2012.01.01
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01.01 Sepia rosebud - Steve's favourite for Day 1
f/14, 1/320 sec, ISO 640, Aperture priority
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This was experimenting with my tripod and manual focusing on the gladioli reflection.
I realise I should have removed the two gum leaves floating in the birdbath.
f/11, 1/30sec, ISO 500, Aperture priority
Due to illness I had to resort to inside photos today, so I tried macro lens, tripod, longer shutter speeds [especially with the overhead fan] and remote release shutter. I was also shooting in Monochrome but somehow I turned the wrong dial when adjusting f-stop by two and ended up with this portrait of my darling man. Despite not being what I was doing, I really liked it, so here it is :-)
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2012.01.04
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f/8, 1/50 sec, ISO 800
Intently watching the cricket
Today I mainly tried two things - this morning it was water drops [not very successfully] and then this afternoon I found in my camera settings a way of doing multiple exposures, so I fiddled around with that too [with some interesting results]. Mostly it was the effect of the wind on a plant taken in two or three frames. These would have worked better if I had used the tripod, as would have the two exposure ones I did of Clarke's double century. I have to remember to reset this feature for each time I want to use it as it reverts to the norm as soon as the shots are done [great safety feature]. When I was in my small fernery I decided I would try three differing fern leaves [triple exposure] but the first I did were all green leaves which got me thinking, so I took three totally different shots, including changed colour as well as shape, and this one I really like, especially as one of the ferns was in a blue tub which is muted in the background. This one appeals to my creative instinct ... would love some feedback about it.
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f/2.8, 1/1600th sec, ISO 500, Aperture priority, centre weighted metering
framed in Helicon Filter
Still being sick I was confined inside again but I had an entry for the Camera House Photo Friday Comp to do ... luckily I had missed the table setting when putting away the Christmas decorations the other day, as the theme was about our Christmas festivities. Using my macro lens I tried a range of settings on the camera, while attempting to be a bit creative in the way I placed the things we had had on the table for our meal. It was great going through them as I found so many where I had not noticed little things getting in the way ... the line of the table edge in the background, the hole in the star, the fishing line for the bauble to hang from. I took nearly one hundred photos and brought it down to sixteen to make my final two choices. This is by far my favourite because Jesus, being the Light of the world, lights up those who follow Him and they are called to reflect His light and not hide it. This candle definitely gives reflection to all around.
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f/11, 1.6 sec, ISO 100, +0.7 step, Aperture priority
Using the tripod
2012.01.06
With the medication I'm on for this asthma and infected chest that just won't go away, I found holding the camera very hard especially as a strong summer breeze was up. I should have used the tripod ... I wonder how long it will take me to realise that? This photo is the head of a chive - a rather cute little purple head.
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| f/4.5, 1/1600 sec, ISO 100, Spot metering, Aperture priority |
As my son was up from Hobart today I thought I'd try some portraits [not my kind of photography normally] when they got back from the wedding they had attended. It was late, overcast and beginning to spit. I took some very ordinary ones and a few with which I am happy. This one was taken on the portrait setting rather than the Aperture setting which was good as I had forgotten to change the metering on the aperture setting :-( ... lesson duly learned (until I forget again!).
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| f/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, Pattern metering, Portrait setting |
This afternoon I did some experimenting with shooting in black and white, trying to get a variety of textures using my macro lens.
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| f/9, 1/80 sec, ISO 100, Aperture setting |
Decided to not use RAW on today's effort ... I'm struggling with the size of the shots and the in-camera editing, and as these are just practice photos, it is not really worth the extra work. "Talked" with a friend on Camera House forum this morning and got some ideas about how she takes the wonderful macro of her northern QLD insects ... so used continuous shooting to at least get one good one. The insects weren't exactly co-operating today, but I did get this tiny jumping insect from a gladioli that had been knocked over in the wind. This is quite cropped.
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| f/9, 1/500th sec, ISO 500, centre-weighted metering, Aperture priority |
My birthday, but the coldest day we have had for a few weeks. That, on top of my asthma and infection meant I did not do much, but I took the camera with me when we went out for lunch. We had a bit of a drive through the back country roads after lunch, but I only hopped out of the car a couple of times for short periods. Yesterday I enabled "Auto ISO" in the camera settings ... not sure if this is why I have such a fast speed. I had set it to ISO 500 using the Info button ... there is so much to learn!
