So, I didn’t post over the holiday weekend, even though I wanted to.  I didn’t, because I’m not quite used to doing this every day yet, and I certainly don’t want to post fluff.  In fact, I’ve promised myself that I won’t write about inanities, such as the weather, the traffic, OMG PERSONAL IZZUES, or politics.

Thursday, someone in my complex tossed out a telescope.  It was broken somehow, and after seeing it, I was determined to get the lenses out of it.  So, after a Creole Thanksgiving meal, I broke out the screwdriver and pried my way into the broken optics.

I managed to tear out the main two lenses; the two in the viewfinder were useless.  Now, I’ve been fiddling with manual positioning, interjecting one lens into shots, and besides some focus and flare effects, haven’t gotten much out of them.  I’m going to mess with them a bit more this week and see if I can get use out of them.

On a similar note, I’m looking for a spare pair of eyeglasses, for the lenses.  Preferably far-sighted, but any will do.  I want to build a fisheye lens, and figure that’s the best place to start.

Újból itt a kedvenc keleti csapatunk, ezúttal az Olympus E-P1-el együtt debütált M.Zuiko 14-42mm-es kitobival játszadoztak és mindent kipróbáltak vele.

Ide kattintva találjátok a teljes tesztet, előzetesben pedig néhány mintakép.

I remember that fire now, the one that sent me ablaze and I set out to change. The one that caused the loss of over 20 kilos, the one that made overcoming depression the single minded focus of my life above all else

I remember the feeling of wanting to scream and doing it, wanting to achieve something and achiving it. Not breaking, but building and having will power that was shatter proof.

I see myself and I’m not happy, going from one spectrum to the other. I’m not proud I needed attention to get by and it scares me how much I just need to be alone. I’m not happy with how dirty I am, the smoking and the booze and the lazyness. I don’t write much, the ideas still come and I do nothing. I’m unhealthy and won’t do anything to get better.

When the fire came it’s a punch to the brain. I see where I am and its nowhere where I want to be. It’s come again, my family issues are not an excuse to abuse myself or be lazy.  I had a weekend of nothing but excess and returning home I felt like I’d gotten all of that out of my system. I need to reclaim self control and I’m going to. I’m not going to worry about not knowing what to do I’ll just do it instead.

For all the people who just got christened with their brand new Canon or Nikon DSLRs, this you gotta see. Love!

Photographed by doug88888

Taken through a UV filter at Chiswick, England.

– License

Lens

1

2

3

4

A set of tree views as seen through a fisheye lens

Select here to see a set of tree views by fisheye lens

Suggested Starting Equipment:*

1. DSLR camera. Having this immediately will greatly improve your chances of getting it SS & IS
2. Best Glass you can afford. A combination of 18-55, 50  and 55-250 range will get you started.
3. Desktop Computer with the fastest internet connection you can afford: Broadband, Cable etc.
4. Adobe Photoshop
5. External Computer Drives for Storage and Back-Ups. Terrabyte drives have come down to less than $135
6. Large Monitors for your desktop. Larger the better. Be sure and calibrate them.
7. Tripod
8. Extra Batteries for your camera
9. Large CF or SD memory cards for your Camera. Have at least two. Faster the better.
10. External Flash

*If you are on a shoe-string budget it is possible to make substitutions. It is also possible to go without some of these depending on what you shoot. However, having these pieces of equipment from the start will save you many potential headaches in the long run.

Best of Luck !

My Referral Links to Top Producing Microstock Photography Websites:

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery.mhtml?id=144463

http://www.dreamstime.com/Mwp1969_info

http://www.istockphoto.com/mwp1969

http://www.123rf.com/profile_markpayne

http://us.fotolia.com/partner/200479231

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=HW16kzhvJX

Midstock Photography Sites:

http://www.mostphotos.com/mwp1969

Our Website:

www.PayneImages.com

I thought I would throw in a couple of super wide angled shots I took around the house last night. Basically cause I haven’t got much else to add today but they are interesting none the less.

Is it ready yet!

Space ships! No! Just a lamp...

Infinity Candles

A lot of people are going to get cameras this holiday season, or have them from the last few seasons.  They have a basic SLR and the kit lens.  There’s a lot you can do with these simple combinations, but they’re limiting as well.  I’ve been involved in a few discussion forums for these mid-level beginners and wanted to echo a post here about an individual who was looking to upgrade, primarily interested in wedding photography, but wanted advice on path forward.

