Lexington, Kentucky - early August 2010 - Kim

Better exposure.

Over exposed.

A little bright in the background that I didn't crop out.

I was in Lexington in early August attending a wedding that took place at an inn which also had horse stables.  It was beautiful and I really wished that I could have spent even more time taking pictures and paying close attention to the composition, lighting, etc.  It was such a spectacular background. 
I posted a few shots that weren't really great but served to teach me something at the time (or maybe later when I took the time to review them). 

Pioneer Cemetary - Tami

Today I spent some time in Pioneer Cemetery in Lebanon, which was established in 1799. It was interesting seeing some of the headstones of families who had an impact on this area...well, at least they have a lot of things named after them around here. I wouldn't say the composition of these photos is particularly interesting or artsy, but the subject matter is cool.

The fence looks like it's been around since 1799!

These headstones are for some of the Corwin Family (a founding family). You can't tell from this persepective, but they are super sized.

This weeping willow design was popular on many headstones.

Two Revolutionary War soldiers

I like how Elizabeth's headstone refers to her as George's "consort."

While I was driving through town, I decided to take a few photos of Library Park, a cozy gazebo built outside our library. I took a couple of random pictures along the way.

Rowe Arboretum - Tami

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! The weather changed from Summer to Fall overnight. I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and finding a (free) place to shoot. I went to the Rowe Arboretum. By definition, an arboretum is a place where trees and shrubs are cultivated for research, education, and ornamental purposes. I knew I wouldn't find many vibrant colors this time of year, but I went late in the afternoon to experiment with exposure and lighting. I also wanted to play with depth of field (crisp focus in the foreground, blurry background - or vise versa). Here are a few of my favorites. I have not edited any of these images with Photoshop.

This was one of my first exposure errors. It's easy for me to look through the viewfinder and adjust shutter speed and aperture and forget to check the exposure meter to see if I'm on the right track to take a good photo. This is the "before" picture. Below is "after." I would love to be able to tell you I learned from this mistake and it never happened again, but as you'll see from the cloud photos (also below) that were taken about 15 minutes later, I'm not always a quick study.

Can you see the butterfly and the bee?

This is a little underexposed, but there are two bees in this one.

Ant on the bark of a tree

This was one of my favorite shots of the day.

About Tami

Let me preface this post with a little background about myself. I was born in...just kidding. No need to go THAT far back. Kim and I met in college 20-some years ago and have managed to keep in touch. I think it's a pretty amazing accomplishment considering a) I've moved around quite a bit, b) we've never lived closer than 200 miles from each other and c) I'm not on Facebook. We see each other more often now that she has triplets. Not that she and her husband weren't a major draw, but her kids are a lot of fun.

As Kim mentioned in her first post, she received a Nikon D3000 and for her birthday last year. When we would chat on the phone (usually on her way to/from her digital photography class), she would tell me a little bit about what she was learning. She then encouraged me to get a camera also so we could learn together. Hmm... I batted around the idea for a while then started shopping. I knew that I wanted to also get a Nikon because it would make it much easier for her to impart her knowledge on me. Six months ago, I found a great deal on a Nikon D5000, and the rest is history. Um...well, actually it's just the beginning.

When the camera first arrived, I had some serious buyer's remorse. It looked pretty complicated, and Kim lives 285 miles away. Can I really learn to use this thing or will it sit in the box and collect dust? I started by buying the "dummies" book and spending time just getting to know the camera. Next, I started just using it as an expensive point-and-shoot. It was only a few weeks ago that I made my first trip to K'ville for my first lesson and begain experimenting with the manual settings.




Kim had started this blog for herself, but she graciously suggested we both use this space as a means for sharing our photos with each other and with anyone who happens to stop by. So I'll be sharing the good and the bad...but mostly the good...and the lessons I've learned along the way.