Dear, sweet Magda.This girl is trying *so hard* to be good. She just has such a hard time lately because we seem to have visitors almost every other day, and many of them bring children, and none of them are at all interested in this here pup. Oh, some of the kids are interested in her, but also a little afraid (understandably) because of her excitable nature. And let's be clear, the adults are all here to see Ezra, mainly.Anyway, it leaves this poor pup locked out of many rooms, singing for some attention, and trying so hard to be well behaved.Because of this, I've been walking Mags for about an hour each day (whew!) and trying to love her up even more.Anyway, she hasn't gotten much play in our Mondays at the Madhouse lately, and I wanted to show you all that she still is burrowed deep in my heart (and probably in my hamper at the moment).For your internet share of the day, I want you all to read about the logo and branding for the Minnesota United (the newest pro soccer team). Even if you hate soccer, go look at this. It's a curtain behind what goes into smart and thoughtful design as my buddy Brad walks you through the process of designing the branding for the team. Really fascinating stuff (to me, anyway).
This morning I was working at my desk when I got a sweet note from my buddy Mere who wanted to stop by with her latest charge. OMG THIS CHILD IS ADORABLE.So while Mere and I caught up on life for 30 minutes or so, she played with some of Ezra's toys and snacked on blueberries. And then I asked her if I could take her picture. While doing this, it became obvious that this cutie really liked my camera. Like, she liked to hold my camera and play with it. Luckily, I have several small antique "toy" cameras she could play with, and that's how this image was born. Cutie.I have a few internet shares for you today. First, I would love, love, love to have 
So... confession time. I work on my Monday at the Madhouse posts on Sunday night.Why, you ask? Because Mondays are crazy enough as is, and I found that I wasn't getting them posted until Monday NIGHT, and that is no good for all you folks at your desk early Monday morning needing entertainment. So I do them on Sunday.And then I woke up Monday morning to the most beautiful snowfall! (As seen above.) Which means that photo is from Monday, not today (Tuesday). Whatever. I figure it's the prettiest snowfall we got all year, and it's likely our last. And I wanted it captured.So that right there was the view from Shuttersmack HQ yesterday morning. I loooove the tire swing.For your internet share of the day, I loved 
All right (cracks knuckles) let's get down to business, shall we?Many of you are about to take some sort of Spring Break trip (super jealous over here), and you're all about to start flooding my facebook feed with your family vacation photos. This is my effort to make those photos better! It breaks my heart to see horrible back-lit images from your adventures!*So, we're going to start off our lighting segment talking about vacation photos instead of the basics. It's kinda backward, but I think this is much more time sensitive, and the next Real Talk will tell you about lighting for everyday photos of your kids/dogs/house etc. Got it? Let's get started.So the photo at the top there is of Jamie and I in Spain five years ago. Oooohhhh that was a good trip. Look how young we were! We were so well rested!Anyway, the reason the photo works is because 1) the sun is in front of us (sort of), not behind us, so we are lit along with the ocean and sky behind us. If this had been sunrise instead of sunset, this photo would have never worked as the ocean and sky would have looked glorious and we would have been black silhouettes. Also, this photo works because Jamie is holding my monster camera for the selfie, not me and my weak-ass arms.So! Let's talk about where most people fall down on their vacation photos. What happens is they see an amazing piece of scenery and they want to take a photo of themselves or their friends in front of it -- totally understandable! But if all the light is coming from the side of said scenery, trouble emerges.So here's how you fix that. I offer three solutions:1) Position your subject so if they are at noon and you are at 6 (we're talking clock positions here), the sun (or light source) needs to be between 7 and 9 or between 3 and 5. If the sun is directly behind you (at 6) your subject will be squinting (but well lit). No one likes squinty photos, so turn them just a little and shoot the scenery from an angle. This is what we did above -- you'll notice the sea is behind us at an angle -- and the shadows on our faces give away the sun location. Make sense?