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| f/11, 1/1250 sec, ISO 500, Aperture priority |
After some wild and wintery weather, the sun decided to clear ... on and off ... today. Tried my hand at manual focusing on water drops. Note to self:- turn off the auto ISO, change back to ISO 100 and check the white balance when going out to do some landscape shooting later in the day! [My foregrounds and backgrounds were woeful!]
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| f'9, 1/640 sec, ISO 500, centre-weighted metering, Aperture priority, cropped |
Being our anniversary, we went for a drive up the Mersey Valley to find the Arm Falls.I wanted to try to work with flowing water today, but still have lots to learn.
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| f/11, 1/13 sec, ISO 100, Aperture priority |
Having broken the old tripod I bought a new Manfrotto today which should last me as long as I need it. Late tonight, after tea, we went to Don Heads to use it in the lovely light of dusk. I framed this photo using Picnik ... this cuts it down in quality, but it is an interesting exercise for viewing on the computer. I've added the original and the framed to see the difference the presentation makes.
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| f/22, 1 sec, ISO 100, Aperture priority |
2012.01.14
Tonight I remembered to change the vibration control when I put the camera on the tripod [first time I've remembered ... hopefully it will become automatic!] We went to East Devonport beach to again try f/22. Being low tide and after sunset, the golden light picked up the colour of the pebbles which I really like.
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| f/22, 1 sec, ISO 100, Aperture priority |
Being brilliant sunshine, I tried the f/22, hand held rather than the tripod, and I managed to do it! [Mind you, I carried, and used, my tripod for those places I was out of the sun!]
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| f/22, 1/50 sec, ISO 100, Aperture priority |
Today I learned a serious lesson (although not realised till two days later as we were away from the computer). I had the camera set on "vivid" and forgot to change it to "landscape" for shooting - this is in the shooting menu and not obvious on the screen. I had the white balance for "shady" as we were in a rain forest, but fortunately I noticed that the colour was wrong when we were at the bottom of the falls, so my first photos were very yellow, but after that were better. If it had been set to landscape I think it would have been more accurate. Despite saying that, I'm glad about the effect of f/22 on the waterfall.
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| f/22, 0.62 sec, ISO 100, Aperture priority |
It was a very hot, very hazy day and the camera still was set on "vivid". We visited an historic property. My natural leaning is to landscape so most of today's shots were for memories alone. I look at other people's shots of buildings and am impressed, but I don't see the interesting angles yet. It was very, very dark inside this convict chapel and so I set it onto "night landscape" program setting.
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| f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO 640, program setting: night landscape |
This was the day I realised and changed the shooting setting to "landscape"! The colour etc was far more natural, but my favourite photo of the day, by far, was set on the program setting: sunset/sunrise. Just as the sun was setting behind the hill on the other side of the estuary, the beach and water became like gold and I was fortunate enough to be in the right spot at the right time for this shot.
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| f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, Program setting: Sunrise/sunset |
2012.01.19
Only took a few shots today and learned another lesson ... isn't that what it is all about? I had tried to take some little flighty wrens with the spot metering on Action but I couldn't be fast enough, even so. However, when I changed it to matrix I did manage a few.
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| f/7.1, 1/1600 sec, ISO 400, Program setting: Action |
Today I put on the macro lens and found some things around the yard to practise on; grubs, bees, cobwebs, rosebuds. Some were in Aperture mode and, because the wind was blowing or the bees were moving some were in Program setting: Action [the one below being one] ... some with auto focus and some with manual.
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| f/5, 1/1250 sec, ISO 400, Program setting:Action |
2012.01.21
Being in Hobart I tried some portraits of the boys with Walter, the dog. I had more failures than not today, but I do like this one of Walter.
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| f/4.8, 1/30 sec, ISO 800, program setting: portrait |
Today was our granddaughter's baptism. Afterwards we had lunch together and I took more photos today than any other. I had plenty of opportunity to practise taking group photos but found that with some I had the front people too close to the camera for those at the back as I had mistakenly left the camera on Portrait setting from the previous day [as you can see, I still have much to learn!]. For our immediate family group photos I used the remote and, although it is impossible to get everyone focused on the task at hand at the same time when adult kids are having fun and there are four littlies involved, these are a memento of a wonderful day together, especially for an absent daughter to have.
