Day One at the Expo

Is it raining where you are?  It's pouring here... the weather men in Chantilly, VA told everyone to stay home if they didn't need to leave the house.... Of course that's really up for interpretation, especially when we (jsterndesigns and lots of other talented venders) are all set-up and ready to go at the Expo Center!  It ended up to be a very quiet day.

However, true to form I still managed to have a great time.  I had the chance to meet a few nice ladies who have taken my classes on PatternReview.  It's always nice to meet someone in person after working with them in an online class setting!    Also, I had a chance to keep an eye out for cool stuff walking by our booth.  I met Bonnie Moore of the Handweaver's Guild (bonitammoore@gmail.com).  She had on a beautiful vest made of hand woven fabric...  The colors were so pretty, I'm amazed at how you can transform a few spools of thin yarn into gorgeous fabric!  Plus, she almost got away before I noticed her hand woven necklace.

Crystal laden bib necklaces are back in style this fall...  and I loved the tribal feel of this necklace, very unique.    (I apologize, I don't think my pics really do them justice.)  Anyway, I'm off to get ready for an super busy and exciting day!  I'm sure I'll see something new and exciting to share with you later.

If you live down here, stop by and visit!  (I'm doing Jean muslin fittings right in the booth!)

...Hum short film stories....

ok, I know I'm not posting regularly... but I'm going to start.  There are so many things I can be doing with my new Canon 5D.... (Video wise).  I am so inspired by various videos that my husband sends me to watch.    The latest, greatest video I've seen is about a little spider.... check it out!    Between you and me (meaning the three people I have following me at this point, I'm torn between spending all my time working on fashion and sewing and design...  and developing my video skills.

I will be shooting another wedding with my husband on Sept. 1  in NYC.  I really  want to learn how to post my own videos for you to see.  That means learning how to "neoscene" the footage so I can work in Premier... +  I have to learn how to work in Premier...... (I kinda know)

Then I have to learn how to upload my video so you can see it.

... That will be my new goal after the Sept 1 wedding.  I want to show you how much I've learned since I've started my bcameragirl life!

How to White Balance Indoors--Kelvin vs. Florescent lighting for beginners.

Hey... I decided I better start blogging.  I was waiting for something really interesting to tell everyone.  The truth is, the really interesting stuff is above me to share.  What I mean by that is, I'm shooting "b camera" for my husband (of wonderful Cinematic Wedding Story)  ... and I have a lot I'd like to share with you about using my Canon 5D for Video....  It's just that I don't know how to do the whole upload thing.... or the edit thing....  So, as soon as I get that going and I know how to get my footage up here, I 'll be sharing clips with you.

For now, I decided I'll share some of my fumbling photography with you....  I do a lot of photography for jsterndesigns.... my other design blog.  So, up first is a lighting/white balance issue I had last week.  I'm working on a serger class for Patternreview.com   While photographing my serger, and some other good stuff I noticed that the pics were coming out a little "bluish"...

After fiddling around with the things I usually fiddle around with.... shutter, aperture and ISO settings... I couldn't get it right...  Then it dawned on me--WHITE BALANCE.  Sure enough, I was shooting at a Kelvin setting in my nice bright florescent room.  Switching to the florescent setting fixed it right up!
....See.   (of course if you are a photographer looking at this pic, I'm sure there are a few other things wrong with it, but I have to deal with one thing at a time!  (Played in photoshop with it later.)

Stay tuned for more b camera girl adventures with the wonderful Canon 5D!!!!  Happy Summer.

Some of the Coolest Bokeh I've Seen.....

Ok, I admit, I haven't seem tons of bokeh yet because I'm just starting out.  But I "stumbledupon" this website--Instantashift and I was blown away.   Of course the title of the post "88 Brilliant examples of Bokeh..."  tempted me to peek.  I'm really glad I did.  Very inspiring!

I've started to play with blurring my backgrounds and foregrounds... but, as you can see the potential of this technique is amazing.  I'll post some of my own bokeh shots later next week...  I'm also going to start putting together the video I shot of the Run of the Roses Fashion Show a few weeks ago, (Where does the time go?)

How I Shot in Low Light--First thoughts on ISO, Shutter Speed and F (Aperture)

OK... I'm going to start putting my camera/video exploits up here so I can keep track of what I'm learning.  If you're reading this, you know that I just got my Canon 7D a couple of months ago.  My husband (the professional) and I went to Jamaica to shoot a destination wedding.  I, of course, shot "B camera footage".  In addition to following along at the wedding, catching different perspectives... I also woke up the day we were leaving and shot the beach, the pool, the buildings and anything else I could think of that could be used as extra good b stuff for Lenny's Cinematic Wedding Story. (Yup, you can check him out, he's a very talented wedding videographer... and that's my unbias opinion!)     While I was running around paradise, I learned a lot about the relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture.  I didn't use the flash once!

Ok, so a few weeks ago I was shooting the Run for the Roses fashion show (Gibbs College graduates and a few talented students were showing their stuff at the Atheneum.. It was fantastic!!)  Anyway, I wanted to take a few pictures of the hat cake one of my fellow faculty members made for the tea party that followed.

The tea party was down stairs  in a pretty dark room with no windows.   Here's what the picture looks like.

The settings I played with on my camera were Shutter Speed--(how fast the eye opens and closes) I set that to 60.  (Pretty slow so it stays open to let light in).  I had my 24 - 70 mm 2.8 Lens on... So my Aperture was stopped down to 2.8, the lowest I could go (Which is the widest  I could make it open up to let the most light in.) (Sadly I forgot to bring my 50mm 1.4 lens with me.)   With those two settings--Slow shutter and wide open lens, it was still really dark.   So I had to pump up my ISO setting.

The ISO setting determines how sensitive the sensor in a digital camera is to light.   The higher the ISO setting the more sensitive it is to light (making the picture lighter) However, the higher the ISO setting, the more grainy the picture.  Notice the blur in the background... very grainy.

So, how can I shoot in low light without the grainy appearance???????   (1.4 lens with a higher ISO setting?)  Maybe I need a flash.... I have so much to learn!!!!!!

I did it...we decided to get the 7d and stuff!

Hey to my one follower...(the most fabulously talented photographer)... and my black hole.  My A-camera guy and I finally pushed the pay now button for my camera purchase!  We decided on the 7d and a two different lenses...which you'll see (in panasonic video glory) when I open up the box.  I'm so excited, I can't wait for the box to come!  (I hope it doesn't snow too much on Wednesday!)....I'll keep you posted.  ...No video yet...don't worry, it's coming!

Stopped in at the local camera shop

Buying my new camera any minute now.... at BH.  First we stopped at the local camera shop, Simonds Photographic, to check it out.  We got to chat with the owner for a while.    I'm really excited to learn that he rents lenses for the weekend.  So, as I'm learning my b camera thing, I can try out new focal points before I buy them. Also, he carries the Zacuto Z-Finder...which Lenny couldn't stop talking about all the way home.  Sounds like I'm gonna need one of those too.  Ok. Short post, no pic.  I'm off to press the buy it now button!