Last Couple Of Days Till Idaho

Sorry, I haven't been posting anything lately, been very busy with packing for school. We had to have our room COMPLETELY CLEAN  and EVERYTHING BOXED by this Wednesday  in order to go PIXAR on Thurday.

 We got our room and everything else packed on Wednesday, and then went to Madison's First Cross Country Meet of the Season.

GO Madison!!

Almost their, Sprint, You're Doing Great!! Just around the corner!!

Thursday August 30 2012

Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville Ca

Morgan is soooo excited to be here...

...Her goal in life is (to one day) work here as an Animator...

...And I came along for fun (and because mom wouldn't take me to Disney Land, which is my goal in life to one day work there as a photographer

Anyway, Pixar was pretty cool, but sadly this is as close as we got...the front gates. We did walk over to the guard at the gate, and asked him if they did tours... (even though we knew what his answer would be)...He said "No". Oh well, it doesn't hurt to ask. After we left, we wished we had taken a picture with the guard, but that's OK, we took pics in front of the sign/gate. And mom regrets taking her picture in front of the gate. Morgan said she could get a picture inside Pixar when she (Morgan) works there and they have a family day.

After Pixar, we went shopping at Target, Walmart, Costco, and Best Buy.

 At Target and Walmart we got last minuet college supplies (I guess we didn't get EVERYTHING completely packed, but that's ok, that's what Friday's for).
Costco, we got some of the Pixar Pictures printed, and got some socks (because I was Stupid, and didn't keep socks out for the week we are in Idaho before we actually go to BYU-I) and mom also got Morgan and I some running gloves, because it will be cold in Idaho.
At Best Buy, I bought Tangled!! It was on sale, and it came with a free ticket to see Finding Nemo in 3D.

Oh, and I almost forgot...LUNCH...

Mom took us to Five Guys

We did take a picture of Morgan and I together with our cups and a cup of frys, but that was on Morgan's Camera, and I don't have it on my Computer.

Anyway, what a fun day.

Well, back to Today, Friday Aug. 31

We packed the Car around noon today (Well, at least just the college stuff, which takes almost THE ENTIRE back of the car, and we still have to pack ours/mom and dad's suitcases for the time we are going to be in Idaho before we have to Check in next Thursday.

Anyway, I won't be posting anything until Thursday night at the Earliest.

We leave bright and early tomorrow morning, and I still have a few last minuet packing to do :)

So, Have a Wonderful 3 Day Weekend!!!

Heat In The Kitchen

Today I decided to make pretzels. I've been wanting to make them for while now, but never actually devoted time for it. I started making the dough around 2ish, let it rise till about 6 and then finally finished the last two at 8:30.

How a pretzel becomes a Pretzel:

Whenever I cook, I seem to get flour EVERYWHERE!

...Flour on my phone...

...Flour on Morgan's Cup...

 Patience is a Virtue:

...The dough rose for 3 1/2 hours (that's 2 1/2 extra hours)...

 Pretzel Time:

...After the dough rises, cut it in strips and shape it into a pretzel...

...Then you bake it in the oven; following the oven, place the pretzels into boiling water...

...When Pretzels are done boiling, place on cookie sheet and brush with water/egg white mixture and sprinkle Kosher Salt and bake in oven again...

...Bake till Golden and Enjoy...

...Yummy...

Made 20 Pretzels...dad ate 4 of them (at least)...

This was my first time making them by myself, I've made them once before with Dad.

What A Wonderful Week

So...Here is a look at what we did last week.

Let's start off with Wednesday: Camo Cupcakes (These were also among the pics that I thought were lost forever)

Morgan and I made cupcakes for Madison to bring to Mutual...

...it was really easy, just make regular white cake mix and separate it into smaller bowls and mix food color in each bowl...

...we did yellow, dark green, light green, brown, and a blackish purple...

...this is what they look like when they are cooked...

...and frosted on top

Thursday: Burned my left hand while pulling out Cinnamon Toast and Cheese Toast

...look it makes a funny shape if you flip it around (!).

 Saturday: Hunter's First Soccer Game (No pics), Cold Stone, Carousel Horse, and Lazar Quest

Well, Hunter's Soccer Game didn't go too well...They lost, 0-1.

Cold Stone:

...It was hard to decide which ice cream I wanted. I was in between the Cheesecake Fantasy and Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip...

...I decided on the Cheesecake Fantasy, it was really really good...

...Morgan got The Pie Who Loved Me...

...Madison got Our Strawberry Blond...

...Hunter got just plain Cotton Candy...

