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His Ever Changing Face
Every day he looks a little different. He grins up at me now with this lopsided, crazy toothed smile. Him, squinting into the sun and my lens and blowing my heart with his innocence and love.
Every day he is a little bigger, some tiny bit older, somehow new in his growing-boy-changeling ways.
He is what all children are – a person becoming something amazing in deceptively tiny steps that are really so, so big on their insides.They feel big to me, and as they go by, I feel a weight turn and shift inside me. It is both a feeling of joy and sorrow, the disparity between which is one of life’s greatest gifts to experience.
Change on, my love.
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Meal Ticket In Swim Trunks
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Birthday Balloons are the BEST!
seven years ago
i saw your face for the first
time – it was perfectin so many ways
you have changed, grown, and flourished
but this fact remainsyou will always be
the best thing that has ever
happened to your mom***
This photo is from Braden’s 1 Year Birthday. Today he turns 7.
The time is flying by, but I cherish everything, and with each passing day, ever more so.
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the snow slowly began to fill the grave he’d dug
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oh, sing me sweet lemon-drop lullabies, my love
The goldenrod is yellow; The corn is turning brown; The trees in apple orchards with fruit are bending down.
~Helen Hunt Jackson -
Unique Bokeh Shapes: How to Make Custom Filters
Don’t you just love it when you see a dreamy, soft background in a photo? And isn’t it even more dazzling when you see points of light that seem to have become little circles, sprinkled about? You can create photos like this, too, and it is fairly simple! In a nutshell, to create light bokeh of any kind, first you want a very wide aperture (small f-stop number, like 1.8). Then, adjust focus so that the lights you are capturing are out of focus. They will be blurry, pretty circles.
If you want the bokeh to take a certain shape, you need to use a special filter on your lens. Of course, you can buy these, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to! I’ve made my own filters in the past, and you can do the same. It’s fun and rewarding!
Start by gathering the necessary supplies…
Bokeh Shapes DIY Supplies
- black posterboard or construction paper
- tape (black is a bonus, but regular works)
- cutting implement like x-acto knives, scissors, shape punchers
- optional: lens filter ring
- recommended: your sense of wonder
Instructions
Carefully trace a circle around your lens on the black paper. Cut out your circle.
Next, you want to draw and then cut a small shape (about 1/2 inch, or 15-20mm) from the middle of your circle. If your shape is too big, you get poor results. Popular shapes include hearts, stars, and crosses. You can get creative here, and that is part of the fun. Be very careful with your shape – clean lines, no tears, clearly shaped and cut. This is easier to do with x-acto knives or shape punchers than with scissors.
Cut a strip of black paper to wrap around the lens, about 1 inch wide, like a cuff. Tape that shut on the lens, and tape your circle carefully to that, so it sits in front of your lens. This must be flush; no light leaks!
Another method is putting your paper circle inside a lens filter ring. This eliminates need for tape. Experiment to see what works best for you!
If you don’t have time or don’t want to make the shape filters yourself, you can also order pre-cut filters online, like these. Then you can hop right into making photos.
Ultimately, whichever you choose – purchased or DIY, just put the filter on your lens, use the settings mentioned above, and voila!
PLAY WITH THE LOVELY BOKEH. SMILE. REPEAT!
