Shower: For King & Kingdom! (part 2)

Here are a few more shots from the baby shower for our pastor and his wife. Remember the theme -- "For King & Kingdom!". Many came dressed in royal attire. Aren't these two beautiful young maidens just so....well....beautiful?? :D As I've mentioned before, our church is so blessed to have in our midst great examples of virtuous maidens who are pressing on towards biblical womanhood.

What a joyful time of fellowship!

Shower: For King & Kingdom! (part 1)

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good;

and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly,

and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

(Micah 6:8)

Here are some photos from yesterday's baby shower for our pastor and his wife. They are expecting a boy (woo-hoo!) and are naming him "Micah". We cannot wait to meet this precious gift from God in person!

In keeping with the theme, many came dressed in royal attire and also acted accordingly with old english/scottish accents and using proper etiquette in addressing one another. Totally fun! More photos to come shortly in part 2. :D

Assignment: X-tych

"Knights of the King"

This is my submission for this week's DPS assignment ~"X-tych" (diptych, triptych or anything up to 7 pictures formed into a single image with multiple panels -- think about the individual images and the overall story created by how they relate together).

This is another assignment I really enjoyed working on. It was a first for me to do! I am calling this "Knights of the King". :)

These photos were taken today at a baby shower we attended for our pastor and his wife, who are expecting their 6th child. The theme of the shower was "For King and Kingdom" -- totally fun. Lord willing, I'll be uploading several more photos from the shower tomorrow!

Photographer In The Making?

Since I got my D40, our son has been having fun with my old ultra zoom camera. He's so excited to learn photography and videography (since it can also take short videos). Of course, once the novelty wears off, we'll see just how interested he really is. :D But it is fun having him alongside me taking pictures. He's my cutie-pie!

Here's a shot I took of him taking a picture of me. :) As soon as we get his computer setup with the necessary Panasonic software for the camera, I'll feature him as a "guest photographer" to showcase some of his work.

Post processing: defog and "virtual photographer" filter (halo effect)

More Tea Party Photos

Here are a couple of more photos from the Tea Party....

Top photo: My first official "portrait" shot with my D40 and I love the way it came out! This beautiful young maiden is the eldest daughter of one of our church families (and also dear friends). She is such the sweetheart, isn't she? I did my typical post processing with (my new favorite technique!) "defog" with unsharp mask, adjusting contrast/curves, and adding a vignette. Lastly, I cropped the image for better composition.

Bottom photo: Same post processing as above but without any cropping. I really like the angle and perspective of this shot.

Btw, have I mentioned yet how much I'm enjoying my dslr camera? LOL. DSLR's are a totally different breed of cameras. They're just amazing -- the richer colors, levels of sharpness and depth of field!

Taking Dominion Tea Party

Photos from a "Taking Dominion Tea Party" I attended yesterday with several friends and their daughters from church and our homeschool group. More details about the tea party can be found on my main blog. [ click here ]

Post processing: defog via unsharp mask (learned "defog" from Stacy's blog at The Land of K.A.) and also adjusted the curves and contrast a bit.

Virtuous Maidens

Raising up maidens of virtue towards Biblical Womanhood,
for the glory of Christ and for His Kingdom!

Post processing: Texture layers, unsharp mask, photo filter, vignette, noise reduction. Below is the original photo I took. I accidentally shot the photo with the wrong (higher) ISO, so there is a lot of noise. I continue to be amazed at being able to salvage a shot post processing in Photoshop.

Femininity in Dress

As the addage goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words". The words this lovely photo expresses to me are femininity, grace, simplicity and purity. And that is exactly how to describe this precious young maiden, a daughter of one of our church families.

It is rare to see such beautiful qualities in young ladies in today's society, but I praise the Lord for raising up a remnant of virtuous daughters! And our church is blessed to have a large handful of such daughters in our midst.

Post processing: sharpen, photo filter with sepia tone, and vignette

New Hobby for a Lasting Legacy

"Precious Joy"

Digital photography - my new hobby! I am a total novice with this but am so excited to learn. Aside from the creative & fun aspects, my primary reason for getting into photography is to help fulfill our family's vision in leaving a lasting and godly LEGACY for future generations.

As I grow in this hobby, my photoblog will take you along my journey. May the glory of the Lord be visible in all that is seen!

The above photo was post edited in Photoshop CS2. It's my first attemp using the blur/overlay technique I learned on DPS' "Post Production Techniques and Tips" page.