.  My mom is an incredible woman who rarely misses a chance to help someone out or spend time with her five grandkids.  She's hugely active in her church and is an avid reader and movie lover.  She's also a wiz at Speed Scrabble* and my favorite opponent.  She's beautiful and loving, gentle and kind, creative, caring and supportive.  She's done more for me and my brother than humanly possible, and much of that she did as a single parent.  She's incredibly smart and funny and very nearly almost always upbeat and smiling.  If I am half the mother she has been to me then I would still be a great mother.  She is amazing and I am so proud to be her daughter.

This is my mom with my neice, Corin.

Aidan had a fun birthday party with a smattering of friends and a jumper.  San Diego was still reeling from the fires so the party was small and intimate and fun.  We had pizza and lots of candy and chips.  The hit of the party were the silly glasses in the goodie bags.

We had a great Halloween.  Birthday boy Aidan was Spiderman.  But he forgot his Spidey mask at school so instead he wore a girlie knitted hat complete with Heidi-esque yarn braids.  Makena was a princess/ballerina and Nadia, my sweet little seedling, was a flower.  We had my mom and Nadia's birth mother and birth siblings over for the trick-or-treating festivities.  We gave out lots of candy to hordes of kids who were looking entirely too old to be trick-or-treating.

Aidan is now five and has enjoyed his first piece of gum and his first soda.  He spit the gum out within minutes and after the first few sips of Sprite he was begging for water.  He hasn't asked for either since.  He continues to improve in school and we're so dang happy about that.  I can't believe I've raised a child to the age of five.  And we both survived. 

And Miss Nadia is thirteen months old now and oh so close to walking.  She'll stand on her own and dance and clap, sometimes for nearly a whole minute before sitting or falling down.  The girl dances like Elvis and claps with surprisingly good rhythm.  She signs "more" and "all done" and says "mama" and "ny-ny" for goodnight. 

I got some new lenses to add to my ever-growing collection, including my first "L" series lens.  The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, which I bought from Amazon, is a beautiful, heavy lens.  Attached to my 5D camera, I'm tempted to wear wrist braces to prevent injury with working with this bad boy.  I also have a EF 100mm/2.8 macro USM which I bought for newborn photography and for fun with nose hair and flowers.  I bought this lens from B&H Photo. I used both for a newborn shoot I had just yesterday and I am so excited to get a good look at how everything turned out.

I'm also heading over to IKEA after picking The Bigs up from school today to buy some new storage for my studio/converted garage/spider haven. I'm considering an Expedit unit for organizing all my crap stuff valuable and prized crafting supplies, magazines and books off the floor and work tables and into a verticle storage system.  I find that when I'm busier than a box of tissues at a chick-flick festival I become hyper aware of how disorganized (read: messy) I am and how much it really bothers me.  And I'm sure it bothers my neat-o freak-o hubby.  It's time to an overhaul of my space.  So, while I will probably not be sharing any "before" photos (but if it would make you feel better to see just how messy I am, well, I might reconsider), I will be sharing "afters" and how the re-org is working for me.

*Speed Scrabble - Played with the tiles only, this speedy and fun word game is one of my faves.  You build your own words crossword style rather than build off another player's word.  How to play:  Turn all the tiles letter-side down.  Divide tiles equally among up to four players.  Then gather five tiles from your pile and place in front of you.  On the word "go" all players turn over their letter tiles and attempt to make a word or connecting words with the five tiles.  Then once a player has accomplished this, he/she says "go" again and it's time to draw two more tiles from your pile.  Every time a player has used his drawn tiles in his puzzle, he shouts "go!" again and everyone draws two more tiles.  Again, the goal is to make connecting words using only your own tiles, drawn two at a time.  Once a player has used all his tiles and his word puzzle is complete, he/she yells "done!" in a really unsportsman-like way and then gloats at his/her brilliance.  It's addictive and fun and takes much less time than regular Scrabble, hence the clever name of this game.  Sound like fun?  Clear as mud?

So, for a glimpse at what's been keeping me busy these last few weeks, besides birthdays and three kids, head on over to tcphotography.

Thanks for stopping by!