After months of "doggy says woof-woof"....there was only one thing Ben could be for Halloween.  

I could amazon prime myself a doggy costume but I had an idea of how to make one myself so naturally I opt for arts and crafts. Hobby Lobby is right next door - for the win! - so I pack up Ben and after a quick breeze through one of our favorite stores I was able to fashion him a super cute Dalmatian Puppy Costume.  Easy and almost no sewing.  

Away we go with another how-to...this one you might actually use someday!

Acquire the goods.  White sweatsuit with a hoodie, felt, pipe cleaners.  

Draw imperfect circular shapes on the felt and cut them out.  Place on suit.  Use fabric glue to adhere.  

The ears - the trickiest part but not difficult.  Draw the ears larger on top smaller on bottom.....then use the pipe cleaners to shape.  I did sew them on on the top, middle, and bottom.  You could also try hot glue.  

I cut slits in the hoodie and sewed them in.  ADORABLE!  Full disclosure I did amazon prime the face paint.  I forgot to buy it at hobby lobby so Prime to the rescue!

We dressed him up Saturday and took him to a little fall festival.  
Didn't. Say. Woof.Woof. Once. 

He's onto the next and only wants to talk about how the car goes "Vroom".  
So....let's roll with it.
​
Happy Halloween from the dog who says Vroom Vroom! 

I am a huge fan of using the self timer on the camera to take quick family photos when no one else is around.  My husband loves it too.  HA.  Kidding.  

​I do this when we travel and no one is there, or I don't want to bother someone to take our photo.  I did this the other weekend when I had Tom, Ben, and I all decked out in our Chicago Bears gear for the first game.  I did this yesterday when I wanted the memory of Ben's little feet in his cute little shoes next to mine.

Let's break it down.

The problem with this shooting method is lack of focus.  When you have the area you want to shoot but no subject in there, the camera has no clue what to focus on and when you run into the frame it will be blurry.  

But if you take some thought into the set up and focus on someone already in the frame you can take some awesome "ussies".  
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See above photo.  I sat Ben down on the ground and focused on his shoe labeled "focus here".  Then I ran into the frame and we stood together, and I hoped the camera would stay focused on that shoe.

Boom.  Nailed it.

That's the formula folks.  It's really quite that simple.  Now....if you absolutely have to take a selfie with your big camera.....one trick I've used is to set an object where you'll be sitting or standing, focus the camera on that, then run in to the frame in front of said object.  I did this once and it took many many many attempts but we got there.  What about a remote?  Well the camera still has to focus and you set the frame up from behind the camera no matter what.  Tricky either way.

Let's break it down further just for fun.

Above photo.  Straight outta the camera.  
-Used my older lightweight dslr since I had it propped up on a spider tripod and then from there propped up on children's books. I didn't want to risk my big-bad-super-pro-I'm-a-big-shot-now-camera falling over.  Even then the camera was still very low to the ground as you can see. 
-Used my lightweight 50 mm lens, ISO was set to Auto, f-stop 1.8, shutter speed 1/320.  Honestly - this was was the camera was set to when I turned it on and I just let it fly.
-Window to left, reflector to right
-Faux floor to absorb light and you can see the painters tape holding it down
-You can see it's a little dark and off center......but this wasn't something I was going to be too picky about and spend a lot of time on so I settled for it and determined I'd fix it later.  Not my normal philosophy, but this is just us and it's not an important photo.  Just fun

VOILA!  Our beautiful edit and such a wonderful memory for me.  

​Below the marked up breakdown.

A "how-to" I am positive you will never use....

Let's make some fake milk, y'all!  
​Wait, what?  Why?  Oh because I have the most adorable set up for my upcoming Christmas Studio Special......cookies and milk for Santa.  YES.  

I love your babies and toddlers but let's be honest, we don't need real milk spilled all over the place.  After a few trials I have found a way to create non-spillable fake milk so no one has to be nervous about making a mess while we are taking pictures.

Step 1.....Acquire the goods: white candles, milk bottles, striped straws.  

Step 2....Chop up candles and melt them in a bowl you don't mind potentially ruining over a double boiler on the stove top

Step 3....Pour into bottles and immediately place the straw in there.  Use a funnel (I just used paper) so the wax doesn't splash on the sides

Step 4....let them set, watch them turn bright white again, and use in a photo shoot!

Nope....thats not an insanely fast shutter speed.  That's the peace of mind of fake milk.  

I am PUMPED.  Is cookies and milk all I have up my sleeves?  Nope.  I've got a garage full of Christmas props....stay tuned!