New Toy: Holga Lens for DSLR

We all have fun playing with the fun filters on Instagram and similar programs, so when, during my daily immersion in the internet one day, I found a plastic Holga lens to fit on a DSLR, I thought it might be a fun thing to play with.

I got the blue version :) because I love blue and because I didn’t really care if it looked a little nutty on my camera (there is a black version, as well as lots of other colors!). It’s a toy lens after all!

Before I got it, I read some reviews, so I was prepared to mess around with manual settings to be able to actually take pictures.  (Thanks, Shoot Fly Shoot, for teaching me how to mess with those!) 

Puppy the cat in the yard

Shadow the dog

Flowering bush

Siberian Wallflowers

The opening on the camera side of the lens is the tiniest hole ever, and the whole thing is plastic, so there are no aperture settings.  You adjust the brightness or darkness of the picture with shutter speed and ISO settings, and even then, it pretty much only works outside. :)  The day I took these pictures was sort of overcast. I can’t wait to get to try it when there’s some cool bright spots and shadows.

Here are some pictures where I was changing up the settings.

1/50 sec, ISO 800

1/15 sec, ISO 800

1/50 sec, ISO 800

1/25 sec, ISO  800

There’s a “focus ring” on the lens…I put it in quotes because it’s pretty primitive :) and really, the point of this lens is that it’s a toy lens, so I wasn’t too worried if the pictures were really in focus or not. I did notice when I took some flower close-ups it looked better when I had the lens set to “portrait” or whatever on the focus ring. The whole thing’s plastic, so I did have to be really careful when I was adjusting anything, for fear that it might pop off the camera! :)

I definitely want to keep playing with this lens and having fun with it. What do you think? Like the pictures? Would you want to play around with a lens like this?

Bigger pictures on Flickr.

Happy 10th Birthday, Grounder!

Brian was at work all day today and I was working on my living room curtains and some other things…so I almost forgot!   Happy 10th Birthday, Grounder.

You’ve been on this planet for a decade!  I’m surprised the planet has survived. :)

Happy 7th Anniversary!

This year Brian and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! :) Lucky #7, right?

We spent the weekend watching some Hitchcock movies (Rear Window & Rope) and The Naked Gun while enjoying some buttery popcorn and fizzy drinks.

And we took an architectural cruise along the Chicago River! It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a while and definitely the highlight of my weekend.  I brought along my boyfriend and got some fun pictures of the city. :)

I loved seeing the city from an angle that I’ve never seen before and I learned a lot more about various styles of architecture than I ever knew. I also learned a lot about my camera and lens: there’s just no experience like getting out and actually taking pictures.

Finally, we wrapped up the weekend by indulging in my favorite ranch dressing ever – from the Cheesecake Factory. :)

Happy 7th Anniversary :)

 

Bigger photos on Flickr.

Happy Earth Day!

It’s a little gloomy here in Indiana on this Earth Day, so here are some more flower shots to cheer us up. :)

Happy Earth Day! Here’s hoping the nicer parts of spring come to us soon. :)

First Flowers

Is it possible? Has spring really sprung?

Here are a few flowers in my yard today! I got these bulbs from American Meadows and planted them last fall.

Some little daffodils…

And some tiny crocuses…

If it’s at all nice where you live, I hope you get to go out and enjoy it!

Cole’s Birthday Party!

I want to share a few pictures from Cole’s birthday party!

There was a LOT going on – and a LOT of friends and family over to celebrate, so I didn’t get as many pictures of the little guy in his various outfits as I would have liked. I’m sure his parents got plenty, and I’ll get some from them sometime. :) But here are a few good ones:

Cole got a new Radio Flyer wagon that he rode in with his cousins:

And he posed for me during his little meal after most people left:

What a cutie. He looks so good in his sock monkey bib. :)

His mom, Cassie, had some great decorating details. The house was full of paper lanterns and balloons.

She painted some letters in coordinating colors to spell out his name.

And my “happy birthday” bunting/banner was much larger than expected! But it hung across a big wall in their living room nicely.

Here’s another angle, because I know you were dying for it.

There you have it!

