Another Busy Weekend at the Farm and Some Waterfall Pictures

The weather was beautiful last weekend and when I wasn't helping my parents getting the farm ready for the warmer weather, I was walking around taking pictures and experimenting with my camera. 

I always used to wonder how photographers were able to take pictures of waterfalls and get a misty, soft shot of the moving water, making it appear almost magical. I've read up on it a few times and learned its due to the shutter speed. When the shutter speed is slower, moving objects become blurred when the picture is taken while motionless objects remain the same. Since we have a small waterfall on the farm I thought it was the perfect oppertunity for me to practice with moving water.

Since the water was flowing and the rocks were motionless with a steady hand I was able to play around with the shutter speed and get my shot! It took a bunch of different adjustments to ISO, shutter speed, and going back and forth between my lenses, but I finally got some I was happy with. I ended up having to wait for the sun to go behind some clouds and that gave me some pictures that weren't so over exposed.

Waterfall with a "normal" shutter speed

Waterfall with a slower shutter speed but still not there

Waterfall with an even slower shutter speed, magical!

In hindsight I would have gone back and switched from JPEG to RAW to try and save some of the white tones,  I didn't realize I had switched it until we were getting ready to go home for the weekend.

I also had a lot of followers throughout the day, the chickens were especially interested in what all the clicking was about.

Julie and Lilly both followed me all around the farm, keeping watch over the chickens and running along the paths.

After all the running, picture taking, and prep work, we took a break on the new deck, enjoyed a bit of the warm weather, and took in all the changes that come along with spring. Lilly is such a ham and enjoyed sitting on the deck with her Mr. Grandpa.

Be sure to follow me on instagram @rocky092 for more pictures and posts

Great Weekend for a Horseback Riding Lesson and Some Much Needed Barn Time

This weekend the weather was gorgeous and on top of that I even had some time to go horseback riding and take a lesson at one of my favorite barns, Legacy Farm in Telford, PA.

I started riding at Legacy Farm during my second year of optometry school, taking lessons on the weekends and eventually half leasing a horse once I had more time after taking boards. Their riding program is awesome and they have such nice and suitable horses for every level.

I was so happy to be able to stop by and spend time with everyone and was able to take some cute pictures of their four legged friends.

Enjoy!

Be sure to follow me on instagram @rocky092 for more equestrian and horse related posts

Some Animal Portraits and Our Trip to California Academy of Sciences

One of my favorite things about my new camera is learning as I go and figuring out what shooting on manual is all about. I find myself practicing on pets and animals since that's what almost always readily available and they don't mind if I'm taking my time to figure something out. Here are just some of the pictures from trips, visits, and rotations from the beginning when I was first learning to shoot on manual.

The first couple of pictures are from California Academy of Sciences from our trip to San Francisco. It was a great museum/zoo and they had a bunch of really cool exhibits. If you're going to the area it was a great way to spend the day.

Some of the butterfly pictures really remind me of  desktop screen savers for some reason. California Academy of Sciences had a great walk through butterfly dome/rainforest exhibit where we took all of the amphibian and butterfly pictures.

The rest of the pictures are pets of family members and friends, usually taken spur of the moment or when I'm in between something/ running errands.

Fun Snow Day with Lilly: Pup Photography

This past week's snow storm was the first time I had my camera and my pup in the same place, so naturally I wanted to get some pictures of Lilly in the snow. Here are just a couple of pictures  I was able to take before all the snow melted once it warmed up.

Enjoy!