This was a pretty slow week for me.  The weather has been dull and gray (except for yesterday, that is) and on Wednesday, I got a pretty bad case of vertigo that left me feeling pretty crappy for a couple of days.  I did go outside and grab some photos, though.  Of the ones I took, this is my favorite.

I call this Waiting for Warmth.

Unfortunately, this week I do not have any honorable mention photos to post.  That should tell you how little I did this week with my photography.  I’m hoping next week will be different!

This week definitely went to the birds.  As I explained a few days ago, we have had cardinals inhabiting one of the trees in our yard.  So, needless to say, my camera was equipped with the zoom lens and I was outside trying to get bird photos all week.

That being said, this is my photo for week 3:

I call this one Birdie Brunch.

This week’s Honorable Mentions:

Good Morning

At Rest

Alone

So, I’ve been outdoors several times this week snappin the birdies.  This afternoon, I took some photos from my living room window.  My favorite being this one:

PROS:

Tree bokeh in the background.  Love it.

The textured look (not added by me).

Webby looking branches.

CONS:

Itty bitty birdie

I experimented with a couple of different crops:

Good, but the bird still is kind of small…

This image ended up being my favorite.  (I also got some good advice on the subject).

As you can see, cropping the photo greatly improves the image.  It still has all the things I like about the original, but the bird is obviously a lot bigger and the the photo has a better composition.

I still really like the original, but I think that the cropped image takes the cake.  In my opinion, cropping is one of the easiest ways to improve an image (if done correctly).

So, next time you’re editing an image, try a crop!  You may be surprised what it can do for your photo!

This week I took a lot of great photos!  I really had a hard time choosing the “best” one for this week’s photo.

In the end, I chose this one of Emma entitled Snow Day.

Every week I’ll also post some of my other favorites.  This will be my Honorable Mention Section.

This week’s Honorable Mention’s are as follows:

Bare

Winter Sunrise

Winter Sunset

Snow Day {Taylor}

Nermal

One of my favorite photos of 2011 is this one of Taylor.  The look on her face is priceless!

Best Face Photo from 2011.

I took tons of photos in 2011, but one of my favorites is this one:

This little guy was 6 months old when I took this photo back in September.  He had just learned to sit up, so we had to act fast!  The expression on his face is so sweet!

Check out I ♥ Faces to see all this week’s entries!

In 2011, I took a break.  No special projects, just photographing when I felt like it.  Now it’s 2012, and I wanted to do another project, but one that was a little more lenient than a 365.  So, I decided to do a Project 52 this year.  One photo a week for a year. 

Starting with this post and continuing every Saturday throughout the year, I will post my favorite photo from the week.  I even made a cute little button for all my posts:

Clicking the button will take you to my 2012: 52 Weeks set on Flickr.

Here is my photo for Week 1!

Rock On!

Join me here every Saturday for my weekly photos!!  2012 is going to rock!

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Best wishes for an amazing 2012!!

And a Happy New Year!

Love her so much!