Yesterday, over on my main page, I shared with you the newest member of our family, the Nikon D7000...

It's a thing of beauty.

Actually, it's really good at capturing images of things of beauty.

And I love it.

But I didn't dive headlong into a relationship with this camera (because that is what you do, you know, with a new camera of this magnitude... you commit to a relationship with it... you end up spending many hours together) I did quite a bit of research.

First of all, I weighed my options of going with Nikon vs. Canon. I think anyone who knows anything about photography will tell you that both Nikon and Canon make excellent cameras, so for me, all it really boiled down to was my familiarity with Nikon. Since I've owned a D70 for the last six or seven years, I've spent quite a bit of time getting to know how Nikon's cameras are set up (because, as I said, it truly is a relationship), and I ultimately decided to stick with Nikon for this very reason.

Then it was time to consider which Nikon was right for me. My biggest parameter was, quite frankly, the price range. I knew that I definitely wanted something better than my old D70. I did not want to make a lateral move in terms of camera capability; I definitely wanted a step up. However, I also couldn't justify purchasing something like the Nikon D3X, which runs around $8000, just for the camera body.

Someday I might live in a time where a D3X is a reality for me. Here and now, in 2012, is not that time.

I narrowed down my options to the D7000, and the D700. Here's the confusing part... The D700 (smaller number) is actually more expensive than the D7000. Okay, maybe it's not that confusing, but it's a little confusing.

If I only wanted the camera for personal use, I may have not even considered the D700. (The better, more expensive camera.) However, since I'm planning on using the camera for future business use as well, I wanted to consider, and ultimately invest in, what was going to be the best option for me.

On the other hand, the camera was also very much going to be used for personal, family-type things, and this is what helped me make my decision in the end. The deciding factor was this: Even though the D700 is a better camera, definitely more of a 'professional' camera, it didn't have video capability, and the D7000 does. Mr. Blue Eyes and I really wanted to be able to capture our kiddos on video, as we've never had a video camera (and have relied on the 'YouCam' on our computer... it doesn't work well to carry your laptop around and point it at your kids... let me just tell you), so that was really important.

Thus, I landed on the D7000. It is definitely a 'good enough' camera -- actually, an excellent camera -- for my current needs, and the video capability is a huge bonus. The other thing that was important to me was having a little money leftover to spend on lenses that I specifically wanted, and because the D7000 is significantly less than the D700, I will be able to do that.

If you want to read more about it (and compare it to other Nikon cameras), you can visit Nikon's site here. If you want to read more about how I hemmed and hawed about actually making the purchase, until a twist of fate plopped a D7000 in my lap, you can read here.

Up next I'll share with you which snazzy lens I will be purchasing to go with it.

Last weekend my nephew got married, and about a week before the big event, his fiance emailed me and asked if I wouldn't mind snapping photos. She said her uncle was planning on being the photographer, but he was a landscape photographer, and was a little worried about doing wedding photos, so wanted me to take some as well.

I said, "Sure," thinking she would just want me to take some candid shots.

Besides, I probably would've done that anyway, even if she hadn't requested it.

It's kind of what I do.

However, the day before the wedding, when we discussed the photography situation, I said, "You just want me to capture candid shots?" and the bride replied, "Yes, and could you do some of the formal photos too?"

I said, "Sure," but this made me a little nervous. However, they weren't too uptight about the photos, so I decided I wouldn't be either.

I'd have to say the photos went pretty well...

I was happy with the end results...

BUT...

I learned some things about wedding photography...

1. Wedding photography is NOT EASY!

It takes a combination of creativity, being quick on your feet, listening to the suggestions of twenty people around you, adjusting your camera every ten seconds to varying light conditions, and having a steady hand.

2. Wedding photography is EXHAUSTING!

I was buzzing around like a bee, trying to find good spots for photos, organizing people, trying to capture both posed and candid shots, and everything in between.

3. Wedding photography requires oodles of CREATIVITY.

Despite the logistical side of just taking photos, you need to have an eye for interesting backgrounds and special details.

4. Wedding photography requires PREPARATION.

Since I really didn't have time to prepare, and since my little girl was one of the flower girls, the whole thing was 'on the fly'. I just happened to notice a really beautiful area of flowers at the resort where the wedding was held, so we started there, and went where the inspiration took us. However, in the moment I kept thinking about how great it would have been if I could have scoped out the venue beforehand and come up with some really great locations and poses for the photos.

