Before I took a 5 hour nap, which I just woke up from about 40 minutes ago, I decided to play around a bit with my camera. I knew it would take some time to learn the new camera, especially considering I’ve never used an Olympus before and never had THIS many options to tinker with but eep, I think it’s an understatement to say I’m a little intimidated at this point. LOL I’m uploading a second round of test photos but figured while I’m waiting for that, I’d share another test from first thing this morning. This is with the 35mm macro lens again, where I was focusing on a small golden colored flower on the bottom of a jewel on the Christmas wreath on the French door leading into the living room.

As frustrating as it may get when trying to learn to work this camera, I LOVE it. I can’t wait to learn other features and experiment with different lighting and subjects!

The package from my mom and sister hasn’t arrived yet but even so, I will do a short list of all the goodies “Santa” left for me this year. (LOL)

- Olympus Evolt E-500 (along with strap, memory card etc)
- Zuiko 14-45mm lens
- Zuiko 35mm macro lens
- A handbag to match my coat
- A new computer desk
- Hair Straightener
- Red hair dye (LOL)
- Oodles of bath products (gels, lotions, massage oils, sponges)
- Huge pedicure set (been wanting that for a long time)
- Home decor (kitty cat and Virgo candle, folk art Christmas tree statue)
- Shampoos and conditioners
- Money from my dad, grandpa and my mom

That’s all I can think of right now. Too tired to rummage back under the tree (where our gifts will rest for the next couple of days.. well, minus my camera of course).

Colleen (sister in law) woke us up the first time at 3:17am. We went back to sleep since Jo and I had only gone to bed an hour earlier! We were back up by 6:30am. After opening our gifts, I decided to start trying out my camera. I was actually getting sick to my stomach earlier though because I couldn’t get the macro lens to function. I sat there for about an hour tinkering with it and staring at it with an expression similar to this: o.O, haha. Finally after going over various sections in my manual I figured it out and started to play. Here’s an example photo, my first taken with the Zuiko 35mm macro lens. It’s of the garland around the entry way to the living room.

Now I must scoot out of here. I have delicious goodies to make for our Christmas dinner, which is in about 4 hours!

PS; I can’t wait to see what you all received!

It’s true! I finally broke down and bought a new camera. Actually, I have Jo to thank for it! It’s the Olympus e500, which seems to be really fabulous. As much as I would’ve liked to spend a little more on a fancy Nikon or Canon, I can’t at this particular time. Money is tight and we don’t have that kind of luxury right now but Jo wanted to get me a camera that was pretty amazing, that I’d be happy with. I read a lot of reviews on it and browsed tons of pictures taken with it before we mutually agreed on it. I also invested in a 35mm macro lens for it. It came with a 14-45mm lens, which seems to be fairly decent too.

This should help me get back into the swing of this photography thing. I hate “sharing” a camera with my mother in law, though I adore her for allowing me to use it when I have. I’m hoping we have it by Christmas, even though I promised to put it under the tree until Christmas morning (booo!!). Even so, I’ll be so happy to have it in my hands!

Many of you know that I have plans of starting up my own photography studio in the future. Some of you (close friends) probably remember me talking about looking into grants and other funding when I had planned on moving to the Savannah area. My dad and I had some long conversations about this because he’s one of those people who “knows” people and I felt like he could help me come up with a decent business plan, whether we went with someone he knew or even if I’d gone with a grant from the government. We never made it as far as working up a plan because Jo and I wound up moving back to Canada instead but even so, I am certain that I would’ve been better off going with a “Business Plan Consultant” rather than doing it own my own (or with my dad) with nothing more than “advice” from the people my dad knows.

Since it’s founding in 2002, MasterPlans has helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs, both small and even Fortune 1000, achieve their business dreams through their professional business planning. They provide different levels of planning which cater to the needs of all of their clients and are designed to meet their (clients) specific needs. Some of their previous clients include celebrities like Al Pacino and Carolyn Kepcher (from the Apprentice), along with many respected business people.

If you’d like to learn more, visit them at Masterplans.com.

Let’s face it, there are very few people in this world with flawless skin and it seems as though they have all wound up in Hollywood. As a photographer and being behind a camera fairly often, I have seen a variety of blemishes and other things in photos that have required a little “touching up”. When it comes to my work, I am a bit of a perfectionist. I would never want to produce a finished photo and have my clients / models unhappy with the final piece. This is why I take extra steps to make sure that my finished works are what I would expect if in the customer’s shoes. I use a couple of different photo editing software programs and even then, sometimes question my happiness with the results. I am always in search of something better, something that will provide that perfect result.

So there I sat, trying to figure out what I could use for future photo enhancement projects. I recently learned about Fotofix which is an online photo enhancement service. Now, I know what you are thinking “cropping and red eye reductions” but no, Fotofix is a much more powerful tool. Fotofix allows you to correct complexion through skin smoothing, evening but also provides body slimming and tooth whitening as well. You can obtain the same high quality photo enhancements that you oohh and ahhh about when you look at celebrity photos.

This would make an excellent addition to my photo editing. In fact, I think I will take them up on the “first foto free” offer.

To learn more about Fotofix, visit them at Fotofix.com!

As promised, here are a couple of photos I took down on the beach yesterday afternoon.

There are many, many more to go through. These are the first two I managed to open up a few minutes ago. I will go through the remaining 60 or so and post a few more later tonight. There may even be more, if the sun stays out because I plan to go back down there this afternoon!

I am in a bit of creative and silly mood today, so I decided to try out the Morpheus Photo-Morpher, using a couple of my own photos. I was pleasantly surprised to find it so easy to use. You see, I am one of those people who can make any and everything, difficult. Not the case with this program. It is actually one of the easiest photo programs I have ever used. All I had to do was choose the layout wizard from the file tab, then I chose my two photos (one of which was just a silly candid). I also chose to preview it before saving it, just so I could see just how funny it might be.

You can create funny celebrity morphs (hey, you know those are good for a laugh or two, or three) and morphs of you and your pet (or other people and their pets). What I love most, other than the LOL-factor of some of thse, is that you can morph photos of yourself or loved one from over the years. I may need to dig around for some of my childhood photos and see what I can come up with.

Onto my results.

This is the result of my first test - sticking your tongue out aids in the concentration process..;

I have plans to do a couple of my nephews and email them to my dad, sister and my mom. Actually, I think I have a few funny photos of my dad too, in his scuba gear (trust me, that in and of itself is funny). That would make a funny birthday surprise to his email, don’t you think?

Check out Zoombli for more information or to get the Morpheus Photo-Morpher yourself. I would love to see some of your own results. I have a feeling a few of you will be able to come up with some really hilarious morphs and I cannot wait to see them!

Sponsored by Zoombli