2) If you're working with a camera or a phone or an iPad, simply move the focus point (usually a lit-up square) to the subject's face -- most devices will adjust to get the light right where you're focusing.The only problem with this approach is that while your buddy's face is now perfectly lit, the background gets blown out, and if it's a lighter background, you lose all the pretty details you were trying to get. So this works best when you have a darker background, or for example, the sun is coming through trees or from behind buildings etc (like above).
3) So say the scenery and the sun are on the same side and there is no forest or anything behind your subject. I took these *awesome* photos above of our family walk a few days ago to illustrate this point -- please do not judge these images for their artistic value. But say there was a lovely sunset and beach behind the family. In the photo on the left, you would get the sunset but not the family. In the photo on the right, you would get the family but not the sunset. See what I mean?Here's how you fix that. Use the flash (like I did in the image below).
Deep breaths.If you know me at all, you know I hate using flash -- I am all about the natural light -- but this is the one way to fix that horrible backlighting. By using the flash, you are getting the natural light behind your subject and you are manipulating the light of the people right in front of you. See how that works? I will have another lesson later titled Why The Flash Sucks, but this is one instance in which I give you permission to use it and gain good results.Ok! I think that's it! If you have questions about this, leave a comment and I'll respond there so others can learn as well! Now go take some rad pix of your family on vacation!*Sidenote, should anyone out there ever want to hire me as their very own personal vacation documentarian, I AM TOTALLY GAME.** Also! Please note that later this summer I will have a post on how to take great travel photos (the difference being you documenting your entire trip and not just your friends at the beach). So keep an eye out for that!Oh! And I almost forgot your internet share of the day! Check out 
Oh, friends. This is getting so hard.Merlin here is just getting more and more feeble. Is he sick? No. Is he in pain? We don't think so. The problem is, he's so damn weak. He can no longer climb stairs without us spotting him. And he can't go down stairs without us carrying his back legs. And getting up is a struggle. And standing on hardwood floors is a struggle. I mean, it's a real struggle. I can drop food on the floor for the boy, and if he has to get up to get to it, he'll just stay where he is thankyouverymuch. And he is spending hours and hours just sleeping in the same spot on the rug every day.This is not the life Merlin wants. And this is not the life we want for Merlin.There have been a lot of very hard discussions in our house these days. It is so damn hard.No date has been set. Nothing has been decided for sure. But you guys... I think we're just watching day by day at this point.Goddamn I love this dog so much.No internet share for the day. Go snuggle your loved ones. And maybe watch some basketball.
Check out that amazing dress! I was shooting portraits of this lovely lady today, and I was completely mesmerized. Then she told me she MADE IT HERSELF. You guys, that is SO impressive to me.I once made my own duvet cover and it almost killed me. I am not friends with the sewing machine, and as easy as it *sounds* to sew two sheets together and add velcro, I was a frustrated mess by the end. There is something about a sewing machine called "tension" and holy moly could I not get that right.But back to the point! The point is that I love seeing unique and creative fashion, and seeing someone who not only is bold enough to wear a planetary dress, but to put in the effort to make it? I am IN AWE.For your internet share of the day, I'm sending you to 
I stopped by the lake yesterday to see if the geese had returned, and they have! And as I watched them, a fight broke out. Yup, and then they started GOOSING each other! Ha! I had no idea the origins of that word were so accurate!Oooooo, that was so entertaining.Ok! For your internet share of the day, how about this 
Today we took Ezra to the zoo for the first time! Frankly, he was FAR more impressed by the shear number of kids at the zoo than any of the animals he saw. I'm not sure if it's just that to him Magda is so exotic and fun that animals behind glass not licking his ears were just not as exciting or what. But me? I had a GREAT time! I love the zoo!These were a few snaps I got of the polar bears. I also wanted to see the brand new baby gorilla, but it was no where to be seen. We did, however, see adult gorillas (as well as a gazillion other kinds of monkeys) and some zebras, giraffes, penguins, sea lions, tigers and a wolf. So a pretty great day for three bucks, eh? Yup. I love the Twin Cities -- that Como Zoo is a total treat.
Because it's Friday, I have a few internet shares for you. First, I love what