5. Wedding photography is FUN!

I was one wooped puppy after about two hours of pictures, but the creative challenge was a blast!

I have to confess, though, I feel inferior to all the awesome submissions this week. There are so many wonderful photographers out there in the world. It is definitely worth your while to check them out!

I used this photo in a post about our Minnesota farm country about a month back. If you'd like to read and see more farming photos, click here!

(Spoiler alert! Next week we're going to use this same photo to produce a very nice black and white photo. Same photo. Same burned edge effect. Same bat time. Same bat channel. Only in black and white. Are you, like, so totally excited?)

Here we have the original photo...

Baaaaaahhh!

Am I the only one who feels compelled to bah when they see sheep?

I know, I know... A couple weeks back I joked around about editing a photo of sheep butts. But this week I'm serious. We're going to edit a photo of a sheep. I am a 'farmer' gal, afterall. Just be thankful that we're working on this end of her body.

So, first thing... We need a little cropping. I really like the detail in the wool, but the body of that sheep on the right is kind of distracting. Also, there is this thing called 'The Rule of Thirds' in photography, that recommends you keep the subject of your photo somewhere along the lines, and in particular, the intersections of the lines, that divide your photo into nine equal pieces. So I decided to crop this photo (at 525px by 350px) as such...

Baaaaahhh!

Sorry. I just can't stop myself.

So, as you can see, I've positioned her head along the one line, with her forehead and muzzle on each of the intersections. I kind of like to keep this rule in mind when I'm cropping, but in all honesty, I usually crop things in a way that feels good to me. I don't utilize a grid.

Maybe I should.

I'm just telling you... Thus far, I don't.

So, cropping is done. Now, it's time to spiffy things up before we do the burned edges. Miss Sheep here needs a little somethin' somethin' to perk her up. Clicking on the little black and white circle under the layers tab, I'm going to select 'Brightness/Contrast' and set the brightness to -5 and the contrast to +40, giving me this...

A little better. But I'd like just a bit more 'ooomph', and also a bit less of the red glow that this photo seems to have. So, again clicking on the little black and white circle under the layers tab, I'm now going to select 'Hue/Saturation'. For the saturation, with the 'Master' selected, I'm going to go with a value of +10. Then, clicking on the little box that says 'Master', I'm going to select 'Reds' instead, and change this value to -15. And now we have this...

Not a huge change, but just enough for me to feel like the colors are more balanced. Let's put those last two edits side-by-side...

Super, super, SUPER subtle. But when I look at the first one, that slight pinkish glow turns me off a bit. Just toning down the reds a little puts my eyes more at ease.

But that's just me. Maybe you like the pinkish glow! Do what feels right for you.

I'm okay, you're okay.

Now let's hold hands and sing If You're Happy and You Know It...

No?

That usually works with my kids.

Let's just continue on with the photo editing. Finally, I feel like I'm ready to go ahead with my burned edge effect. I pretty much always save this until the end of my editing process. The first thing you'll want to do is select your 'Rectangular Marquee Tool'. It looks like this...

With this tool selected, drag a rectangle around the perimeter of your photo. On mine, my rectangle looks like this...

Note that it is slightly off-center. This is because, with my burned edges, I am attempting to draw in the viewer's eye to the face of the sheep. Depending on the photo, you can adjust your rectangle in different ways to draw your viewer's eye where you want it to go. But let's keep going so you can see what I mean.

Next, with your box area selected, click on 'Select' on the top toolbar, then click on 'Inverse'. Now your box will look like this...

See how it has selected the area outside your original box, instead of the inside? If this isn't obvious now, it will be easier to understand after we complete this next step. Clicking on the little black and white circle under the layers tab, select 'Solid Color'. When the color box pops up, select black. You don't have to select black (and please have fun doing this with other colors!) but I almost always do.

How's that for encouragement... You do it! Have fun! But it's not for me. Sorry. I just would never want to stifle your photographic aspirations. And Lord knows that my way is not the best way. But all I can do is tell you how I go about these things.

I am what I am.

Okay, so when you do this, your photo will now look like this...

Only one more step and we'll have some burned edges! Alrighty... Next, up in your top toolbar, click on 'Filters', then click on 'Blur', then click on 'Gaussian Blur'. For this photo, I'm going to go with a value of +50.

Now we have this...

Burned edges! Cool effect, huh?

But it is a little bit too strong for my taste, so I'm going to grab onto the opacity slider (under the layers tab) and set it at 80%, giving me this...

