Last weekend, Michael and I took a drive out to Mount Usher Gardens to visit some new (and newly engaged!) friends. We had a fantastic morning and I’ll be writing more about it for you soon.

But for now, I thought I’d share my favorite trick my fun, fancy camera can do. Close ups! I dug out my manual, and I have the best of intentions of finding my way around the camera (just like Kara!) but for now, I’ll settle for something I think I’ve managed to get the hang of.

{pretty blue hydrangeas – you can’t tell here, but the petals were just enormous!}

{I love cosmos – must add them to the garden next year. They’re so cheery!}

{I don’t know what this guy is called, but I liked him. So vibrant red!}

{and one more cosmo for good measure!}

Last week, in a wild fit of productivity, I whipped up this pretty sea glass artwork for our bedroom. We have an awkwardly shaped (and tiny) bedroom and the wall opposite our bed was crying out for something to liven it up, but it took me a while to decide what it was going to be.

This sea glass art is exactly what it needed. Calming and pretty, not small, but not overwhelmingly big, and best of all it used up some of my stockpile of sea glass! I banned myself from collecting any more sea glass until I found a use for some of it. So, moratorium over! Yippee! Sea glass collecting is one of my absolute favorite things. It drives Michael nuts.

We have a kind of celery green and khaki/beige/cream thing going on in our bedroom, so I chose mostly yellow-y green pieces of sea glass for this project.

I’m hoping it looks a little more complicated than it actually was. In reality, it was pretty quick and simple. Here’s how I did it if you want to try it yourself!

Supplies:

Shadow box frame (I picked ours up at Ikea)
Craft glue
Sea glass
Thick paper, poster board or canvas (you don’t want the weight of the sea glass to pull the paper down)

Steps:

Take the mat out of the frame and glue the poster board or canvas to the back of it with craft glue. Arrange your sea glass on the canvas in the design you like. Glue each piece, one by one, and wait for the whole thing to dry overnight. (I didn’t wait until it was totally dry, stood it up, and half the sea glass slid down the canvas. Grrrr. It’s hard, but try to be patient.) Then put the mat and sea glass back in the frame and hang it up! It’s that easy!

It’s a really hard spot to photograph because our bedroom is so tiny! But there’s a shot in the reflection of my wardrobe mirror. Yes, that’s me. And yes, I stick my pinky out when I’m focusing my camera. It’s odd. And yes, those are purple pants I’m wearing. Seemed like a better idea at the time.

One of the highlights of my trip to Austria was a lovely lunch and wine tasting on the side of a mountain. The woman who runs the restaurant and guest rooms is the top sommelier in Austria, Anne Marie Foidl. She’s the kind of woman, when you meet her you just want to be her. Gorgeous, smart, beautiful accent and plain old nice.

She runs this incredible old mountain hut with a huge deck overlooking the Alps. We ate fresh cheeses and spreads and meats and breads looking out on an incredible, vast view. The food was incredible – all local and home made and in season. And the presentation was gorgeous – pretty glasses and napkin holders and table cloths. The platters of food were all decorated with mountain wildflowers. Just beautiful.

{The view from the deck!}

{Aren’t those the sweetest seats? What a lovely place to sit and enjoy the view!}

{Even the window boxes were perfect – I’d love to find some old wine boxes to plant geraniums!}

{I may have brought home a few of these pretty porcelain napkin holders – with permission, of course!}

{A whole bowl of pretty napkin holders!}

After lunch, she led us downstairs to the wine cellar, the hallways were lit with candles and the walls were lined with dusty wine bottles. We tried four wines and learned so much about Austrian wines. I was so smitten I even brought back a few bottles!

{The sommelier herself, in traditional dress}

{Dramatic lighting in the wine cellar.}

{Isn’t that an awesome moose candelabra?}

{And this clock might have been my absolute favorite in the whole cellar. Good thing I didn’t take it home too!}

Good morning, darling readers! Kara is joining us every Tuesday this month to share her fabulous photo tips. Here’s last week’s! Thanks, Kara!

Hello From China Village Readers! I hope you enjoyed last week’s tip on moving around your subject to get a variety of images.

This week we’ll be looking at sunlight and how to use it to get the best images of your subjects. I’ll be showing some of my images below and pointing out what was BAD and what was GOOD with my use of light.

As a photographer, light can be your best friend and your worst enemy.  I find the best light in the early morning or late evening, and the most difficult light during the middle of the day when it is strongest. Let’s take a look at several images below and break down what worked and what didn’t work.

The first set of images below were taken in the evening and they both show Max with direct sunlight on him.  In these images, the sun washed-out or flattened the colors, softened the blacks in his face, caused dark shadows where the light was not hitting, and caused Max to have crazy eyes.  Let’s look at the next set of images to see how I made better use of the light.

In the image below (on the left) I moved Max to a shaded area.  There is still sufficient light to create a nice even light on his body and face, his eyes are clearer with “catch-lights” from the sky, and the contrast is back in his face.  For the image on the right, I’ve repositioned myself so that the sun is behind Max which causes a nice rim of light around his body.  When back-lighting you should be familiar with your best camera setting/exposure adjustment so that the subject doesn’t end up completely black – unless you’re going for a silhouette.

Let’s look at another example.  The image on the left shows strong light coming in from the left side of Meredith.  It’s causing one side of her to be well-lit and the other side to be dark – causing a harsh contrast on her face.  She’s also squinting because of the bright light.  Since we really wanted a shot of her on the rocks, we had her dad stand off to the side and hold up a white shirt to diffuse the light that was falling on her face.  The image on the right was the result.  There is nice even light on her face and neck.  Although there is still some strong light on her arms and legs, the result was much prettier than the first image.

Here are a couple more examples.  For the image on the left I repositioned so that the light was behind her and to the left.  This caused light to enter into my lens, creating a sun flare.  I like this look – it’s quite pretty and soft.  The image on the right was taken as the sun set and there was the softest light resulting in nice even light on her skin.

When the sun is at its brightest, the first thing I look for is a nice shaded area.  I find that trees will usually provide this.  In both of the images below there was a nearby tree in the perfect spot to block the late morning sun.  In both of these image the trees helped to create pretty back light with a soft rim of light around their bodies.  When you’re using trees as a shade, make sure that the tree does not cast odd shapes on your subject.  Trees with thicker leaves and branches work best.

So there you have it, just a few examples of how to use sunlight to create the best images of your subjects. I highly recommend finding that early morning and late evening light – that light is soft and even.

I hope this helps you and encourages you to go capture some great images!