...Mom got Apple Pie A La Cold Stone, and Dad got Cheesecake Fantasy (Just like me, well actually he ordered first, so I guess I copied him)...

On mid Saturday Afternoon, we made our way to Manteca (one of Morgan and My friends had an Early B-Day Party at Lazar Quest). While on the Highway, we saw a traveling Carousel Horse.

...The front car has the Horse and the back one has what looks to be the stand for the Horse...

...Bye horse, hope you have fun where ever you are going

 At Lazar Quest:

Sorry, the picture is a little blurry. Player's Code: (1) I will not run, climb or jump (2) I will not sit, kneel or lie down (3) I will not cover any sensors (4) I will not use offensive language (5) I will not make physical contact with other players (6) I will play fair, play smart, and give it my all!!

Dash, Night Wing, Black Widow, Cat Woman, and Capt. America (This is the only picture we took, that got deleted but recovered by Morgan (AKA Dash))

And this little guy, Hunter (AKA: Dark Skull, Creeper, Woof), came in first place all 3 games, and after the fist game he came in 2nd Place over all for the entire day.

What a fun week :)

Thank Goodness For Twin Sister's

So, I just posted that I lost 40 pics from uploading my pictures. Well, Morgan has just found them on my memory card. She downloaded something that recovers lost pics. So she is the process of getting back 200 some pics that have been deleted from my memory card, but then it said you had to pay to recover the pics, so she quit that program and found another one that would recover them for FREE and I now have them on my Computer. Yay! So I will definitely post some of the pics that I thought were lost (Cold Stone and I forgot that I took some pics of a traveling Carousel Horse).

Thanks Morgan :)

Camera Error

So, I had 53 pictures on my Camera Card that I just uploaded onto my computer. But only 13 of 53 uploaded. And the 40 that it deleted are 40 pictures that I'll never be able to take again. Among those 40; A group pic at the Sacramento Temple after the YSA Conference from 2 weeks ago (2 group pics infront of the temple, and 1 of me kind-of sort-of touching Angel Moroni), My first time at Cold Stone (The menu, my ice cream, and Morgan and Madison with their ice cream), and a group shot at Lazar Quest this past Saturday with some Friends that I probably wont see anytime soon (Which stinks because that was the only pic we took that night, and I was the only one who brought in a camera). I wish the 13 photos that did upload were the one's that would have not uploaded, because I could have easily retook them; My burn I got last Thursday that is in the shape of an exclamation mark (which I still have), Morgan dressed up as Katara from The Last Airbender that we took this morning, and lastly the most recent pics I took that were of the mess I made with flour while making the dough for pretzels. The really STUPID thing was that it my computer said that ALL 53 Pictures were successfully uploaded, and I saw each picture go by as it was being uploaded. So I'm not happy right now, because I won't be able to get the pics back, and they contained fun memories that could be relived with a look at the pic.

Day 9/10: Bokeh and Lens Flare

Guess What!!! I actually took pictures today. It's about time.

So, yesterday's topic was Bokeh. I didn't take a picture yesterday, but I have posted one earlier...

...This is Bokeh, the sun spots that appear in the background.

For today's pictures, Lens Flare, I went out to the front yard and shot up at the trees that were in front of the sun. The sun seeps through the leaves and causes a faded sun spot, similar to the ones in the photo above.

I like this picture. Even though it is a little dark, you can see the sun in the middle, and it's and the rays that have come through the leaves.

This one, is an example of a side lens flare, where the sun is coming from a side of the photo. If I had used a person for my subject, I would have them be on the right, then the flare would be going towards the subject.

Here, is both a picture using lens flare as well as bokeh. The left side has a mall flare, and on the right you can see tad bits of little sun spots.

In this picture, there is two lens flares; the first is on the left, and the second in the middle. You can barely make out the flare on the left, but if you look closely you can see the blue sky peek out in the top left corner.

Well, that's it for today. For more help on Day 9/10 check out Bokeh and Lens Flare.
Tomorrow's topic is Landscape, and Sunday's is Portraits. I'm not going to be her either of those days, I'll do my best to take pictures but they may not be of the topic.

Yet Another Day Has Gone By

I did not take pictures again.
Mom and I went shopping, since we didn't get out yesterday. Nothing "Clearly Something Stupid" happened this time.
After we got home and unloaded the car, I rested for a little bit, and then Mom had me right my talk for Sunday (yuck), and I just got it finished a few minuets ago.
I'll do my best to take some pictures tomorrow and upload them...but no promises that they will be of the 30 Day Challenge.