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| f/4.8, 1/125 sec, ISO 800, program setting: portrait |
Being on holidays we headed as far south in Tassie as one can get today, stopping for a trip on the Ida Bay Railway, along an old track through the bush to a beach only accessible by boat or this with the 1940s Malcolm Moore chain driven locomotive coupled to two passenger carriages built on 1890s bogie flat wagons. I spent a lot of the journey taking photos of the scenery through which we passed, but one of my favourite shots was this one taken through the water at the pristine beach at Deep Hole.
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| f/7.1, 1/1600, ISO 400, Matrix metering, Program setting: action |
The day began with rather overcast conditions but very soon after we began our walk along the coast to Fishers Point a very hot sun had burnt away the clouds. Because I'd wanted to practise getting a full depth of field I was going to take most of my shots on f/22. I'd set the the Auto ISO sensitivity control to ON on the shooting menu, so that had overridden the ISO 100 that I had set when it was necessary [at least I think that is what it does!]. I'd also remembered to take my tripod, which enable me to take this photo from a low position without contorting myself! This was taken early under the overcast skies.
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| f/22, 1/30 sec, ISO 110, matrix metering, Aperture priority |
After the disappointment of falls that were only a bare trickle in this year's dry summer [and so waterfall photos which aren't!], we walked in to Lake Osbourne but without my tripod. Again I was using f/22. The wind came up and the cloud began to come down, so I was rather frustrated with the quality, or lack of quality, of my shots. 1/30 sec wasn't long enough! I hadn't yet discovered why I couldn't get longer than 1/30 sec, a time that I can usually hand hold.
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| f/22, 1/30 sec, ISO 140, matrix metering, Aperture priority |
Today I explored my son's back yard using my macro lens, manual focusing and spot metering. I tried a variety of F stops in my attempt to understand this new lens. It enabled me to get a better grasp on the lens. In this shot I was trying to get one end of his garden seat in focus and have a blurred background, which I believe I have done.
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| f/2.2, 1/250 sec, ISO 100, Spot metering, Aperture Priority |
Today, as we went to the Tasman Peninsula, I tried to look at Tassie's iconic Tessellated Pavement from a different perspective than is the norm of postcards and travel brochures.
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| f/22, 1/30 sec, ISO 160, matrix metering, Aperture priority |
We spent today at the ruins of the Saltwater River coal mines and Port Arthur. I was thinking again of all those convicts who were sent to our land who would look out through prison bars and wonder what life had in store for them, and so I took a lot of shots through windows, looking beyond the walls and the reminders of bars. So many of us have convict forebears and so this is a salute to them and the new lives they made beyond those walls.
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| f/22, 1/20 sec, ISO 100, matrix metering, Aperture priority |
I learned a big lesson today - no matter how tired or sore from a previous day and an uncomfortable night, do not leave your bag in the car but take it with you! No, it wasn't stolen, but my first attempts at another 'tourist' photo spot in Tassie was not going to work with my 18-55 lens. Fortunately, Steve was not using his 55-300 lens so I borrowed that for this shot. With the wind buffeting as strongly as it was, I really needed the tripod which was, you guessed it, in the car with the bag. I had the camera set on continuous shooting in the Action setting so that I would at least get one good shot of the water inside the Tassie map which is the opening of Remarkable Cave. I got quite a few for which I am thankful.
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| f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO 1100, matrix metering, Program setting: Action |
Today's shot is more out of interest than anything else, and one I did not know was there until I looked. Steve had fed his bread to the ducks, geese and black swans and I just snapped at them up close using the continuous shutter with the Action program. What I couldn't believe when I looked at these was the depth of blue in the eyes and the amount of teeth this goose has!
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| f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO 1100, matrix metering, Program setting: Action |
Today I spent practically the whole time catching up with my photos of the last 10 days and trying to start to get the many vegies that have grown/ripened while we've been away, ready for preserving, freezing and cooking so I only took a few photos. The Nikon D5100 has a 'Scene' setting for food so I tried some shots using this setting. This is the bowl of vegies that I cut up today for making Piccalili Relish, at the stage where the salt is extracting the liquid. The 'Food' scene setting certainly brings out the vibrancy of the colours.
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| f/5.3, 1/60 sec, ISO 2000, Matrix metering, Scene setting: Food |
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