Splish splash and a new lens

I celebrated my 29th birthday today with a new camera lens from the hubby, some delicious food and excellent company at the Olive Garden, and my favorite 2 kiddos splashing around in the backyard at Gigi and Grandad's house.  With my new 55-200 lens I was able to zoom in to the action from a safe distance and still get some pretty good shots.  I have already run these pictures through photoshop, and all I did was boost the saturation slightly and increase the sharpness a little bit.  My attempts at brightening Luke's eyes in the last picture didn't quite go as I planned in my head - but I'm still learning, so that's okay!

This is, quite possibly, my favorite picture from today.  I love how the swimsuit pops against the background with the splash of red, and I of course love the baby!

Playing together!  I wasn't able to get any decent shots with both faces, so this was as good as it got.

Now there's an evil grin!

Charlotte

I snapped a few photos of Charlotte last weekend at her cousin Brandon's birthday party.  The lighting was pretty perfect, and she cooperated with a few smiles!

Hard to believe this little girl will be celebrating her own birthday in 2 days.

A day at the park

These pictures are about a month old, and were taken during spring break last month.  We wore the kids out at the park, and I got to play around with my camera and editing techniques a little bit.  This was my first real attempt at using photoshop to edit pictures.  It is very intimidating!

Water, Boats, Birds, and Scenery

Flowers

The following pictures were taken on a recent trip to Pennsylvania.

The pictures below are from my personal garden.  This Spring has been excellent for flowers, which has led to shooting often!

Hi!

Hi!  I'm Sarah.  I have several full time jobs - wife to Stephen, mother to Luke (2.5) and Charlotte (10 months), and registered nurse.  As you can imagine, I stay pretty busy!  Last October, I finally became frustrated enough with the pictures of my kids I was getting from my simple digital camera to do something about it.  I ordered a DSLR, hoping to learn by doing.  And by doing - I mean taking LOTS of pictures, mostly of the cutest subjects I have at my disposal, my kids!  I have become obsessed with my photography hobby in the months since purchasing my new camera, and have fallen in love with photography.

I am finding myself viewing situations differently lately - I notice how light hits faces, flowers, and water; and I want to take pictures.  I certainly have a long way to go with photography (especially as I pretty much have the most basic equipment available), but I'm hoping to practice as much as I can and improve over time.  Thank you for joining me on this journey!