Yep. I like this better. Now, when you apply the gaussian blur edit, as we just did a couple steps back, you can set your value to higher -- +100 or higher -- and it will fizzle out the dark edges so that they are not quite so stark as well. However, when you do this, it sends the darkness farther into the photo more, taking away the brightness and clarity of your photo subject. So I don't like to do this. I like to set my gaussian blur with edges where I like them, then adjust the opacity after. It just works for me.

Let's compare the original with the final, shall we?

We shall.

Baaaahhhhh!!!

I think I've gotten it out of my system now. So tune in next week when we work on a nice black and white effect! I promise I won't make any farm animal noises at you.

Maybe.

And I'll tell you something else... All black and white photos are NOT created equal. Next week I'll tell you why!

Then I sat down at the computer for a few minutes and completely forgot about it. Luckily, my yearning for coffee prompted me to wander toward the kitchen, and when I passed by the window again, I saw this...

Wow.

I gasped.

I really did. I gasped.

It took my breath away.

Thank you, Lord, for an eastern facing window! I love the sunrises you give me. But this one... This one will go down in the record books.

Amen.

Cate from New Zealand, over at Moments of Whimsy, emailed me a couple questions regarding my blog design. Rather than reply to her alone, I figured I would share the answers with anyone who might stop in here and be interested. So, in leiu of a 'tutorial' this week, I'm just going to share some of my thoughts on blogging and answer her questions. If y'all have anymore questions, don't be afraid to chime in in the comments, or shoot me an email at farmergalsmarket@yahoo.com!

To quote Cate:

My Platform

So, let's start off with my platform (template). I use Squarespace. I love Squarespace. But I have always used them to host my blog (other than goofing around with Blogger a few years ago... which I didn't care for) so I really don't know any different. If you were to ask me why I loved Squarespace, I would tell you it's because they allow me to do pretty much everything with my site, of my own will and volition, that I so desire.

By the way, I purposely say them rather than it, when referring to Squarespace, because I truly feel like it is a team of people behind the scenes, making my blog possible. When I am logged into my blog, there is an option I can use called 'Support Tickets', where I can send them a question. Every time I have done this, they have replied to me within the hour (often much less) with a very thorough and helpful answer. Their user manual is also very useful.

Squarespace is not free, however, like some other blogging platforms are. They're packages start at $12 per month. For my particular site, I pay $20 per month. It's sort of my yearly present to myself, and as far as I'm concerned, it is totally worth it.

Now, even though I love Squarespace, and they do have some great templates available, the design is pretty much all my own. Pretty much every graphic and photo you see has been created by me. (With the help of Nikon and Photoshop, of course.) What I feel about Squarespace, is that they make it possible for me to assemble all my creative concepts into one cohesive web page. When I first started using it, I found it fairly easy to navigate and use. However, it has taken me the couple of years that I have been using it to really feel like I am grasping how a web page comes together.

And in all actuality, I really don't. It's just that Squarespace has allowed me to tackle things in a way that my pea-sized brain can handle.

So, can you tell, I love Squarespace?

Okay, okay, enough about that. Except to tell you that they have a free two-week trial, so if you are interested, you should really give it a try! You've got nothing to lose!

Domain Registration

Just a quick note... My site name (domain name... i.e. www.farmergalsmarket.com) is registered with 'GoDaddy'. I pay a yearly fee for this... I think it's like $10? Squarespace walked me through all the steps I needed to take to set this up.

Transition? Not me.

Sorry, I did not start with another platform, so I can't say how transitioning from one to another would go. However, I do know that Squarespace has an importing option, to import to them from another blog platform. And since they've always been so helpful, I'm sure they could answer questions you may have about doing this.

Other Blogging Thoughts

Well, I feel like I should just slip in here somewhere that I am NOT a blogging and/or design expert, but it's fun to share with the larger community some of the things I have learned. Here are a few more quick tips...

1) In regards to photography and the overall 'look' of your site... It is generally recommended that photos be set on either a white background or a black background, as this makes the photo 'pop' more to the eye of the viewer. I generally agree with this concept, but it is not a hard and fast rule.

2) Again, in regards to photography, as well as any graphics on your site, and the placement of things... Size matters. Pixel size, to be exact. Get to know the pixel widths of your site... Your content area, your sidebars, your banner, etc... And then implement this in all your photos, graphics, and what-have-you. This is pretty important when it comes to piecing things together, and in some cases, generating an image or graphic that is the correct pixel size for the space it is going into will make a difference in clarity and resolution of the image once it is inserted into your site.