Happy 1st Birthay, Cole!

(If I get any more pictures of him in his shirts, I will share them!) :)

Eric and Ashley’s Wedding in a Bar

I know you are dying to hear the rest of my thermostat tales, but we’re going to take a break for a minute to talk about my friends’ wedding in a bar.

You’ve already “met” Ashley, because she’s the one who guest posted about her amazing faux-granite countertops. Today, her amazing wedding from last year was featured on Offbeat Bride!

I’m taking a break to post this, because I totally made her amazing wedding dress. Let me pause while I pat myself on the back. :)

Also, if you don’t already know about Offbeat Bride, check it out. It’s an awesome website for wedding ideas (with lots of DIY!) from mildly offbeat to wildly offbeat. Plus, it’s an amazing community that’s branched out into home and family life.

You may remember, also, that this is the wedding dress that won me a nice blue ribbon in this year’s Lake County Fair.

Now let’s just look at some more pictures because that’s fun.

Okay, fine, so I just posted dress pictures. Check out their featured post on Offbeat Bride to see some other awesome details from their wedding, including ticket place cards, journal-entry guest books, and a cartoon van cake topper!

Blogiversary!

I have been looking forward to this day for a bit, but then the holidays came and preparations for holiday parties and I nearly forgot! Today is my first blogiversary!

I’m pretty excited because I have definitely attempted blogging before, several times, but it’s never lasted very long. I know I’m not the world’s best blogger by any means, but I’m happy to have made it through a full year of blogging!

So to celebrate, here are some pictures of my party-decorated house. It’s twinkle lights galore in here. I put them up yesterday for my work’s holiday party and I’m leaving them up for/until our New Year’s party.

It’s like living in Pinterest and I love it!

Happy Blogiversary and Happy (ongoing) Holidays!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there…

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

I love Christmas and I’m enjoying every minute of it! I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season as well.

Our Christmas morning tradition is opening presents at Brian’s parents’ house with all of his sisters.  Our twist this year is that everyone will have to answer a trivia question from the movies Elf  and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon version) in order to open a present. I’m pretty excited! All the cheesy stuff in Elf always tears me up. “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” I’m sure I’ll be doing plenty of that! :)

What are your Christmas traditions and have you put a new spin on them?

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Things I Love Thursday: Tamron 18-200mm Lens

Here’s a little review of the Tamron 18-200mm lens that I got for my birthday in August.  I’ve had it for a while, and  in case you need a holiday gift idea or a good all-around lens for traveling this holiday season, this might be your answer!

I’ve already told you how much I love my boyfriend of a camera, as well as my 35mm lens, and SB400 flash!

Let me remind you that I  am no pro photographer. I’m just a picture-happy gal who wants to capture everything I see and keep the pictures as memories. That said, I definitely want to tell you how I use and like my gear because I know that a lot of you are in my boat, and when I'm shopping, I want this kind of review.  It's not techy or geeky or heavy on specs, just how I use it.

So, the Tamron 18-200.  I am so happy I got this lens as an all purpose/travel lens.  I really do have it on my camera 80% of the time now. (I put the 18-55mm Nikon lens that came with my camera into my camera basket on the living room bookshelves.) The Tamron 18-200mm zooms out to the 18mm wide angle so I can take pictures of rooms and large groups of people and it also has the ability to zoom in and frame shots or take nice close up shots of things across the street.  Traveling in Boston with it was amazing. I felt like I never missed a good shot (and was able to put together an awesome photobook of memories with it!)

I chose the Tamron version of this lens over the Nikon version based on weight but mostly price. (Really, mostly price!)  As far as techy/geeky things go, I was a little worried about the lack of VR (vibration-reduction, for when you’re zoomed out all the way to 200mm, a feature that’s on the Nikon but not the Tamron), but so far that hasn't been a huge issue for me.  It's definitely heavier (just read the specs) than my kit 18-55 or my trusty 35mm...in fact, when my mom is using my camera with this lens attached and the SB-400, she gets tired of holding it.  (Remember, I don't, that's just my mom who's used to a point and shoot, but still good for you to know!)  To me, though, the extra weight is worth the amazing versatility. (And when traveling, I don’t normally have my external flash attached.)  Another techy/geeky note, in some reviews comparing the Tamron version to the Nikon version, people talked about sharpness, distortion, etc, of the lens (I say “etc” because my eyes began to glaze over), but I haven’t noticed. Maybe pro or art photographers would, but for my snapshots, I couldn’t be happier with the Tamron!

