Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas 2012!

Wishing you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS from the O'Steen house. 

























Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christopher Shenanigans

Christopher is in his last days of visiting the O'Steen house.  On Boo's last day of school  before Christmas break, she was given the honor of bringing home the "class pets" for the Christmas break, two mice named Salt and Cocoa.  Apparently Christopher knows all about mice, they must have them in the North Pole, and seem to be just as unwanted as they are around here.  Christopher wasted not one single minute when those mice entered our home.  He caught them up by their tails right away! 

But not to worry, those mice got their revenge. 
Christopher didn't know what hit him when suddenly he was tied up in Christmas ribbon, duct taped to the wall, and was held up by candy cane guns.  Apparently those mice know how to hold their own. 

Christopher was pretty quiet for a few days after that. 
He was very thrilled to be able to give Punkin her acceptance letter to her first choice college - YAAAAAAY Punkin!!!! 
He shared several more jokes...
We even caught him Skyping one day with the big guy up in the North Pole. 


We can't wait to see what he has up his striped sleeves for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Stay tuned!! 


Monday, December 17, 2012

The Elf Adventures


We've decided that Christopher tries to place blame on the kid who he thinks has been the naughtiest in recent days.
 But he also LOVES to make things look festive! He took it upon himself to string lights in the dollhouse.  He didn't really do a fantastic job. 

 He has a great sense of humor. 
 And is very playful.....

 He felt a certain sense of obligation to warn the gingerbread men of their impending doom.....
 and he vandalized the bathroom yet again...
 He loves perching in high places to keep an eye on everything...


He was SUPER naughty one day when he replaced everyone's stockings with underwear.  He knew better than to mess with moms.  Smart elf. 

But we find it pretty easy to forgive him  :)

See more of his adventures HERE!!!


Friday, December 7, 2012

How to Take Beautiful Pictures of Your Christmas Tree

 Do you ever wonder how to make your Christmas tree lights look like they are twinkling and sparkly?  The trick is all in your camera settings. 

The picture above was taken just as it was starting to get dark outside.  The trick is to set your camera in aperture priority mode, then set your aperture at its highest setting, mine for this lens was about 22, and to keep your ISO rather low - mine was 400.  This will result in a very low shutter speed to compensate.  Because the shutter speed will be so low, you need to have either a tripod - or a counter top (HA!).  I simply set my camera on my kitchen counter.  You also need to set the self timer on your camera so that when the lens opens, you don't shake the camera at all while pressing the shutter.  I honestly didn't know how to do this, but a quick check in my camera's manual showed me it was quick and simple. 

The above picture was taken in the middle of the day  - you still get the same effect.  I love the starbursts of light that result from the shutter being open so long. 
 And this is the same thing taken at dusk - the color balance can  be slightly different, but other than that you can get this same effect in the daytime or night.  

Happy shooting!!