“Agree with others, 18-55 kit *can* take a sharp photo, but it’ll be a challenge if you’re handheld, in low light, and don’t have a high-contrast subject that’s moving. The variable aperture also makes using Manual difficult, try Shutter Priority (Tv) or Aperture Priority (Av) first to get comfortable with working your exposure. If using a flash head, try fooling with bounce flash and Program mode (P). If you have an older Rebel without a thumb wheel, then you won’t really be able to use Manual for anything beyond posed shots, because you’ll only have one of three exposure parameters (shutter, aperture, sensitivity) assigned to the index wheel. Oh, thoroughly read the manual for your camera as you explore each setup. Some people are able to know just the basics and get great stuff, some people need to really dig and understand the nuance. Find out which you are and how much effort you’re willing to put into your craft before laying out cash. Regarding upgrades, I’d stick with the Rebel and first invest in glass. That 50 1.8 is a good choice, you can even get them used for $75 or lower, although they are a bit long on a 1.6x Rebel, almost 85mm. It’ll take some getting used to, which isn’t a bad thing. The 50 1.4 is an even better choice if you can drop a few hundred. Zooms, I’d say go for the 17-55 2.8 IS.. it doesn’t say L (no weather sealing, etc) but it’s L-quality glass. Every bit as good as the 16-35, 24-70 or 24-105 for under $1000. And if you don’t have one, get yourself a 580ex or 580exII flash head and rechargeable batteries (I like Ansmann 2700mAh AAs, they’re a bit pricey but pay for themselves over time) or an external battery pack. Learn to use bounce and fill-in flash and your photos will improve dramatically. More light means smaller aperture and faster shutter, which means more sharpness. More light also means greater saturation. I’m of the philosophy that photography isn’t cheap. Yes you can get by, and yes in the end, it’s the photographer not the camera. You can get some amazing photos with a $250 point-n-shoot, I know… but the proper kit makes it possible to get 500 amazing photos in a night as opposed to just 10 or 20. That’s once you’re ready to “go live,” you can learn everything you need to learn on the Rebel with one decent (fixed aperture) zoom, a prime or two, and a flash head. Best of luck and let’s see some of your photos as you progress!”

Click the photo to see Bryan Carnathan’s excellent review of the latest Rebel offering from Canon, the T1i, an incredible bang-for-buck DSLR package.

My favorite lenses are Konica Hexanon and minolta Rokkor. People often talk about the taste of lenses. Foreign famous lenses always have their own characteristic expression. Japanese lenses, however, tend to have none characteristic taste. Photograhers are always searching for their own, different, uncopyable expression, but those lenses, which have unique and distinctive character, became popular all over the world. It is a very ironic story. But I just love minolta Rokkor and Konica Hexanon lenses. Wait… I just made myself one step farther from Leica. Anyways, I like what I like.

Meglehetősen negatív hangvételű teszt került ki a photozone kezei közül a Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM objektívéről, érdemes meglesni.

Az obi felépítésével nem volt semmi kifogásuk, azonban a teljesítménye egyes esetekben eléggé elkeserítő volt, figyelembe véve a borsos árát az objektívnek. Kattintsatok ide a teljes tesztért.

Optikai minőség:
Mechanikai minőség:
Ár/érték arány:

Lomography’s cult classic Diana lens now fits your Canon or Nikon DSLR.

Get yours at http://shop.lomography.com

One year ago today Graham and myself created CEU and wrote out our very first blogs. Since then the blog has seen many pictures Composed, Exposed and Uploaded! We have had plenty of visitor frequent the blog, for which we are very grateful! We are now looking forward to the next year and the pictures that we are planning and the ones we are not planning on taking with great excitement!

Currently we are in the early phases of making CEU something much bigger and better than this simple blog. Early next year (hopefully!) we will have the new CEU up and running. The details of what to expect will be posted here first, so keep a keen eye out for the emerging details as they come.

To mark this special occasion I have uploaded my Gigrin Farm Red Kite photographs below. The Day started well with the sun out and the Kites looked spectacular when the sun caught there colours. Unfortunately the sun went away quickly and I was faced with much more difficult photographic conditions. Still I am extremely pleased with my results for a first trip to the farm.

The Final picture at the bottom I took with this blog in mind. I wanted to try and show the incredible number of kites that were present. All the little dots in the shot are Kites and this was only one of 3 ’stacks’ of the birds around the farm. On top of the stacks, the air above the feeding site was full of birds as well. It was such a wonderful experience and I highly recommend everyone taking a trip to see them.