3) Your images don't need to be high resolution. In fact, they shouldn't be high resolution, because this will slow down how quickly your page loads. And I don't know about you, but if a blog is loading slowly, I get a little agitated and am ready to move onto the next thing. And you don't want to give anyone a reason to navigate away from your page! Most of my images, cropped at 525px X 375px and saved as a jpg., come in at a resolution of around 65K. If I were to have these images actually printed, I would go for a much higher resolution. But for internet purposes, this works just fine.

4) It is hard to make a site look and feel like, well, yourself. It's hard to bring all the things that make you you come onto a screen. (Especially if you are struggling with confusing computer programs and such!) However, my advice is to just keep chipping away at it. Find things in your life that you feel are a part of you, and somehow implement them into your site. More often than not, these are going to be little things that you plug into your blog here and there. They don't need to be revolutionary or even all that noteworthy in and of themselves, but as it all comes together, you will start to feel your site become more and more a representation of who you are, not just through your words, but through the look and feel as well. It's a labor of love, to be sure. Keep at it.

I hope this is somehow coming together as something useful and helpful to any of you out there reading. Blogging is not as easy as it may look. It can be a lot of work. But, for a lot of us, for whatever reason, it can be highly rewarding and totally worth all the effort. In fact, I just want to encourage you to enjoy the creative process as you go along. Encouragement!

I'm not sure if I can articulate why. Something in the musculature, the softness and strength, the wildness, the honesty.

At this point I could add in the gamut of horse photos I've taken over the years, but they're already sprinkled here and there around my site, so poke around a little and see what you discover. To help you out, I'll even leave you a link to my 'Horses' topical index page.

What about you? What's at the top of your list of favorite things to photograph?

So here goes...

1) Opened up the above photo in Photoshop Elements and created a duplicate layer by pressing Ctrl-J.

2) Clicked on the little black and white circle, under the layers tab, to create a new adjustment layer, and clicked on 'Gradient Map'.

3) Double clicked on the gradient. When the gradient map box opened up, I clicked on the little square on the left, below the gradient line, and set the color value to 4b0404...

(I'm going kind of quickly here, so sorry that things are kind of small. But you can hop over to I ♥ Faces and read Michelle's more detailed tutorial!)

Now my photo looks like this...

This does not give me peace like a river in my soul, so I'm going to have to do a little more editing.

4) Making sure 'Gradient Map' layer is selected in my layers palette, I'm going to decrease the opacity (again, located in the layers palette) to 50%. This lets a little color from the original photo show through. Now my photo looks like this...

5) Next, to make things pop a little more, I'm going to click on the little black and white circle once again, and adjust the brightness to +35 and the contrast to +40. Now things look like this...

Okay, looking better, but still not there yet.

6) Now I go up to the tool bar, click on 'Layers', and at the bottom of the drop down box, click on 'Flatten Image'. Flattening an image merges all your edits thus far back into one photo.

7) I create a duplicate layer of my photo, just like I did in the beginning, by pressing Ctrl-J. Now, under the layers tab, I click on the box that says 'Normal', and in the box that pops up, I select 'Soft Light'.

And at this moment, I'd just like to tell you that I love 'Soft Light'. It may just about be my favorite PSE tool. And I think it solves most of the problems in my world.

So, moving on, my photo now looks like this (!) ...

Now I'm feeling the love. I'm going to stop right here, because I'm pretty happy with this. I could go in and add some shadowing around the edges (hmmmmm... tutorial tuesday topic for next week?) but I'm not in the mood for that today.

Hope you enjoy my little editing process here, and be sure to go over to I ♥ Faces to read the full tutorial and see what others are doing!

Throughout the week, as I looked at my edit on the photo of Burley that I used last week to illustrate the 'warm glow' effect, I realized that I really wasn't very happy with it.

At all!

Too murky. Too dark. Too blah.

I apologize for that. Sometimes when I write posts in the evening, I think my eyes play tricks on me. And when I revisit them in the light of day, I realize my mistakes.

So, here I sit, in the light of day, to rectify that situation and (hopefully) leave you with a photo that is a little more inspiring. This week, not only are we going to review how to achieve the 'warm glow' look, but we're also going to take it a few steps further to achieve a final edit.

A final edit that I will like tomorrow.

Alrighty... Vamanos!

Our photo subject for this week...

Sheep butts!

Yes, these will do quite nicely. Note the udders on a couple of them... These will cast a very nice warm glow.

