Week 17: First Driving Lesson

First Driving Lesson, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

It's another Saturday (instead of Friday) photo but I had to take this photo this week because the day has arrived for my oldest daughter's very first in car driving lesson. I took it as a good sign that the instructor did not try to make her back out of our driveway as her first experience. I have trouble backing out of that driveway and I've been driving for many, many years! All went well with the first lesson so we're on our way to having a brand new driver in the family.

Date Taken: April 25, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/250
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On (trying to fill in the shadows but it didn't work very well - someday I'll figure this out!)

I also used Picnik to add a few low opacity effects to the photo including: HDR, Lomo & Cross Process.

Week 16: Pink Ribbon Night

My friend Marla is a 5-year breast cancer survivor and each year she walks in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. This year she's walking in San Francisco. As part of her fundraising efforts, she and her team mate, Karen, hold a fundraiser at a local pub headlined by Bob Cowsill. As part of my contribution to her effort I take pictures of the event for Marla.

You can see all of the fun from that night in my Pink Ribbon Night 2009 set on Flickr. Take a minute and read Marla's story and contribute to her walk or to Karen's walk on the Breast Cancer 3-Day site

Date Taken: April 18, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/50
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On / FEC -1/3

Week 15: Cowsill Trio Smooth

Cowsill Trio Smooth, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Another Friday at the Pub enjoying music from Bob Cowsill. Recently, Bob has been joined for his first set by his son, Ryan, on keyboards and harmony vocals, and his nephew, Brendon, on guitar and harmony vocals. I had seen Brendon & Ryan play with Bob before but this was the first time I had been in since the younger generation of Cowsills had started to sing as well as play.

This was another try with high ISO and no flash with a point & shoot camera. I am impressed with the IS on this camera but my 40d is definitely the clear winner with noise and high ISO especially with my fast lenses.

Date Taken: April 10, 2009
Camera: Canon PowerShot A590 IS
Exposure: 1/8
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 7.9 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off
In camera sepia with curves adjustment in Adobe Photoshop CS2

Week 14: Music Man Collage

Music Man Collage, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

My oldest daughter is in the musical at her High School and the performances are this week. We attended the Friday night show and didn't have the best seats. They seemed good at the time I picked them but it was almost impossible to see around the people in front of us. The show was great anyway but the middle of the stage was blocked from my view much of the time.

Still, I had to capture a few photos so here is a collage created with Shape Collage of some of the photos I took. I made a collage of the ones you see here because my daughter is in all of these in one of her four costumes. Can you find her?

Date Take: April 3, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: Various (typically between 100 & 200)
Aperture: Various (typically between 2.8 & 4.0)
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Flash: Off