The kids went to a 1 hour basketball camp at the Y today. More pictures will come once I have the time to process them. Till then, here is one:

The kids went to a 1 hour basketball camp at the Y today. More pictures will come once I have the time to process them. Till then, here is one:

Our good friend Monica asked me to post a before editing and after editing picture of the apples.
So, to begin with, I’m shoot with a Nikon D40x with with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S. I’ll be honest and say that 9 out of 10 shots I shoot in the auto mode. Technically, the no-flash auto mode. At the rate I take pics (100-200 per outing) this is simply easier. Occasionally I’ll tweak aperture or shutter speed… mess with the iso, etc… but not too often.
After I get home (usually several weeks later) I dump all my pics into Aperture 2. Once in, I typically look over each one. If a picture has potential to be a keeper, I mark it with a rating of 3 stars. After going through a couple hundred pics, there are usually about 10-15 that have potential to keep. I then review those pics and begin processing them.
My typical steps in processing are adjusting white balance, adjusting exposure, adjusting highlights and shadows, general enhancements, and applying vignette.
The final result takes a picture like this:

and turns it into this:

We’re chilling at the house and then going to a friends to share in a feast.
The picture below has nothing to do with Thanksgiving… just thought it was cool. Taken on our recent trip to Seattle.

Here are some pictures from our October adventures. This is all I had time to process today. More to come (eventually).
The month started off with Grace starting ballet lessons and Asher joining an official soccer team. Here is a picture of Grace in her ballet gear at the WRONG CLASS! This was the tumbling class. We eventually found the right room.

In October we had a visit from Oma and Opa. Here Asher and Grace help Opa get pizza ready for pizza night.

While the pizza was cooking Asher, Grace, and Opa built an indoor soccer goal.

Speaking of soccer, here’s Asher’s first soccer team. Today is the last game of the season. After the game today we’re going to a team pizza party. The roumor is that the whole team is also signing up for basketball… Do you think Coach K will still be at Duke in 14 years?

As I said, we eventually found the ballet class. Grace LOVES it!

We sat on the YMCA floor a lot in October.

Asher is working on spelling. For those wondering, the picture is “fencing.”

Here’s coach John teaching the team. The three things we learned this season: 1. Only the goalie can use hands. 2. The offense can go anywhere on the field 3. Defense can’t go over the black line.

Notice the jacket… it is getting cold!

I think this is the only time she wore the black outfit. It is usually the all pink one.

Here’s the class in action.

Asher didn’t go to the ballet class too often. It was pretty boring for him.

As I mentioned, these are just some of the photos. I’ll post more when I have “time.”
Ryan has been playing “Dad taxi” today. Took Grace to ballet this morning, stopped by the grocery store for me, then after lunch took Asher to his soccer game. As much as i enjoy getting to watch their sports, it has been nice to laze around and catch up on time-sucking, non-essential internet activities like updating my twitter and facebook profile photos to better reflect the new hair length, ha. While I was alone with each kid we spent some time playing with photo booth on the mac. I apologize for the weird spacing & words being off or whatever all that is called. this is why i don’t post pictures. I don’t know what i’m doing & i officially give up trying to make it line up.
Sad Faces


Angry Faces

Happy Faces

Grace Video (I didn’t see the video option when Asher & I were playing with it)
“What a Mighty God we Serve”

I have so many pics to process… the backlog is insane. Anyway, got my new Aperture 2 in the mail today and decided to play with at least one pic. So, here is one I particularly liked from Nene’s recent visit.

Finally had time to sort through the 500+ pics I shot in August and get them uploaded to flickr. Included in the set are pics from Asher and Grace’s summer reading program award ceremony where they got to shake the Mayor’s hand (hint, he’s not a giant raccoon). There are also some shots I took at Lake Padden, where our church has it’s weekly cookout during the summer. Finally, Grace’s 3rd birthday (think pink).
As for us, we’re doing well and preparing for the change of season (read: cold and rain). We’re excited that my mom will be coming out this month and Jenn’s folks will be visiting in October. Both will be great occasion for more pics… so stay tuned.
Click the image below to see the slideshow.
So, today was blueberries. Tomorrow? Mt. Baker! Lots of pics to be posted. Till then, enjoy these:
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