Before the photos, I have another few pieces of news. I, much to Graham’s delight I’m sure, have created my very own Flickr account (link on the right)! I have been contemplating doing so for a long time, but I am always put off by the time it can take to upload pictures. To solve this problem I have purchased an export plug-in for Aperture (The program I edit my photos in). This plug-in allows me to directly export images straight from Aperture to Flickr with minimal hassle! Hopefully this export feature will mean I keep updating Flickr regularly. On top of this I have realised that I have a bit of a back log in processing my images and I have stumbled upon some really great photos that I took a while ago and haven’t processed yet. Expect to see a few of these over the coming weeks! Also don’t forget that you can keep up to date with Graham and myself more regularly via Twitter, link on the right!

Larger version can be found on my flickr account, link on the right!

Andy

Cameras and lenses of the past – Einige meiner Kameras und Objektive aus den letzten 35 Jahren Arbeit als Fotojournalist; Kameras und Objektive, die Weltgeschichte gesehen und festgehalten haben

- ein Blick ins Equipment eines Teilnehmers am World Press Photo Contest -

Eine Vielzahl von Kameras hat mich im Laufe meines Reporterlebens begleitet, robuste professionelle Gerätschaften, aber auch Schnappschußkameras, die man eher in Amateurhänden vermutet. Und meine erste Spiegelreflexkamera war ein Modell von Foto Quelle, eigentlich eine Konica Autoreflex, aber damals in Deutschland unter dem Markennamen Revueflex vertrieben.

Ein Teil dieser Ausrüstungsgegenstände kann von interessierten Sammlern käuflich erworben werden.

Anfragen und Infos bitte nur schriftlich an:
Franz Roth, Postfach 12 03 08, D-90110 Nürnberg

Ein Hinweis in eigener Sache:

Wer eines unserer Geräte für seine Sammler-Vitrine erwirbt, der kauft ein Stück Technik-Geschichte und zugleich das Werkzeug eines Fotojournalisten, der nicht zu den No-Names der Branche zählt. Im Gegenteil: meine Fotos wurden in renommierten Medien publiziert.

Rudolfstein 11.11.1989

You see here parts of the equipment of the photo journalist Franz Roth, gear that covered both, world history and features for the illustration of the editorial press. Some of my cameras and lenses are for sale. Be sure buying gear of a well known photographer who’s pictures were published in well known papers, magazines and books. Please contact me for further information. Get my adress from the imprint of my websites or see above.

We also offer – as an alternative – those tools as stage prop for film and tv productions. For example if you do film about the seventies and you need authentic equipment of the time. Please ask our rental fees by postal or electronic mail or phone (+49 (0)911 – 47 20 962). And if you’re looking for a location of this time in the southwest of Germany please contact us too.

Analoge Profi-SLR's und Dias

Außer als Verkaufsangebot für Sammler oder fototechnische Museen bieten wir diese authentischen zeitgenössischen Ausrüstungsgegenstände auch für Film-, TV- oder Theaterproduktionen als Requisiten an. Erfragen Sie bitte auch dazu unter der oben angegebenen Adresse oder telefonisch bzw. per E-Mail unsere Konditionen bezüglich Mietpreisen etc. Wir unterbreiten Ihnen gerne ein individuelles Angebot.

Alle Geräte sind – trotz ihrer zum Teil starken Gebrauchsspuren – in voll funktionsfähigem Zustand.  Mit ihnen kann also auch heute noch fotografiert werden. Keines der Geräte wies im Laufe seines “Arbeitslebens” einen ernsthaften Defekt auf. Für keines der Geräte ergab sich die Notwendigkeit einer Reparatur. Und für alle Geräte steht Ihnen nach wie vor der Nikon Service zur Verfügung.

Ähnliche Artikel / related articles:

1. Heute vor 20 Jahren
2. Vorschau Jahrestage 2010
3. Faszination Nikon
4. Faszination Nikon (II)
5. Eine Hommage an die Legende Nikon F2
6. Location zu vermieten

Links:

1. Ganz schön ruppiger Umgang mit der Ausrüstung
2. In meinen Augen Nikons beste Werbung
3. Jetzt wird es nostalgisch
4. Bilder vom Systemwechsel
5. Faszination Nikon

Photographer at work

I only shoot when I am moved by the moment itself.  Regardless of the subject, my camera simply becomes my translator of the moment as I experience it.  Instinctively maneuvering myself and my lens to embrace the moment fully, through framing, perspective, and ambient lighting, I ‘dance’ with my camera.  Like a first kiss, a moment cannot live again.  Thus I only have an instant to capture that moment… no re-takes… either I caught it or I did not.

