It Feels Like Forever... (lens info)

Wow! I am so sorry! I haven't posted anything in weeks! Well I am back now with the little bit of free time that I have. I have been so over loaded with home work these past few days, it's been insane! Anyways so where did I leave off? I believe it was somewhere around day two of art tips...Am I right? I think I am. So anyway, to all you people out there who love making photos, if you have a Canon (which you should) ;) and even if you don't, here is a serious lens to consider, the 50mm macro lens from canon, I got it on Amazon for $90.00 I know that sounds kinda spendy for an amazing lens, it is actually really really cheap. Now when I say macro you are probably thinking that it can get really close up shots and stuff like that; well not exactly... it can get really nice really detailed shots and you can get closeish shots with it, but the best thing about it is it's aperture control. It goes from about f/29 all the way down to f/1.8, and let me tell you, f/1.8 is simply just amazing, there are some many amazing low DOF (depth of field) shots you can get with this lens! If you love experimenting and things like that and you love to be creative, I really recommend this lens, it gets great color and great details. I love it! Well for now, that is all I have time for but I will be back again soon.

more art and photo tips

Hey! I'm back! I know I haven't blogged in a while and I am sorry, but things have been a bit busy in my neck of the woods, but I have been granted this time now to blog to you, I hope you read this.

So the last time I blogged to you I believe it was about having dreams. Well, I am back today with more tips.

Something I really need to talk to you about is choosing your weapon (by weapon I mean tool of use) for art, so go out, buy different sizes of graphite pencils, wheather you like mechanical or non-mechanical, it doesn't matter, but find the tool that works for you, it is always best to simply start with a pencil and paper. There is no need to get fancy yet and use up all of your supplies on art you won't like in 3 weeks from now, because hopefully, you're getting better at it. Any softness of pencil will do, if you are going to go out and pick out art pencils then I would recommend the starting out with the lighter pencils, ones that don't leave much impression on your paper so it will be easy to earase and redo with out much notice, you can always ink or use a darker pencil later to define the lines you want to stand out. Practice, practice, practice and continue practicing with the tool you have choosen, and if that one doesn't work out pick a different tool, just figure out what you like, and then use what you like all the time. I'm afraid that is all I have time for today, but I will be back again soon (hopefully tomorrow) with more tips and such.

Water Marks!

Hey there again! I just randomly wanted to talk to you about water marks today. I am developing one and think I like what I've got so far. You know what a water mark is right? Well incase you don't, it's that little insignia thingy that you sometimes see on the corners of photos or sometimes smack dab in the middle. Below are two examples of a water mark, actually right now, it's the water mark I am using on two of my photos. You can make a water mark many different ways, but the best way is to use photo shop or photo shop elements (which I have) they both bascially are the same except elements is missing a few of the "cooler tools" that regular photo shop has, but elements is less expensive and does a reeaally good job, for editing your photography it does basically the same stuff.

When creating a water mark, be original. Like I said before about copying someone else's work, well here, it's the same basic principle. You can get some inspiration from someone else, but never copy their work.

You can easily make your own water mark. Just look around at some ideas or think of some of your favorite things that you could incorporate into your water mark. You don't even need a picture, sometimes just your name in fancy letters will look better, for instance, say you are doing portrait shots for a family and you want to put your water mark in there, but it just takes up too much of the portrai space and doesn't fit in, then you just want a simple water mark with your name, so make two water marks, one that is just your name or your "business" name, and one that has some kind of fancy picture. It's always good to have two.

Dreams Anyone?

Honestly, I know that each and every one of us has some sort of dream, it might not be an artists dream, but it is a dream none the less. Ya know like that song on Tangled "I've got a dream" well really, don't we all? It could be a dream about love, fame, money, or some other unknown thing. I have a dream, and that dream is that my book one day gets published and maybe sometime turns into a trilogy. That honestly is my biggest dream in life.

I know people always tell you, "Reach for the stars!" or, "Don't let any one hold you back! Live your dream!"

Seriously... That stuff only happens in movies, while it is good to have a dream of becomming a great artist or something like that, dreams really don't always come true, infact probably 90% of the time, they don't. Lots of people learn this the hard way, I am fortunate enough not to know what that is like yet. It's great to have goals and have something you are reaching for, but please, give your self a reality check every once in a while, or more like every day.

Life isn't all fun and games, infact life mostly is hard work and tears, but there are those amazing times that you will cherish forever, and those are what life is about.

Work hard, follow God (He has a plan for you) and don't you ever doubt Him.

Day 3 of Blogging (Art and Photo tips)

Hello there! I'm back again, it's still Summer for another two weeks and then high school starts again. Yes I am still in high school, and yes, I will continue blogging as much as I can, that is if there really is anyone out there reading my blogs....I hope there is. Anyway, I am back here again to tell you more about art, writing and photography, I had a "system" if you will or a "plan" for my blogs and was going to have a kind of "series" (yes I realize I am using lots of "") but that plan will not work, I found it was far too boring and a little bit dry, so I am going to try and make this as interesting as possible and pretty much just go with the flow of things, but still keep to my "lessons".

