CreativeLive: iPhone Photography and Mobile Photography

One of my creative resolutions for 2024 is to take two creative classes. I intentionally left that goal broad (as opposed to specifying something like painting or cake decorating) so that I could take advantage of opportunities as they arose. I'm glad I did. Otherwise, I wouldn't necessarily have stumbled on this outstanding iPhone Photography and Mobile Photography class by Philip Ebiner for CreativeLive (affiliate link here and below). 

After a lifetime of using a proper camera, I've only starting using my phone for photography fairly recently. I know the basics, but definitely needed this class to help me realize the full potential of my iPhone. After a great introduction to the benefits of mobile photography, this class started with technical basics (exposure, focal length, lighting) before moving on to the more creative basics (composition and story). The instructor did an amazing job of presenting a topic, then walking you through it with many examples. I loved all of the real-world practice sessions. The class covered panoramic, portrait, selfie, and timelapse modes, editing options, and different ways of sharing photos. 

This class was exactly what I needed to feel more confident taking photos with my iPhone. I've been practicing a lot and I can definitely see improvements after taking the class. There's one area I'm still struggling with, however, and that is photographing an uncooperative subject. Occasionally I luck out and get acceptable pictures straight out of the camera....

  

... but most of the time I my subject comes racing at me and nose-bonks the camera before I get a shot. These are the best of the many, many nose-bonk shots I've taken. 

  

CreativeLive does offer pet photography classes, but none appears to address the unique challenges of photographing rabbits!

Halloween Photo Scavenger Hunt

Our county health department has strongly recommended against traditional trick-or-treating, so we won't be hosting friends, going door to door, or passing out candy. One thing we will be doing: a photo scavenger hunt.  

PicMonkey has added a ton of cool graphics to their site, so I challenged myself to spell HALLOWEEN using those graphics in creative ways. Designing this was so much fun! If the scavenger hunt itself is half the fun as making the printable, I'll be thrilled!

While making this, I played around with a bunch of other new features. The instant background remover - *swoon*. I already loved PicMonkey, but it just gets better and better all the time. Hardly a day goes by that I don't use it lately.

Happy Halloween!

Cake Mix Fudge

Four things happened at the same time this week:

1. Steve needed to bring a potluck item to a Cub Scout committee meeting.
2. I finished watching another batch of lessons from the outstanding Food Photography class I'm taking (affiliate link) and was anxious to do another photo shoot.
3. Trevor had a friend over for a 6-hour playdate.
4. I saw a recipe for a version of cake mix fudge for the zillionth time.

Combine those four things and this is what you get:

Cake Mix Fudge

2 c cake mix
2 c powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 c milk
1/2 c chocolate chips

Combine dry cake mix and powdered sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir until blended. Add butter and milk, then microwave for 2 minutes. Immediately remove from microwave and stir to combine. Add chocolate chips and stir again. Spread fudge into a 8x8 foil-lined pan. Gently press sprinkles on top. Refrigerate until completely chilled, then cut into 1" squares.

I like how kid-friendly this recipe is. The only heat source is the microwave, so I didn't have to worry about the kids using the stovetop like when making traditional fudge. 

The instructions call for putting the fudge into a foil-wrapped dish and refrigerating until it is firm. Not surprisingly, the kids weren't crazy about having to wait. And then I made matters worse by taking the finished fudge into the dining room (the best light in the house) and photographing it instead of immediately serving them!

Since they were clearly going to explode if they didn't get fudge stat, I cut some pieces and let them at it. 

Then I returned to the dining room for more photos. Some of my favorite lessons from Andrew Scrivani's class have been about propping and styling. I don't think I've ever taken an action shot of myself cutting, so that was fun to try. 

Then I put down the knife to see what that would look like. Again, it's not a photo I would ever have thought to take, but I'm happy with it. I like that it shows the brand of knife I use and the fact that I'm left handed. I like the mess of sprinkles around the cutting board. 

I tried some close-ups next. 

And then I backed out slightly to get this shot and the leading image. 

As before, these photos are not processed except for some cropping and, obviously, adding the watermark. While they have plenty of technical flaws, I think the composition is interesting and together they make a more complete story than my food photography used to do.

Check out this and all the other amazing classes that CreativeLive has to offer!

April Photo Challenge: Eye Bombing

For my April photo challenge, I decided to skip the scavenger-hunt style lists I used for January, February and March and do something different.

 

I know. It's a bit shocking. But different can be good.

 

Unfortunately, there is something wrong with my camera. I depend on it for all my blogging, so I'm somewhat lost without it. Aaaagggh!

All of these photos were taken with Trevor's camera. I'm not used to it and am frustrated trying to get shots I know I could get with my own camera.

