Weather Gnome

The weather gnome says more snow... baking bread and staying warm between shoveling bouts

Buffet

The weather has been very cold the last few days. I make sure that my feathered friends always have plenty to eat.

Winter Slump?

What can I say , this beautiful sky shot was taken from my yard. Now I know that ok to shoot from home but I had a sad feeling as I shot this. Sad because it was so beautiful and I was only taking a mediocre shot. I knew I could do better and I didnt. I didnt want to get all dressed up, I didnt want to pack the gear, I didnt want to walk to a more interesting foreground , or worse warm the car and drive. It just makes me wonder if I have the drive it takes to be a better photographer. I wonder if other photographers feel the same way?

Evening glow

The evening light casts a golden glow over everything it touches. This is my favorite time of day. The dogs and I went for a walk last night. Everywhere I looked the light was creating magic. Giving the tiniest leaf and the smallest tufts of grass a wonderful presence. "Look at me in my evening splendor" The kind of splendor that would be shortlived as the darkness was creeping in. Take an evening walk and enjoy the glow.

Good intentions

Last night I was thinking I would get up while it was still dark and drive around until I found something wonderful to photograph. Well I slept in and just couldnt seem to get myself going this morning. So I had to settle for taking photos off my back step. Maybe I will pack my gear tonight and get out there tomorrow. ; )

I have been asked about letting you guys in on some photo tips. So I guess I will start with this photo.

1.First of all I took a shot in "P" mode. (At this point I am using the camera as a meter) the camera gave me a reading of 10sec at f4 which is wide open for the lens I was using. ( Also let me say that as I was taking this photo from so far away, depth of field was not an issue)This also gave me a lighter exposure than I wanted, washing out the colours a bit. Also I was not using a tripod so there was no way to hand hold my camera and get a clear image.

2.I knew I needed to get my shutter speed up to a fast enough speed to get a sharp image. So I set my ISO to 800. Now I was getting a reading 1 sec at f4 . that was getting closer to handholding speed.

3. Now this reading was giving me the cameras idea of correct exposure . My creative vision was to see all the colours so I underexposed a bit. This allowed me to shoot it at .25sec at f4. Leaning against a pole I was able to steady myself enough to get a fairly sharp image.

So the main thing that I changed to capture the image I wanted was the ISO . If I hadn't I would have ended up with alot of blurry images to delete from my computer. Using a tripod would have been a better solution . As I could take the faster ISO out of the equation giving me less noise. .. Noise is often a problem in a photos of the sky. Higher ISO's make it worse.

I hope this has been helpful. Happy clicking.

Walking in a winter wonderland

Snow gently falling, frost clinging to all it touches. This is the scene down my driveway this morning.

Glow

It seems like forever since I posted anything . Our house has been in the grip of H1N1. It is a terrible flu and I have been worried , first about the grandchildren and now my husband. He is not sleeping well , coughing and congested . So I thought if I got up he would rest better. This was what I saw in the sky tonight. I also saw 2 shooting stars.. always a good omen for me and I feel all will be as it should be.