Photo Challenge #2 - Made With Love

My first intention in this photo challenge by Darcy is to respond automatically and act as if by reflex on what settings I'll use for aperture, shutter speed, and ISO given any lighting situation. The second intention is to improve my composition because I want my pictures to affect people emotionally. Tall orders but I think doable after lots of trials and errors, plus patience, in 52 weeks.

Upon seeing that this week's theme is Made with Love, I instantly pictured this in my mind and I felt the strong urge to share.

(Please note that all pictures were taken with ISO 100 and focal length at 70mm using a tripod. To understand all these techie symbols, see Darcy's 31 Day Series. In this picture, my settings are at f/3.2, 1/20s)


My love for crocheting just unknowingly seeped through my consciousness. I don't have any recollection when it all started because it was a common thing then to see grandma, aunt, and mother crochet afghans and curtains, much like the same way it's common for our kids now to see us surf the net (or blog for that matter). In honor of my mother who just turned 70 this week, I'm sharing with you her latest and greatest creation MADE WITH LOVE.

(f/3.2, 1/20s)


Here's her crocheted version of the Lord's Prayer. It was almost 6 months in the making, arthritic hands and all. The picture below doesn't seem to give justice to its beauty and I found this a little dark so I decided to increase the aperture from f/4 to f/3.2.

(f/4, 1/20s)


At f/3.2, it's a bit brighter and see the colors? They look more vibrant. I'm seeing a pattern here now that if it's indoors with natural light, my aperture should either be f/3.2 or f/2.8.

(f/3.2, 1/20s)


(f/3.2, 1/20s)






For many, many times, I've been trying to create a picture where the background is blurry and the object of focus looks sharp (shallow depth of field). This is an accidental shot that I just happened to discover and I'm quite pleased. Though the flowers turned out as if they're the main focus instead of the crocheted wall art, I am quite pleased that I learned how to angle it so the background becomes blurry. YAY! (Fess up #1, those flowers and vases are from the Dollar Tree Store. I love that store!)

(f/3.2, 1/20s)


Alright, I debated whether to put up this one or not because Princess Two's hair is messed up after waking up from her nap. My notes-taking prevailed because I want to document how a picture looks like at a shutter speed of 1/3s.

(f/2.8, 1/3s)


(Fess up #2, I was baking chicken for dinner when I took these night shots - and they almost burned. Embarrassing, but photo-taking really makes me zone out :} Don't worry, the chicken dinner turned out edible and yummy.)

(f/2.8, 1/6s)


What I've learned here so far is to have better photos at night, it's really important to slow down the shutter speed and increase the aperture to the max.

(f/2.8, 1/8s)


So that's it, my friends! Hope you enjoyed my mother's creation and you also learned from my photo specs. Til the next photo challenge, my friends, and the theme will be I DREAMED A DREAM.

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