Family

Enough pics of flying machines for awhile. I've been sorting through some pics I took right after getting my zoom lens. Alot of throwaways, I was just learning the lens so alot of pics which seemed set up nicely at the time turned out poorly and couldn't be saved. But I still have some that are worthy of showing.

My brother David has four little girls. Sarah, Hannah, Stephanie, and Annie are one of the primary reasons I bought the 40D to begin with, but I've only really had this one opportunity to take pictures of them. I really need to fix that.

All of these are candids. I didn't ask the kids to sit still or do anything in particular, I just followed them around with the camera and let them do their own activities while snapping away constantly.

This is Sarah. She loves to mug for the camera, she poses like a little Marilyn Monroe.



This is Hannah. She's tiny but very serious. I can't wait to see what she grows up to be, she is always focusing hard like she's trying to do quantum physics in her head.



I was trying to take photos inside and was really fighting with the white balance. With the white balance set to auto everything looked very orange due to the indoor lighting.



After creating a custom white balance, things were much better. This is done by taking a picture of a blank sheet of paper in the room, then using a menu function to tell the camera's computer that the paper is white. The camera adjusts its color settings accordingly and you have a corrected white balance available. The white balance can also be tuned manually, which involves an intimidating looking Red/Green/Blue/Magenta square graph. Proper adjustment results in much improvement in the final image. Hannah has always had very dark eyes, be careful or you'll fall right into them.



This is Stephanie. She is hilariously mischevious and will gladly eat anything the willowy Hannah has turned her nose at.




Little Steffie saw her older sister posing for my camera and proceeded to immediately mimic the pose.



This is Anastasia. Annie is just as sweet as these pictures make her look. She is guaranteed to melt your heart.





Again, none of these pics are posed, that's just Annie looking like Annie. See why I wanted to buy an $800 camera?

I'll add in a couple of mom and dad real quick. This will help explain why all the girls are so skinny. Here's David:



And here's Katie, with the whole crew in tow.



I owe Katie a more flattering image than this, but still I'm going to post it because I think it embodies the kind of parenting it takes to raise four good little girls. Katie is helping Steffie hit a wiffle ball off a tee, with some success. Note the expressions on mother and daughter's faces. Steffie is having a ball and living in the moment, and Katie is making darn sure that Steffie is having a ball. And being safe. And not hurting anyone else. Its raining, and Katie is cold, but that's a small sacrifice for the happiness of her child. A small sacrifice, but added to many, many more she made that day and every day.