I'm trying to keep a stiff upper lip and just deal with it.

Sometimes I'm satisfied with the photos I get.

Often, I'm not.

I probably should do something about getting it fixed or looking into a new camera, but frankly I'm hoping that woodland creatures will come in the night and solve the problem for me.

I suppose I could try to improve my skills using Trevor's camera....

"Do or do not. There is no try."

"You have learned much, young one."

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If you've never tried it, I highly recommend Eye Bombing! Get some self-adhesive googly eyes (affiliate link) or regular ones and a dry repositionable adhesive, then grab your camera and head out. I took all these photos within a few blocks of our house. As a firm believer in Leave No Trace, I put the googly eyes in place, took the photograph, then picked them back up. It was so fun looking at ordinary items we see every day and trying to find a face in them!

March Photo Challenge, Soda Springs Snow Trip

One of my creative goals for the year is to practice photography through photo challenges (January, February). I don't know that my photography is improving, but I'm having fun and I'm photographing things differently than I would without the challenges, so I consider this experiment a win.

For March, I used this Picture Scavenger Hunt by Doodlecraft as inspiration. I brought it along during an impromptu snow trip we took with our friends Suzzi and Ronan. We usually have a larger group and do our snow trips in Bear Valley where my inlaws have a cabin, but it isn't available for us to use this year. So the five of us ended up renting a place in Soda Springs for two nights instead.

Rather than finding all 36 items, I chose 25. I didn't take them all at once; they're spread out across three days. Here we go! 

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SOMETHING RED: Trevor's jacket, the snowball maker and the snow poles in the background are all red.

SOMETHING TO EAT: Does everyone eat freshly fallen snow, or just those of us for whom it's a novelty?

SOMETHING CLEAN: More freshly fallen snow.

SOMETHING SHARP: Icicles!!

SOMETHING HARD: More icicles! Yum!

SOMETHING TINY: A mug-sized Trevor!

SOMETHING BLUE: It was snowing pretty heavily much of the time we were there, but we did get beautiful intermittent blue skies. 

SOMETHING THAT MOVES: It was COLD for those of us spoiled by Bay Area temperatures! I loved looking at this old-timey thermometer, not only to check if the mercury had moved, but also because it was just cool. 

SOMETHING NOISY: This snowplow is not going to be sneaking up on anyone.

SOMETHING WET: After a spectacular crash, there was snow down his shirt, down his boots, and in his mittens, but Trevor wasn't going to let being a little wet and cold end his snow play.

SOMETHING PINK: We had very little space to pack since all five of us drove up together in our 5-person vehicle, which was stuffed with cold weather gear. I handled all the cooking, carefully limiting what I brought with ingredients that could be used in many ways. We had ham with almost every meal!

SOMETHING SPECIAL: Ronan and Trevor have a wonderful relationship. They're both only children (though Ronan just gained a stepbrother and stepsister a few months ago!) and Trevor has always thought of Ronan like a big brother. I love seeing them together.

SOMETHING WHITE: Sour cream. One of the very few foods Trevor doesn't like. He didn't put any on his stuffed potato. Ronan doesn't like cheese. Weird kids.

SOMETHING BLACK: Ronan was dressed in black from head to toe!

SOMETHING SHORT: Me. A good way to feel REALLY short is to stand under a tall tree and look straight up. 

SOMETHING GREEN: The pine needles looked so pretty covered in snow.

SOMETHING WITH WHEELS: It's like our car was playing hide-and-seek!

SOMETHING ALIVE: I love taking selfies of Steve and me together by sticking my arm out and hoping for the best (no fancy selfie stick or cell phone that lets you see what you look like in the picture for me). I didn't realize I was so zoomed in! It's a cool shot though.

SOMETHING ORANGE: I baked yummy orange bread for breakfast. It's the recipe that's made from unpeeled oranges. You can see the peel in the bread if you look closely. 

SOMETHING COLORFUL: Dyed eggs became tasty breakfast burritos. 

SOMETHING DIRTY: Acres of gorgeous, freshly fallen snow and this kid is playing with the snow that was plowed off the road?

SOMETHING YELLOW: We played a lot of card games, including Phase 10. That yellow nine was the last card I needed to make my phase. Hurray!

SOMETHING GLITTERY: I love the way this frozen drip sparkled in the sun.

SOMETHING TASTY: Being me, I couldn't resist preparing a taste test for the group. I brought along this awesome Dark Chocolate Tasting Odyssey and score sheets. So. Much. Fun.

SOMETHING YOU LOVE: This face, smiling up at me after a sled crash landing. I really, really love this kid.

March's photo challenge, complete!