If at first you don't succeed....

Our neighbor has this tree in his yard that is absolutely gorgeous when it blooms. I had an image in my mind of a photograph that I wanted to take of this tree blooming, the incredible blue sky and one of my adorable, smiling children. I may or may not have been outside trying my hardest to pose my daughter on a stepladder in front of the tree trying to recreate the image in my head.

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The tree and the sky were the easy part. Throw a person into the mix and that is where the manual camera programming begins.

If I tried to expose Hailey correctly, the background totally washed out. Blue sky? Did someone say there was a blue sky today?

If I metered for the sky, then she was totally dark. Who is that in this photo? And yes, she does have a different outfit on in these two shots because I became obsessed and we tried to get this photo on a couple of different blue sky days. And for the record, she wasn't a very willing subject - not even with the candy bribe.

After numerous attempts and fiddling with every thing I knew how to work on my camera. I came up with the solution. I dialed back the exposure one notch (I think) and had to use my off camera flash with the cord. It worked great because I could light up Evan's face from the side and not wash out the blue sky. Oh - and I had to change my model. Evan was much more willing and he was especially excited that I let him climb up in the tree - Hailey was relegated to a step ladder for her modeling gig - not nearly as fun.

I was extremely happy with the results.

For this last one I don't know if I had the flash on or not. It may have been the regular camera flash. I know that the exposure was still dialed back. I thought it looked kind of different and cool.

I am hoping to get a new camera for my birthday at the end of the month. It will be a step up, and a different brand. I really want to start using a Canon again. My first SLR was a Canon Rebel and I loved it. When I went digital Trent bought me an Olympus DSLR which is a great camera and has served me well - I am just ready to step it up and want to go with one of the big guys. The only part about this that has me apprehensive is that I know what every button and knob on the Olympus does. On the Canon I will be starting nearly at step one all over again. That, and all the accessories that I have accumulated over the years will not be compatible with the Canon. I guess you have to start over again sometime.