My Nikon D5100 with Tamron 18-200mm lens, 77mm step up ring, and SB400 flash

This Tamron lens uses 62mm filters, so I did get a nice clear filter to leave attached all the time to protect the lens.  For other filters, though, I did get a 77mm step up ring that I am leaving attached all the time.  I don't always use a lot of filters, but I like to be prepared when I do.  I’ll sometimes use a star filter, warming filter, or polarizing filter, and since my other lenses are 52mm, I was going to have to buy a new set anyway. Well, I would hate to buy a set of 62mm, then need another size in case I do get other lenses later. 77mm seems to be the biggest, non-commercial lens size you can buy, so I’ll be getting step up rings for any future lenses to accommodate 77mm filters.

The lens does creep (zoom out as you’re walking) :) so I use the lock – which is why they put it on there!  The Nikon version may be a "better" lens, but for my picture taking, I couldn't be happier with this lens, especially for the price.  After getting this lens, (along with the things already in my camera bag), I haven't been craving a lot of gear like I was before.  (Though, there are a few things on my Christmas list, like colored gels for my flash and a wired remote, hint hint.) :)

What about you? Do you have a lens like this and like it? Did this rambling review help you choose a lens? Is there another lens that you have and love that I need? :)

December

The holiday season always sneaks up on me. Even though I’ve been busily buying Christmas presents since Thanksgiving, I haven’t been quite in the spirit to start decorating my house (I still have pumpkins on the front porch!).  I mean, how is it December already?

It was 60 degrees out yesterday (and today), so I did put up decorations and lights on the outside of our house, because I knew I’d never get a better time.  But figuring out numbers and lengths of extension cords doesn’t exactly get you in the Christmas spirit.

Then last night, we ventured to downtown Chicago with friends (since it was so warm) and really kicked off our holiday season. :)

We stopped first at Daley Plaza for Christkindlmarket.

I was in love with these colorful lighted stars. I know we’ve all seen them before, but how pretty do they glow? What if these were your only holiday decorations? Gorgeous.

Then we headed over to Michigan Avenue to see the trees and eat a delicious late dinner.

It’s all enough to get anyone excited for the holidays, right?

I feel like I’m ready to start my decorating! I’ve been pinning a lot of ideas, so I think it’s time to actually bring of them to fruition.

Where are you with your holiday decorating? Have you started? Are you done? Can you believe it’s December??

Goodbye, Summer

Here’s a sort of sad picture of the last of my wildflowers. I’m sad I didn’t get a happy shot a few days ago, because these pink ones were still going strong! And it was a gorgeous sight in early November.

It seems the flowers don’t believe in keeping it up past election day. :)

I guess I’ll be mowing down the meadow soon, to prepare for next spring!

Halloween Cuteness!

Halloween is not my favorite time of year. I love it for the mounds and mounds of bite-sized candy, but I hate it for the scariness. I am scared of everything. 

My friend Pam just threw a little Halloween party, however, with the cutest details! I had to share. Cute Halloween stuff makes me happy. (It distracts me from the scary stuff.)

First, here’s Pam and her cocker spaniel, Merlin, dressed up as the Black Swan and an Ewok! :)

Great costumes, right? Let’s just stare for another moment at the Ewok!

I couldn’t get over his level of cuteness.  And she made both costumes herself!

Then, of course, Pam had a great spread, very colorful and all Halloween-themed.

Complete with awesome details.

(I think she said the stickers were from Martha Stewart!)

And let’s get a closer look at those yummy cupcakes, shall we?

My favorites were the pumpkin ones with tootsie rolls for stems!

Even her beverages were Halloween-themed.

So fun, right?! More Martha Stewart stickers!

What a fun way to start off the Halloween season! Thanks, Pam!