Gotcha.

Just seeing if you were paying attention. Okay, so seriously... This week, let's work on...

...this.

This is kind of fun for me, because this is one of my favorite photos. Used it in a post, here, awhile back. I still love it, but I discovered, as I was playing around with it, that I can love it even more after tinkering around with this warm glow effect.

To review, you can achieve the warm glow effect by using the following steps...

1) Open your photo (remember, I'm using Photoshop Elements) and create a duplicate layer of the photo by pressing Ctrl-J.

2) Just under the 'Layers' tab, where it says 'Normal', click on the little arrow. On the box that pops up, select 'Overlay'. Here's the before and after of my photo...

Now for me, this 'after' shot... Purrrrrrrr. I like this. I love this. I'm almost tempted to stop right here. But that would sort of put the kibash on this whole post, so I can't be doin' that. And it also brings to light a little something I want to share with you...

At this point, if the saturation is too much for you (i.e. if the colors are too intense) or you are wanting to make other adjustments to the photo, go ahead and do it, but I recommend NOT playing around with the 'Opacity' slider (under the 'Layers' tab, right next to where it now says 'Overlay') because this will affect the gaussian blur we're about to apply, and it just makes things more confusing.

At least it does to me.

I'm not going to do any adjusting to saturation, brightness, contrast right now. I'm going to save that for later. There is a reason why. Which I will tell you. Later.

3) Making sure you have your 'Layer 1' selected (under the 'Layers' tab), go up to the top tool bar and click on 'Filters'. Then click on 'Blur', and from the box that pops down, select 'Gaussian Blur'...

For this photo, I decided to go with a value of 15 px. But play around with your slider here! More or less pixel value doesn't necessarily always create more or less blur, just different effects.

This takes us from this...

...to this...

Quite a difference, huh? And notice how the gaussian blur effect softens the intensity of the photo overall? This is why I try not to mess around with the saturation and such until I get to this point. Now I can play around with those things and have a better idea of how my final edit will look.

Also, if you'd like, you can also adjust the 'Opacity' slider at this point (making sure your 'Layer 1' is selected) and decrease the overlay/gaussian blur effect if you'd like.

I'm really quite happy with my photo as it is now, but the saturation may be a bit much, so let's tone it down a bit...

Again, making sure 'Layer 1' is selected, click on the little grey and white circle at the bottom of your 'Layers' tab..

Then click on 'Saturation' and this box will pop up...

I moved the saturation slider to a value of -15 px. This took my photo from this...

...to this...

Just a little softer and not quite so brassy. But I gotta admit, I kind of like it before the saturation edit. I can't decide which I prefer. What do you think?

Well, that's it for today, kids. But before I go, let's just compare the original to the final edit to get the full effect...

Ahhhhh. Warm. Glowy. Love it.

Now if you decide to do a little playing around with this technique, please let me know how it turns out!

When I look at this photo I feel... joy.

Such joy.

Joy on joy on joy on joy.

Little Blue Eyes is holding a picture of me (with Marigold and Sunflower) when I was pregnant with him. They put their hands on my belly and tried to look all serious, then we all burst out laughing (because when we're together we're never serious) and that is the shot that Mr. Blue Eyes captured. On that day, when it was taken, we had a lovely morning brunch with friends, followed by his baby shower. I remember, vividly, feeling such joy on that day. The time with family and friends, the absolutely splendid baby shower that the church ladies hosted for me, and sitting amongst all the gifts later that evening, taking off tags and dreaming of my little boy wearing each and every outfit.

In all honesty, I will always remember that day as one of the best days of my life.

So, now, to see him, almost four years old, and holding that picture in his hands, is... joy.

The picture sits on my desk, and lately he's been pointing to it and reminding me, "Mom, this was when I was in your belly."

"Yes," I reply.

"And now you're in my belly!" he exclaims.

"Um, no."

We've got some explaining to do in regards to how this whole baby thing works.

And it doesn't help that our friend, Flying Jae's Mom, just had another baby. The other day, when she went into labor, I explained to the kids how she had a baby in her belly and it was going to come out. Since the baby has been born, we have looked at pictures of him on Facebook, and Little Blue Eyes is totally intrigued, particularly by his umbilical cord.

So we've discussed it a little bit.

And I'm very thankful that no one has thought to ask me how the baby got in her belly in the first place. I don't think I'm ready for that conversation yet.

So that's my photo of the week, sharing a little of my joy with you. What about you? Do you have any photos you would like to share?