So far I typed to you about what kind of art to start out with, what kind of camera you should pick, and a little bit about writers cramp, so today I am mainly going to focus on art since that was the first thing I did and now I feel I should go back to it. When you draw, how do you get your inspiration? Think about it, everyone has to get there inspiration from somewhere.

Is it from a movie? Someones outfit that you recently saw? A photo? A favorite something of yours?

Just think about what inspires you the most and what you feel will keep on inspiring you for quite some time. Now it is also important to draw your inspiration from every where and piece things together like a puzzle until it all fits together into a beautiful picture, or something really random and crazy; and don;t copy, never ever, ever, ever, ever, copy. Yes it's ok to do fan art and to get ideas from other people, but don't ever try and copy another persons work, if you are drawing from a photograph, thats fine, but if you are drawing something off of someone else's drawing that isn't a movie or T.V. series, STOP! Make up your own art, don't be a thief and take someone's idea from them, then other people see their original work and they say, hey, they must have gotten that idea from So & So. DON'T BE AN IDEA THEIF. I never said anything about getting good ideas from people and turning it into something original that is your own, that is just fine, good even, but never ever, ever, ever! take someone else's idea.

It only shows how unoriginal you are, and it can harm the person you stole from, it can make them look like the idea thief, when in reality you were.

(this goes for photography, writing and art)

Now, if there is something that you absolutely must copy, and you feel like you can't draw or photograph anything else, then, give them the credit for the original piece. Just never take someone else's work, and call it your own.

That really is all I have to say right now, I just had to get that off my chest, I hope this helped you in some way, small or large. I am simply here to help.

Writers Cramp?

Have you ever felt like you can't write anymore? Truth is I have been there, but don't get discouraged, it will go away. I am writing a book that I hope one day to get published, and I know it's a silly dream, but I hope it gets turned into a movie someday too. :) If you are writing a book or a blog or something that envolves and pen and paper or a laptop and a blank word document, then the fact of the matter is, one day you will run out of things to write and you will wonder, "Dear God, what do I do?" Take a break. Of course, you probably have heard that before right? Well in reality, it honestly does help, try not to think about what you are writing at all, then come back to it and calmly just start a sentence and see where it takes you, if you still can't think of anything to write then you obviously aren't calmed down enough yet, so just take another break and see how you feel when you come back again, it might take some time but you will get over it. There are plenty of things you can do to relieve some of the writers cramp and get your brain going again...

• Play with your dog outside (if you don't have a dog then...)
• Draw a picture even if you aren't a good artist
• Sing to yourself (I know that sounds strange but unless you can't stand the sound of your voice, try it sometimes it helps)
• Simply go get some fresh air or look outside
• Eat a donut
• Have some chocolate
• an apple?
• If some one is home that you like, then give them a hug and ask them, "I have writers cramp, what do you think I should do?"
• Maybe even try writing a random poem with words that rhym but make absolutely no sense.

The list is nearly endless on things you can do to relax yourself. You just need to try some things out and don't worry about what you are writing, because the more you worry yourself, the worse your cramp will get, unless you are a serious worry wort and like to over-do things, then please by all means go ahead and worry yourself to death, maybe it will help you get over your writers cramp, or maybe it will just end up giving you a stroke.

What I am really trying to say is, don't FREAK OUT when you can't think of your next sentence, calmly get away from it all and start again after clearing your head.

Photography Tips Day 2

Yesterday was my first blog, and today I come back to you with a second. :) I really do hope that there are actually people reading this, and I'm not just typing to myself. Yesterday I did some basic art "tips" if you will, so today I am going to talk about photography. I shoot a Canon T2i, I am sorry to those Nikon shooters out there but I prefer Canon, in my opinion they both do a fantastic job. What ever you shoot, it doesn't really matter the one thing that matters is if you are motivated enough to put money into this. Being a photographer isn't cheap, and it's not a guarantee that you will make good money off of your skill either. I know I am not doing a good job at selling this career to you, but it's true; being a photographer is a good way to make some money, however, don't rely on it, have a back up plan, if you decide to make photography your only career then you'd better be married to someone with a good job, or still be living at home as a highschool or college student (me). You can get some pretty good money by doing portraits and shooting sporting events and things like that, but don't always rely on it, a lot of people like doing photography now a days so it's hard to really get seen for your talent when there are so many people who are trying to do the same thing. Did anything of what I just said make sense? I hope it did :) , anyways, some of the very first things you need to consider is...

• What kind of photographer do you want to be?
• Do you want to take this seriously or just do it for the fun of it?
• What kind of camera fits you best for your life style
• dslr
• point and shoot
• outdoor cameras
• ....your phone (just kidding)

When choosing your camera you really need to think about what you like to do, and what kind of camera would suit you best. If you are active and like to get pretty good pictures, but you don't want to carry around a lot, then I would recommend a point and shoot or an out-door active camera. If you like to get really good pictures and actually go out to find good pictures and you don't mind carrying a little more then I would go with a dslr, I have a dslr (like I said before) it's a Canon T2i and it's amazing, you can still do a lot of out-doorsie stuff, but you will need to carry it around with you and extra batteries and perhaps a longer lens for land scape shots and pictures of far off subjects; I go hiking all the time with my dslr, you just need to take care of it and make sure not to get it wet and things like that. Well, thats enough for now, I'll be back with more tips real soon. :)