Dottie's 75th Birthday Party

Dottie's 75th Birthday Party (Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4.0L lens - 1/20 second, f/5.6, ISO 200)

On June 16th, Dottie turned 75. Her kids Sherry and Allen, gave her a birthday party and invited everyone on July 5th, 2009. Sherry and Niki (daughter-in-law), and the kids Kelsey and Ansley, worked to put on quite a party. Everyone had a wonderful time.

I shot these pictures in Aperture-priority mode with -1 stop compensation. I had the Canon EX 580 II flash set normal. I had to do a little post-production work to get a consistent color across all pictures. The combination of flash and florescent lights was playing havoc with my color balance. I tried to stay out from under the lights as much as possible. Also, the light tan colored walls would throw off the meter when I got close to them, causing some of the images to over expose a little. I wasn't anything I couldn't correct though.

Giving Jennifer A Bath

Jennifer's First Bath In Crossville (Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/20 second, f/5.6, ISO 400)

It's a tradition in our family that all the kids take a bath in the sink at least once when they are young. On Saturday, it was Jennifer's turn. She seemed to enjoy it pertty well. Honey made sure to keep her warm the whole time. Even then, when she got out of the water, her little lip started trembling and it was cute.

I was shooting with the camera in Aperture priority mode. I adjusted the background down a stop while keeping the Canon EX 580 II flash normal. That created just a little separation between foreground and background while keeping the whole scene at pretty much the same level.

Katelyn at the Lake

Katelyn at the Lake (Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/180 second, f/8, ISO 50)

After playing around the pool for a while, we decided to make our way down to the lake to see what was going on there. While there were people in the lake, it was mostly deserted and Honey (Julie) and Katelyn decided to get in the water and play for while. They had come up with this game where Katelyn climbs Honey and then jumps off, down to the water. Of course, Honey is helping her on the way, but Katelyn has a lot of fun and laughs the whole time.

For this shot, I set the camera in Aperture-priority mode and adjusted down about a half-stop. I set the Canon EX 580 II flash at normal. I was about 10 yards away and got a good flash. Luckily the water reflection from the overcast sky didn't overpower the scene.

Katelyn At Crossville

Katelyn At Crossville(Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/500 second, f/4, ISO 200)

In Crossville for the 4th of July holiday, we had a very relaxing time around the house. Not a lot to do and a whole lot of time to get it done. We ended up speding a lot of time watching the kids (or should I say kid) out by the pool. She was in and out of the water a lot, but sure did like to play with cups and bottles throwing the water everywhere.

Katelyn decided to try on Honey's flip-flops at one point and was excited that she could navigate the deck with them. I think they slid off more than they stayed on, but she was cute trying to walk in them that we just couldn' help but chuckle.

Fireworks from Next Door

Fireworks From Next Door (Canon 5D, Canon 24-105 f/4.0L lens - 2 second, f/11, ISO 200)

The family went to Crossville, TN for the weekend of the 4th of July. That included Gram, Pappy, Honey, me (Pops), our daughter Stephanie and her daughters Katelyn and Jennifer. We had a great trip with a lot of activities.

About dark on Friday night, we started to hear firecrackers next door. After a little while, the pops were getting deeper and louder indicating bigger and better fireworks. We decided to move out on the back porch to check out the show. I grabbed the camera and tripod and headed out as well. I learned a valuable lesson. Always make sure to focus the camera and zoom in to make sure the detail looks OK. On the small viewer, the pictures looked fine, but later I found that the lens was not in focus the fireworks were blurred.

I also realized, again, that a tripod is an absolute must when taking pictures of fireworks. I was using the 24-105 Canon L-series lens with IS, but even with the IS, the exposure was long enough to be very shakey.

Katelyn At The Pool

Katelyn At The Pool (Canon 5D, Canon 70-200 f/2.8L lens - 1/125 second, f/8, ISO 200)

Fireworks at Crossville

We made plans to see the fireworks at the Lake Tansai resort in Crossville. We left in plenty of time to stake out a great seat. We made our way into the park, and right off, there seemed to be something amiss. We didn't see the normal traffic and thought maybe it was our good fortune. Since there was no obvious congregation of people, we asked a ranger about the location of the fireworks display. His answer, while disappointing, explained the lack of people. They were not having a fireworks show this year, but were suggesting everyone go to the main fireworks display in Crossville at the Industrial Park.

So, it was off to town we went. Since we packed a picnic, we could eat there just as easily as Lake Tansai so everything was working out fine. We staked out a good place to park, spread out the eats and settled in for the show. about 20 mintues before the start of show, it started to rain. The local radio station said the fireworks show was still a "go" and said the rain would move out of the area by the start. Sure enough, when the time came for the show to start, I had to rush to get the camera setup and