Black and white photography has always held an added dimension of wonder for me.  The hushed unfolding of the moment, without the distraction of color, leads me straight to the story itself.

Color photography recently became a renewed form of storytelling for me.  The energy of color, whether bold or subdued, can heighten the sensory connection to the moment.

Regardless of your own preference for color or black and white photography, I invite you to ‘dance’ with the moment as you view my images.

Spiritflow – 2007

I played a bit more with the new lens today.  There must be many thanks to the giver, because the more I use the glass, the more I see the strengths.  It forces me to use my feet far more, which is a habit that I fell out of some time ago, with the bigger and badder zoom attachments.

Speaking of the zoom attachments, much sympathy must go to Gordon, who recently lost a 18×200mm lens.  In Sydney.  On his first day there.  A dark part of me is eager to see what he does, now that he is forced to use a wide-angle lens or his iPhone… but still, it’s never fun to lose  anything, much less an expensive piece of glass.

And speaking of glass, I’m going to experiment and build a fish-eye lens.  I was hoping to do this tonight, but videar games have sucked me in, so I think that I’ll try it out tomorrow during the day.  I’ve been granted a reprieve from work, so I do have tomorrow and Friday off, when I was planning on going into the office.  So, that’s nice.

The pictures that I’ve taken so far with the new lens?  I’ll post them up tonight.  I’ve been negligent with uploading regularly, but I’m still taking pictures every day.  I think it’s more of an expectation that I set for myself, uploading every day.  Not the worst habit to have.

Two side notes:

1. It was recently revealed to me that my friend Greg gets odder when I’m around.  This is amusing, because I’ve found myself getting odder when I’m around him.  Apparently, we mutually degenerate each other.

2. Playing Mass Effect while listening to Weebl’s Stuff is interesting, to say the least.

There are hundreds of webcams out there on the market and there is pretty much a new webcam out there every few months. I try and make sure I personally test out webcams out there on the market to save camgirls time before purchasing a webcam.

You do not need to spend alot of money on a webcam if your buying the right webcam, spending about $25 to $200 on a webcam can be a good investment since. You do make that money within a month of being online as a webcam model, some camgirls are even able to make that money back within a few hours of work.

So your in the store about to buy a webcam, and your pretty much overwelmed with all the boxes in front of you that have a webcam in them. You pretty much want to get a webcam where has simple words to understand on the box.

Photographed by Laurent SJ

Testing the Nikkor PC-E 24mm on the D300 around Lugano Lake, Italy-Switzerland

– License

How to Photograph Up Close

Information on Macro & Close Up Photographing by Janice Sullivan

Introduction/ II: Cameras, Lens’ & Tripods / III: Fun Gadgets for Macro Photographing / IV:  Basic Macro Shots using Natural Light / V: Digital Darkroom Basics / VI:  Creative Techniques using Natural Light / VII: Alternative Lighting Techniques 1 / VIII: Alternative Lighting Techniques 2 / IV: Alternative Lighting Techniques 3 /  X:  Printing Your Close-Up Photograph

Hello everyone,

This is the tenth article of my series of How to Photograph Up-Close.  In this series of articles I have discussed various info to start you on a wonderful journey of photographing close up.  I hope that I have inspired you to go-for-it and enjoy the macro world.  Every time I shoot something new I learn something new.  Whether it be the subject or the process itself, it’s a wonderful feeling to learn something new everyday.

Before I start this post on printing, let’s touch on what I have discussed in this series of articles to refresh your memory.

I began my series of How to Photograph Up Close with an Introduction to discuss how the series would be  set up.  I said I would plan on discussing close-up photography and would give you links to read the technical information.  These articles will have various books, magazine articles, and links to help you learn this style of photography.  I stressed that to make a professional photograph you will need excellent equipment, patience and of course have fun!

The second article, Cameras, Lens, and Tripods, I talked about the digital single lens reflex camera, various macro lens’ and of course tripods.  I added links with technical info on the equipment and links to companies for you to check out, if you want to purchase these goodies.  The reading for this post was Hogan’s article on photography equipment.

