ILP rolling photo quarantine 2

And he here is with the same friend after getting their go-cart stuck (with my brother directing the rescue operation and my son helping out by taking a photo of the problem on his phone).
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2745/4180333914_716dd1fa57.jpg

Ned, your son seems as awesome as you.

Snow!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2785/4197237936_c444aa512f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2748/4196491209_d951da71a8.jpg

oh my gosh ava's cheekbones are gorgeous! she's gonna make a stunning young lady in a few years.

ok I've never posted on one of these threads before but wtf. Here's a shot of my youngest daughter at the Noël displays at Galeries Lafayette last week:

http://i50.tinypic.com/et7akh.jpg

My little man's shot up a bit since I last posted a pic

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2757/4181967251_082a09d732.jpghttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/4195465524_089b27e4f4.jpg 

<3 <3

rockin out on his christmas microphone/speaker set, noise style

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/IMG_3836.jpg

yesssss

Santa brought the girls a market stall (aka Ikea hack by Pam) - this is the moment of first encounter:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/4218849644_3262d2542a.jpg

The gals, still in their PJs, with their stockings:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2616/4218081139_a35f4c41da.jpg

You guys are so freakin' CRAFTY!

We visited my brother and his wife in Georgia for Xmas. Among other things, we made Christmas cookies. See if you can tell which of the twins had a horrible cold...

Owen:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4226047516_67f5d3cf19.jpg

Ben:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2646/4225279791_e23c4003cf.jpg

And here's a nice family shot we took on the last day:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4226067656_d9d145cf1a.jpg

awww poor ben!

H-Bomb:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4049/4226188489_b5fe21eba9_b.jpg

Ridiculous babby blues:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4226188587_8c97e5d5af_b.jpg

and smiling:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4227018455_fd0ce6d2aa_o.jpg

5 seconds of beeps in xmas morning bliss:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/equinestate/4226187795/

our last photo taken in the 00's:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4008/4232353895_aabfeaf832_o.jpg

Sunny, this reminds me of the muppet drumkit I got for xmas. lol. my parents threw it out after i kept banging shaggs stylee on the damn kit for ages. my mom has (like me) recurring migraine attacks so a drumkit wasn't the ideal thing to have around.

Happy New Year everyone!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4234550289_4052b10183.jpg

Hey MJ - do you use a flash much? If so, any suggestions? The built-in one on my camera is awful. I think I've had decent luck in the past with one that tilted up at 45 degrees, but that was a long time ago...

I don't use flash all that much with the girls - the only pic on this thread with flash is the fill-flashed shot of Ava in the park from July right at the top.

I got a Canon 420EX Speedlite for a decent price on eBay about 18 months ago, specifically for an upcoming wedding. With a Sto-Fen diffuser on it and firing straight up to a low, white ceiling at the reception, I got reasonably good results but it was beginner's luck really. Only recently have I decided to teach myself how to use the thing properly because I've had wildly inconsistent results since (and Pam really dislikes flash, so even when I get a nice, soft, even light on an indoor shot of the kids it usually doesn't make the Flickr cut). Those bathroom shots from last April (where Ava appears to be throttling her sister) were probably the best flash pics I've taken of the kids. I tend to shoot at 120-135deg tilt (i.e. swivelled round and tilted back so I'm bouncing off the wall high behind me) or straight up but recently I've been shooting more directly (45-60deg) at a lower power and I've been pleasantly surprised at the results. Obviously, outdoor fill-flash has to be direct.

Like lenses, flashes are brand-specific as the metering systems/hotshoe connections differ from system to system. The good Pentax ones seem to be as expensive as their Nikon and Canon equivalents (and I wouldn't really recommend getting the entry-level Pentax (AF200FG) as it neither tilts nor swivels); there seem to be some raves out there for the Metz 48 AF-1 for Pentax but that may not be as available (or as cheap - it's a European brand, I think) in the US. eBay may be your pal here.

So you just use a fast lens and hope nobody moves? That's what I do, but it's so hit-and-miss...

I know what you mean. When I take photos at kids' parties I am slightly envious of the parents snapping away with flash because, as harsh as their photos are going to look, at least they'll be sharp and in focus and you'll be able to tell who is who. Mine tend towards the atmospheric! I do get a reasonable number of nice, casual f/1.8-f/2.8 shallow-DoF portraits though, with no flash to draw attention to myself, so the kids just get on with watching the entertainer or Santa or the cartoon...

A flash certainly takes the lottery aspect out of it - as long as you figure out how to bounce the light to yr best advantage and set up the camera so there's a good balance in the exposure between strobe and ambient. That all-important picture as they blow out the candles on the cake though - it's dark but you wouldn't want flash for that, would you?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2309/2269571855_4630243561_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3288371387_5f03e9dc5c_m.jpg

(Btw, Schwantz - those old scans you're putting up at the moment are extraordinary!)

OK Beeps with the drums = <3. You guys are pretty brave!!

All these kids are adorable. You ppl make good babies.

I'm trying to scan all my mom's negatives and slides, which is a crazy, lifelong project.The ones I just put up were from a Crossroads Africa program, which is where she met Kennedy, and my dad.

I think the one crappy thing about the Pentax is the AF system, which really makes the pictures a focus lottery. I just shoot tons of shots, and usually some come out clean. Sometimes, though, I just get a big pile of out-of-focus stuff. Maybe the newer Pentax cameras will fix that, or maybe I'll have to make the jump to Canon/Nikon.

That's a shame about the autofocus on Pentax - I didn't realise it was that inferior. A lot depends on the lens but I would've thought the 50/1.4 was about as good as it got.

