Welcome to the 31st week of Shoot and Edit: Part 1. Click HERE for all the details and upcoming prompts/themes and past tutorials. This week our theme or prompt is “Turn the Hose On!” (this is just a suggestion, you can show us any SOOC shot…much like I did this week). You have until Wednesday each week to link your SOOC shot up on Jill’s blog. On Thursday, you can link up your edits with ME after following some of my tips on how to edit your shots (or just post your edit on Thursday and you can pick up my tips for next week).

You’ll be so proud of me this week…I actually went out last Tuesday and took brand spanking new photos for today’s challenge (only because I knew that this past weekend would be a bit busy with our niece in town). I guess it helped that I was responsible for watering the flowers…so I made a point to take my camera outside. It’s quite tricky getting close enough to capture the water without getting wet. While I was watering the plants, I decided to experiment with shutter speed and focus. Anyways, since I couldn’t decide which SOOC shot I like most, here are my three SOOC shots:

In this first sprinkler shot, I decided to focus…but use a slower shutter speed (slow enough to capture the movement – fast enough that it’s still in focus). My histogram below is showing a nicely exposed image – notice that I’m using a tiny aperture. Too bad I don’t have any kids running through it.

In my second shot, I decided to increase my shutter speed, widen my aperture and  stay in focus. I’m a bit overexposed but that can be corrected in processing.

Finally, in this last shot, I decided to go for sprinkler bokeh. Essentially, I’m using the exact same camera settings as the previous shot…I just switched to manual focus. It’s a bit over-exposed, but I think once it’s processed (aka fixed), that bokeh will look really nice.

I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do this week with regard to editing. I will probably start in Lightroom as the only way to learn any software program is to force yourself to use it (if you don’t have LR, no worries…continue using whatever program you’re currently using – this is also a great opportunity to review previous lessons). I’m considering combining a couple of these images, but I guess you’ll just have to wait until Thursday to see what I do. With that said, be sure to check out other “Turn the Hose On!” SOOC shots at:

By the way, be sure you click on the button below for tips on becoming a “Word Verification Free” blog.