The third article, Fun Gadgets for Macro Photographing, discussed equipment to make it easier while you’re shooting close-up.  I talked about some of my favorite gadgets…the focusing rack, ball heads for your tripod, the angle finder to help you focus, a cable release to help minimize the shake of the camera, and the ring light flash.  You can read all about these gadgets on this post.  Also, I wanted you to check out John Shaw’s book, “Macro & Nature”.  It’s an old edition but I like his concept of macro photo skills.

The fourth article discussed Basic Macro shots using Natural light. This post was a tutorial on using natural light and the importance of knowing the F-Stops, Shutter Speeds & the ISO.   I talked about how I start a project and how the depth-of-field affects your shots especially when you’re photographing close-up.  The reading material I gave you for this post is a wonderful book by Nicki Wheeler, “The Complete Guide to Close-up and Macro Photography”

The fifth article in this series, Digital Darkroom Basics, was a must… I discussed the software you most likely received when you purchased your digital camera and various formats like a tiff, jpeg, and raw files.  The reading material on this post is by Hoddinott, “Digital Macro Photography”.  Hoddinott has some excellent info on digital dark-rooming.

The sixth article, Creative Techniques using Natural Light, was on just that, techniques using natural light.  I also discussed some art rules and color info, (the rules of thirds & the color theory), and I focused on some fun macro shots with textures, water drops and backlighting.  The reading for this post Harold Davis’ article, “Focusing on What Matters”.

The seventh article, Alternative Lighting Techniques #1, discussed exposure, HDR (high definition range) and zone levels.  I gave you info on examples of light reflectors, flashes, and flash diffusers.  There are some examples of photographs shot with natural light and a flash to show you the difference between them both and again I talked a bit about the f-stops and shutter speeds.  The reading on this post was, “Closeup shooting” by Cyrill Harnischmacher’s.

Because I didn’t want to overload you with several lighting techniques in the seventh article, I decided to discuss more lighting in the eighth, Alternative Lighting Techniques #2. I talked about using a flashlight for lighting your subject and linked you to technical info on color temperature.   This article gives you a kit that works awesome for macro photographing. I also discussed strobe lighting, various grids, and snoots.  The reading suggestion on this post was an article by Urs Recher, on Light Lessons, and an excellent book on lighting is by Robert Morrissey, “Master Lighting Guide”.

The ninth article in the series, Alternative Lighting Techniques #3, had more information on lighting techniques using umbrellas and fun tools you can use with an umbrella.  I also talked about reflective surfaces and using a tent to help with this problem.  I gave you a link to help you make a tent if you didn’t want to purchase one and showed you some of my photographs using my tent.  This post gave you some of my favorite magazines for you to check out.

This article, Printing your Close-up Photograph, will discuss how to make that perfect print.  From this series you should be able to photograph a great macro shot…and how to print your work.  You have taken time to perfect your skills and now I would like to talk about the ending result…put a smile on your face and print your favorite work!

If you don’t have a printer you can use outside printer companies, which is nice when you have time for mailing etc… Of course you can go to Costco but I’m not talking about quick prints…I’m talking about professional prints.  These are the companies I have used and recommend… West Coast Imaging, Nations photolab.com,  &  if you want fun products with your images on them, check out Mpix.com.

But, if you are like me and really want your colors perfect using specific paper to add quality to your print, then you will need to purchase a printer.  I use Epson printers and I also use their paper.

If you want more details on various printers, check out this link I found, Printerinfo.com, so you can read up on printers before you invest your money.   As you will see, professional printers can be expensive.

I really need to stress that if you do have your own printer, please calibrate your printer to your monitor.  I used to go crazy and waste time, ink, and paper, trying to achieve what I saw on my monitor and what was actually printing.  Yes, there are techniques you can use if you know your color #’s but that’s for a later and more detailed post.

I would suggest using Spyder to calibrate your monitor.

Spyder

From datacolor.com

Check around for pricing… I found this site, Calibration-Direct.com…you can start with them for some bargain shopping  and you can always check out Amazon.

Ok, let’s go through some basic steps on printing your photograph… When you purchase your photo paper you will see instructions on printing.   READ THEM, it does make a difference!