I've been really spoiled with the 28/1.8 on my Canon - it nails focus, even with off-centre points, in absurdly low light. With lesser lenses, it helps to have an AF-assist light; the Canon bodies annoyingly dropped this feature with the move to digital, so the AF assist on my flash is useful. Does the Pentax have a light on the body?

Pam got me a secondhand mid-'90s Vivitar 100mm f/3.5 Macro this Xmas (seeing as the Canon, Sigma and Tamron equivalents are way beyond our budget); built like a toy, sticky manual focus, but really great optically. Where it struggles though is AF - I'd forgotten what it was like to hear a lens go through the gears, desperately hunting for something it can lock on.

Yeah, I think Canon has the AF system nailed. Of course, with an f/1.4 lens, almost everything is out-of-focus, so I understand a little churn, especially when the kids are on the move. How does AF assist work? The camera says it supports AF assist, via the built-in flash.

AF-assist - with my old EOS 10 film body, and with the 420EX flash unit, it projects a little criss-cross pattern of red light onto your target for the phase-detect AF system to lock into. No good if you're trying to be discreet, of course, and I'm not sure how well it works if you're not focusing with the centre point. Using the pop-up flash for AF assist is much more intrusive, as it does a little low-intensity white strobe thing.

I imagine the Pentax 50/1.4 is a bit soft wide-open, maybe even as far as f/2.8 or f/4 - most of them are (only the megabucks primes, like the Canon 85/1.2L, 135/2.0L, etc, are sharp at wide apertures), so even with correct focus, pictures can look a bit fuzzy. But you don't really have the luxury of stopping down if you're trying to freeze motion with a high shutter speed indoors. Does the K200D have various AF modes - like one-shot, servo, etc?

I try and use the one-shot mode (otherwise it will hunt forEVER). I also just choose the single-point mode, to avoid confusing the sensor. I guess it's just the deal with the 1.4 lens. If it had better high-ISO performance (less noise), I would just shoot at 800 ISO, I guess, which would help. It might just be that at 1.4, only a tiny bit of the picture is in-focus.

Maybe one of the external flash units has the AF assist lamp...

Thanks for the advice!

Beeps' star series:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4251026703_c1509aa408.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2704/4251799078_c3ef32e99f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2470/4251026153_f47d06189c.jpg

^^^It's the UFO club all over again - I'm having flashbacks...

One day all these cute babies will look like this...
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4260095174_d27f37a150.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4260087898_cd2ee9ee81.jpg

Owen at the aquarium in Georgia:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4262325703_7f03678acc.jpg

Ben at the park:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2762/4264262163_7f57051afb.jpg

Owen eatin' cheese:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4262327727_4026562974.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2720/4265139414_c58694cfb5.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4038/4264388317_f2f1b7c7a2.jpg

finding daddy's wallet
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2769/4265139640_467ebecd46.jpg

...and about to go online and buy stuff.

Also - Henry's jumper = awesome.

lol teaching her early <3

OMG, the kids on this thread are too cute.

http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss71/fabrickd/BaxterChloe.jpg?t=1263198539

Wonderful sequence of picks. I'm glad Baxter and Chloe are so fond of each other (or perhaps Chloe has no choice in the matter at the moment).

It's all about Lulu at the moment; photos of Ava are only to be taken on her terms ("take a picture of this tower I've made for the dinosaurs, Daddy"; "They're yr mum's food colouring bottles, where the hell did you get those?!")...

So, three stages of Lulu - mid-shampoo, post-shampoo, post-comb:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4255432192_027c0b4ff5.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4258066810_af9255a801.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4020/4254670959_d95f510b86.jpg

Picks? Either pics or pix, you, er, pick.

Gorgeous pics everyone. Alice still regards hair washing as cruel and unusual torture - maybe if we build in a photo shoot she'd enjoy it more.

Here she is posing for friends post-Christmas 2009:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2764/4255743955_c04947d5fe_m.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4255743991_9cff0f2328_m.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2774/4255744055_ae5dd3b73c_m.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2794/4255747211_9c91ae78f7_m.jpg

Festive Archie

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Q2cuqOo8v8M/S0pa_3CJaAI/AAAAAAAAONM/c-asaB06c4s/s800/IMG_0854.JPG

Snowy Howie

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Q2cuqOo8v8M/S0uzIWovZKI/AAAAAAAAOaw/oGpl-hGn6gM/s800/photo.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/DSCF8016.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4276291681_52e336bc55_b.jpg

Sylvie's cheeks are a thing of wonder Tyler! Fantastic!

Lovely Sylvie!

Just developed an old roll of Kodak black'n'white, stretching back to July 2008. Tallulah, with short bangs, when we still counted her age in months...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4293503005_dc52d802be.jpg

And this is Ava eating poppadoms in our local Nepalese in September last year...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4293507737_d7eabd6974.jpg

First time on the swings

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Q2cuqOo8v8M/S1oYwZilvEI/AAAAAAAAObw/2BZFDX-N6TQ/s800/photo.jpg

I can't get over how big he is Meg! And so like his brother

My boy likes his pasta, I'm sure he'd live on it if he could

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pernfors88/4301317147/

Photo by Mike

Doh

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4057/4301317147_ba12ee1d33.jpg

Three in row where I've snapped kids eating. Is it any wonder people don't invite me to restaurants?

It is one of the few times that they actually stay still enough to take their photos though

have i mentioned how cute everybody's kids are on this thread? dang!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2768/4312382851_34e23cbb9b_b.jpg

Not sure what that face is saying but it's pretty awesome.