Day 8: (Sunset) Epic Failure

Well, today I didn't take any pictures. Sorry. We had mutual tonight and didn't get home till 8:30ish, which is too late to capture sunsets (found that out yesterday, when attempting the silhouettes). So, yeah. Sorry again, but I will do my best to take pictures tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll get to do Sunset or not, still haven't found good info on settings and exposure times (Stuff I wished I payed a little bit more attention on in Photo the past two years in HS).

Day 7: Silhouette

Well, today was a bit disappointing. Dad and I went out to take pics around 8:30, but it was too late, the sun was almost all the way set. A bit deceiving, because there was a light blue sky. The sky was only a part of the problem, I didn't know how to take the silhouettes. In the article I read, it mentioned having the sun light or other main light source in the background, and that's what I did. However, Dad and I quickly realized that this wouldn't be as simple and easy as I thought. We clearly don't know how to really use our camera in Manual Mode.

Anyway, I still managed to take some pictures while messing with different functions.

This one isn't that bad, there is just a small reflector square that showed up, and the colors in the back aren't as bright and distinct as they were tonight. Also, the flash popped up, so you can kindof see the color of the tree.

You can see the silhouette, but the color just isn't as well as it could have been.

Same problem, color got diluted.

Almost perfect, BUT tree blurry, and colors are a bit washed out.

This will take a lot more practice as well as some research on how to perfect silhouette photography. Dad and I will hopefully be able to figure out our cameras before I leave, and attempt silhouettes later.
Tomorrow's assignment is Sunset, but I don't think I will be able to do it, because it requires the same technique as silhouettes, the key is the color. Well better luck next time (hopefully).

Day 6: Low Angle

Well, today I got an e-mail from my Grandpa, he said "...Only one really "Clearly Something Stupid" I noticed, you misspelled your last name on all your postings. Says posted by Megan Colorn. Really Stupid. Grandpa COLBORN"

One thing I learned from this is that I'm not the only one who doesn't know how to spell my last name, Mom and Morgan have found countless errors in my writing that I've already fixed, but had yet to pointed out the last name error. No problem, it was an easy fix. Thanks Gramps!!

Ok, so onto today's assignment...Low Angles. With a quick reminder from Mom, I was able to take some quick pictures, but they may not fully capture the fulness of a low angle, so I may (or may not) take pictures tomorrow of a low angle as well as Silhouettes (which is tomorrows topic).

You would think that I learned my lesson the other day to make sure I have my memory card in my camera, but I didn't. I took some pictures, but when I went to look at how they came out, the camera said that there was no memory card. Luckily this time however, I only traveled across the room, and not 5 or so minuets to the lake.

Anyway, after I got the memory card problem solved, I went back to my spot under the bookshelves and took the following pictures...

...this one really doesn't look like I was on the floor, I zoomed up a little too close onto the bookshelf to avoid capturing the wall full of college clutter...

...this one however, is a little bit better. If only the top and sides could be trimmed in a tad bit, so you couldn't see the wall or the ceiling, it may give the illusion of the book shelf going on forever...

 Well there you have it, my rushed and somewhat Low Angle shots.

Day 5: High Angle

Ok, so today is High Angles. This one was a little tricky because the instructions for today were, to take a picture looking down on buildings or roads. Well, there are no such things as tall buildings in VS, so with the help of my mom, I improvised...

...with Mom's Lego's. This doesn't quite capture the fullness of an High Angle, but again this was my best option...

...You can see some of the PIXAR characters from Cars...

...and Cars 2

 Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow I will be doing the complete opposite as today's assignment; Day 6: Low Angle.

Day 4: Texture

Texture. To capture a texture, you want to make sure you use repetitive patterns that fill the frame. By filling the frame, you are able to create some type of an illusion where one may think that the pattern continues forever, when in reality the pattern may be slightly larger than that what is in the frame.

Take a look at some of my pictures:

This is a picture of paint peeling on a red curb...

...Multiple bunches of leaves on a small square hedge...

...Bricks on a brick wall...

Well these are a few of my pictures of texture, but feel free to see what Expert Photography has to say about Texture.

Continue reading on, because Day 5 is High Angle.

Day 3: Black and White

Sorry that I haven't been posting anything the past couple of days, I was out of town visiting my Grandparents and cousins.
Day 3 is Black and White. Check out this article for more help on Black and White Photography.

Take a look at some pictures I took of my Grandma's Porcelain Dolls...

This is the original picture I took, before changing the color...

...and this is how it looks after I changed it into Black and White

Again, the original photo...

...then the same picture changed into Black and White

Black and White gives the picture a different look, compared to the original color scheme. Some pictures look good in Black and White, but others really need the color to capture the fullness of the subject.

Up next...Day 4: Texture.