Let us print this image:

Remember, if you want to look at these images closer, click on them…to get back to my blog use your back arrow key

First you will want to go to file > Page setup > select your printer and paper size>

Now select your paper size:

You can print from this but I suggest you use a program like Photoshop to print from. You will be able to set up your pages, printer, manage color…

Once you click on print you will see the info below:

Check the print management: do you want the printer to manage the color or do you want your program (Photoshop) to manage the color?  <click on print>

You will see this screen next:

You will see a bar “Layout” click on this to get to printer settings, see below:

This is the box where you need to make your changes, layout, paper, & make sure “finest details” is checked and that you have the correct paper type. Click around to learn… click Print and enjoy ☺

Today, I went over the various articles on How to Photograph Up Close and because you now have the knowledge to create an awesome close-up photograph… you will be able to print that amazing shot! Print your favorites and put a huge smile on your face to remember the steps you achieve to make this photo. A couple of things to remember when you print:

• Select your printer
• Select the size you want printed
• Make sure you have read your info on the paper you choose to print on.
• Select the correct paper, for example “Epson fine art paper matte finish”.
• Select if the printer or your software will color manage your print.
• Select the “fine” print quality. If your printer is slow, be patient…it’s worth it.

Also, I highly recommend you use a program like Spyder to calibrate your monitor with your printer.

I would like you to read this link on Printing Quality Photos and “Fine Art Printing for Photographers” by Steinmueller & Gulbins, check it out at Amazon.com.

Hope this helps you feel confident to print, print, & print some more. Happy Fall to you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cheers,
Janice

A few quickies.  Not too happy with the CA in the first photo, could probably fix it in post but whatever.  If somebody wants to try it, I’d love to see the result!

I like one or two of these in a wedding set.. the couple blurred out, and some sharp detail subject.  More than one or two gets boring though, and when I see other photogs include several of these, I think it looks lazy.

My arm was twisted by proxy last night, and I was forced to open a holiday gift early.  “I want him to use it!”, or words to that effect, were the reason.  After complaining and rubbing the owie out of my shoulder, I grudgingly opened the small, yet relatively heavy, box.

I now have a 50mm lens!  I haven’t worked with one since the says of the 35mm SLR, back in high school.  Yes, I had a suspicion that I might be getting one… either for holidays or on my own.  But receiving it early is a treat.

Now, I’ve seen the results of a 50mm lens, and have been preached to by peers, but never really understood the technical “why” it works.  So, I searched, and I read.

http://www.vothphoto.com/spotlight/articles/forgotten_lens/forgotten-lens.htm

This article did a good job.  Now I have some solid ideas on what to use it for, and it may very well be the staple lens on my 50D body.

Isn’t it great that we can look through a camera lens and immediately identify if the subject we are looking at is in focus or blurry and make any necessary corrections before capturing the shot.  And photographers are so great at making sure the subject is centered in the frame and is in the most flattering pose…not one with eyes closed and a double chin that shouldn’t be there.  And, isn’t it interesting that we have a hard time doing that if we turn the camera around, hold it at arm’s length and take it of ourselves.   What others see when they look at us through the camera lens does not seem to match up with the built-in camera in our head.

I think some of this begins when we were little and we were taught not to be stuck on ourselves.  Little comments that were made by well-intentioned adults cautioning us against being vain and liking what we see when we look in the mirror.  While I agree that we shouldn’t encourage narcissism, we also shouldn’t encourage false modesty or feeling bad for feeling good!  I also think there are adults, who when little girls and little boys, liked how they looked or simply liked themselves, until someone came along, who was jealous or spiteful or foolish, and told them that they had something wrong with their person.  Usually it’s a physical feature that is attacked, but it can also be intelligence or ability.  Such as: You’re really not that smart; There are better ball players than you; Too bad you didn’t get first place like me; Hahahaha, you got a C on the test!  Wow, it wasn’t that hard.

These are the things that cause the camera in our head to become out of focus.  We no longer see ourselves for what is true, we see ourselves through the pain in our heart.  We no longer see ourselves as a focused camera sees:  “You are the same person you were before that person hurt you.”  Instead we see ourselves as if we are looking through a carnival mirror, one of those wavy ones that is both convex and concave…it makes us look distorted.  Lies make us look distorted and when this is how we see ourselves it is that much harder to see ourselves as a person  God could or would love or use in His Kingdom.

At some point, each of us needs to step back from the carnival mirror, and replace it with one that speaks truth.  We need to reach up into our mind and take out the camera that is up there and adjust the lens back to how it was before someone knocked it out of focus with their hurtful words.  We need to go to the Lord and ask Him to help us adjust the lens to the correct setting. The setting that He intended it to be; the setting that is how He sees us.  Whether man or woman, older or younger, if you don’t see the beauty or abilities in yourself that others see, you need your inner lens adjusted.  Let God show you the truth, for He knows you completely.

1 Cor. 13: ¹² Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.