Taking Christmas Photos With Different Lenses

I was bored today and longing for Christmas decoration photos and even though it was still a smidge too light outside, I went for it. I'm in the process of trying to find my favorite lens for taking ornament pictures, but I'm struggling. Since the 105mm lens rarely leaves my camera, I just assumed it would be the best, but I don't think it is. 

I used my 40mm macro last year for most of the photos, which is one of my faves, but I honestly don't think I've touch it since I got the 105mm. I think I'm gonna dust it off next week and see how it looks on the 750. I've already used my 35mm a couple times this week and I'm honestly still so impressed with that lens. I'm kicking myself for not using it today, but hopefully next week sometime.

I'd also like to add that we were able to get tires on the car yesterday and thankfully made it Poplar Bluff to Christmas shop. It wasn't the best, but we did get a few things. The most exciting part was getting to try the new Beyond Chicken from Panda Express!

Anyways, here are some pics with a few different lenses, enjoy!

Tokina 11-20mm 2.8 lens:

Love the wide angle lens for getting pictures of the entire room.

It's kinda trippy.

It would be so much better if it was dark outside.

See, the effect isn't the same.

The tree is still beautiful, but it's too light outside.

New Rudolph ornament.

Last one with the Tokina.

Nikon 105mm 2.8 lens:

The 105mm has great depth.

But I don't think it's aperture is wide enough for the look I want.

High ISO Santa.

I like the warmth of this picture.

Nikon 85mm 1.8 lens:

The 85mm lens is so smooth!

And so crisp.

You can't hardly beat this lens.

The only downside is the ratio. It's around 1:7 and you need a 1:1 for good ornament pics.

Great present pictures with the 85mm lens.

This is one of my favorite ornament pictures. I feel it captures vintage Christmas.

The ornaments that I painted.

I think they look nice.

Back to the Tokina for s minute:

Waited a couple hours and took some more of the tree.

See how much better the Christmas tree lights look when it's dark outside?

I tried some high ISO settings here and thing they make for some vintage Christmas tree photos.

Something about this Christmas tree takes me back to the early to mid 90s.

These pics would've been better if the lights around the door were on, oh well.

Christmas Shopping In The Rain With A Flat Tire

Let me start by saying: follow your gut. If it feels weird or the vibe isn't right, go home.

So LaVaughn and I decided to go Christmas shopping in Poplar Bluff earlier today because we've been putting it off for weeks. I woke up a little before 11, which was horrible, but I decided to make the best of it. Took a shower, got the glider food ready, made coffee, set up the new internet... the usual. After we ate and LaVaughn took a shower, we headed on our way. 

It was very gloomy today. Cloudy, foggy, misty rain and the temperature was uncomfortable. We took highway 34 which ended up being a bad idea because about 10ft of road was washed out and jagged. Naturally I didn't get over far enough and BAM! Flat tire... yay! Luckily there was a road just a few feet down the road, which we pulled into.

Got out, got the donut out of the trunk and then struggled with getting the jack unscrewed. Broke my nail, clawed my and got filthy in the process. After freeing the jack from it's unnatural hold, we began to jack the car up. Things were going well, we were making great time, got the lug nuts broke off then all of a sudden the jack snapped sideways and broke. We tried for 30 minutes to fix the jack, but it was to no avail.

A lady and her husband stopped and asked if we needed help, but things were going good at the time and we didn't need any help. Then one more guy stopped, but again, we were well on track. After the jack broke only ONE other car stopped in the hour that we were sitting there and they didn't even carry a jack.

That's when I swallowed my pride and called my ex-boss. Well, it was really her husband that I wanted because he has a tow service. This was at like 5:10 and she said he was on his way home from work and she would have him call me as soon as he walked it. Well 30 minutes passed and nothing, so I called back, but he still wasn't there. Waited 15 more minutes and called a roadside tow place in Silva and they were more than happy to help. 

Like the owner was in Poplar Bluff at the time, but he said if he didn't have someone down at the shop he would find someone to send over as soon as possible. Like 10 minutes later I get a call from another guy and he said he was just a few minutes away. I'm so glad we ended up calling someone, because our donut was almost flat. After the guy was done I asked him how much and he replied with, "Whatever sounds good to you." I replied with, "How much do you normally charge?" and his response was, "Oh I'm not charging you that!"

After going back and forth for a couple seconds I finally got him to take $20.

Back to the other guy real quick... the guy that's married to a lady I worked for, for 2 1/2 years. The guy that I've known since 2nd grade, the guy that used to drive my bus. Well when I called to tell him that I found a local guy he was like, "Well that's 30 miles from me, so it's probably best you found someone closer." Wanna know why he said that? Because even though I didn't need a tow and literally just needed to borrow a jack that he could've driven over in his truck or his wife's car, he was still gonna charge me over a dollar mile both ways to lend a and to someone he's known for 25 years. 

Needless to say I found a new tow/roadside company.

I'm just thankful we weren't on 67 and it wasn't freezing cold or raining heavily. Thank God we were able to get help at a steal and make it home safe and sound. Now I gotta take the car somewhere tomorrow to get a tire and then hopefully go Christmas shopping. 

Here are some random pictures I took a little bit ago of the decorations in the kitchen. Enjoy!

Have faith, always.

Seek peace, whenever possible.

Stay hopeful, always.

Weekly iPhone Roundup {11.26 - 12.1}

 There's not too much to say about this week. We planned on going Christmas shopping, but that didn't pan out due to Amazon completely screwing up the bank account! I was SO annoyed and frustrated about it that I wanted to scream. I've made two semi-large order over the past week and a half, so I've had random payments coming out at all different times. That's the one thing I hate about Amazon, they don't take the money out of your account right away and it sucks.

Anyways, not going to go into all that. Here are the pics from the week!

Drive to Perryville Saturday.

My mom and step-dad's house - it looks so beautiful with all the Christmas lights!

Subway for dinner Saturday (and the rest Monday).

Christmas Tree decorating in progress.

The mini Christmas Village from Dollar Tree.

Couldn't find any white ornaments at out local Dollar General, so I got some silver and blue ones and spray painted them. Lots of messy fun!

I totally got spray paint on our planter though.

Some homemade brown butter chocolate chip cookies for tree decorating!

The finished Christmas tree. I know I posted about this already.

It's so pretty! I wish we would've wrapped John Redcorn on the wall like we did last year.

Mini Christmas Village at night.

Late night cabinet decorating this week.

And lastly, me trying to correct the bank issues last night. Writing things out on paper is the best way to go, at least to me. Got it all figured out, too. :)

More D750 Sample Photos

 These aren't my best photos, not to mention I was walking Max and he was tugging and pulling the entire time, so I'm lucky I got what I got. Just when I think I have the functions and workings of this camera down, I turn around and screw something up. I think most of it has to do with the fact that I'm usually rushing, or even fighting with the light. I'll be glad when spring rolls around so I can get some photos of blooms. Taking pictures of dead shrubs and leaves is starting to get old... but not really, lol.

I think I'll leave things here, hope you enjoy the pics!

This leaf is a smidge out of focus, but I still like it.

Wild red berries.

More leaves.

The bokeh and macro on the 105mm lens is *chefs kiss*!

I love this feel of this leaf picture.

I think this macro leaf pic is amazing!

This dried, red leaf was so pretty.

These pics are a little dark, but not bad.

This is a little better.

Tiny dried flowers.

This screams winter.

And lastly, a Carolina Horsenettle. This isn't even a true nettle, but a member of the nightshade family.