Stars

This is my first attempt at trying to get the movement of the stars. I am no sure how long this exposure is but long enough to get quite a bit of movement. 

You will have to excuse the fake color of the sky and the lack of stars. Being in the city is not the greatest for these types of shot. (from what I have read anyway)

Sky

The Hunting Trip

Well I am back now, and I had a lot of fun. But I didn't really get to take a lot of pictures, especially of wildlife. We were so busy trying to put some meat in the freezer that I didn't get to take pictures from the stand.

But I did get some landscape photos. :)

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky until we were leaving, and I am really not a big fan of cloudless landscape pictures but I think these came out pretty well.

These last 4 were taken with my lensbaby. :) The more I use it the more I love it, it is an amazing little lens.

Please let me know what you think!

Using Flash in Outdoor Portraiture

Yes! I did indeed use a flash for these shots, and no I did not photoshop the background into the picture.

I used the flash to light my subject but had my shutter speed slow enough that it was open longer then the flash, thus allowing the ambient light to fill in. 

Inks Lake

Alright!!! I know this post has been a long time coming. Anyway these pics are from our trip to Inks Lake up near Austin, Texas. It is a beautiful place. 

So this was our first night at the state park and the view from out camping spot. These first 3 photos are long exposures, 20 to 30 seconds. 

So the second day we woke up and did our morning devotions and then I tried to get a reflection photo of a camp site across the water from us. I wish the water was more calm but it is what it is. :)

Mom doing her devotions.

Then later that day we went over to the Devil's Waterhole and jumped of the cliff! It was a ton of fun!!!

This is the cliff that we jumped off of. 

Then we went to one of the fishing piers so I could take some pictures.

Day 3 consisted of staying around camp for awhile then we went into Austin to se the Capitol! 

This was just 2 guys walking up the stairs and the light was crazy cool with the old looking stair rail. I really like this one.

The view from the front steps of the capitol.

Then the next day we went back to the Devil's Waterhole and I did some hiking.

The our las day came and after we got all packed up and hit the road we stopped at a scenic spot near the top of a hill and I snapped even more pictures. :) 

Now for some fun random pictures of our trip.
I know the quality of this video is not the greatest but that happened through the upload process and I can't fix it.... :(((

Also check back soon because I have a new post coming. We went to the Houston Fire Fest at the Firefighter Academy in Houston and I got some really cool picture. I will be posting them sometime Thursday. :)

Day 2 in Oklahoma -- The OSU campus

So day 2 of our Oklahoma adventure was going to OSU, where my older sister goes to school. It was really cool, but we went at like noon so lighting wise it wasn't the greatest. What better way to get use to a new camera, heh?

Now before we went to the campus my sister took us to her favorite little nicknack shop. It was weird to be walking through there at the end of summer and seeing the nativity scene setup. Being my bored self in shops like this I decided to take some photos of the scene.

Alright so after the nicknack shop we went to the campus. Now the coolest building on the grounds that I saw was the 5 story library. It has that old building feel to it, well actually it is old. It still has wooden widow frames, and the doors are super heavy. 

The Library

I think the one above and below are my favorite pictures of the library. What do you think?

The lighting inside the library is TERRIBLE so there wasn't a lot I could do but I did get one shot of some really old books.

So those are the library photos.  What do ya think? Which ones are your favorite? Is there anything I should of tried to do differently?

I don't know what this building is for now, but it use to be the old fire station. It was being remodeled on the inside so we couldn't go inside. :(

Then there was the fountain. Of course we got there at like 2 o'clock and the light was super bright. There were a few times that my eyes were watering from seeing the bright light through the camera. Ugh! Well a couple of days ago I kind of thought the slanted angle was cool, but now that I am looking at it again I am not so sure. It kind of looks like an accident. What do you think?

Next stop the OSU Basketball court! Man that's a lot of orange!! The steps to get up to the top a definitely some calf killers. They are super steep and small, but as a photographer I will make sacrifice for the shot. ;P

Now last but not least I will end with the OSU mascot. Pistol Pete!

So that was day 2 in Oklahoma. What do you think about my photos? 

Day 1 of Our Oklahoma Adventure

Mr. Sam Houston!! I would have like to do a better job with placement and such, but I was lucky to even get this one. I was in the back of the RV and my dad yelled "There's good old Sam."So I ran up grabbed the camera fell into the seat and snap this picture before we passed him. 

The Oklahoma border. I think we had been on the road for around 6 or 7 hours by this time. 

A little bit of HDR

The Oklahoma City Capital Building. Notice the indian on the top? 

Ok. So since we were going to be in OKC we checked Diner, Drive-ins, and Dives (One of our favorite shows on food network). Well it just so happened that Guy had been at a German food restaurant. It was really cool and I love the lens flare I got in this picture.

So that concludes day one of our Oklahoma trip. There's another 2 days left so stay tuned. :)