Early Morning Shots...More Hydrangeas

Not much else is blooming in our garden right now. Or I should say that is easily accessible. Much of our gardens are overgrown and were planted over 14 years ago. So, I trek along the edges and here are the hydrangeas that are catching the early morning sun:






















The pictures were taken in Program-mode, auto settings, center-weighted, with 39-point dynamic area AF.

Hydrangeas...Mostly

Okay, so this one shot is not a hydrangea, but a spiderwort plant. The flower opens in the early morning hours and then closes up during the day. I only notice things that are blooming in the morning:



The hydrangeas are almost in full bloom in my neck of the woods. Hubby has so many bushes in our gardens and in different colors:

More Nikon D7000 Pictures - Outside

I had the opportunity to take my new camera outside today. I wanted to test the camera and see how it handled itself in Program mode and the auto settings along with my 18-200mm lens. I had to work fast as it was a sunny, hazy, hot and humid afternoon. Summer hasn't officially started according to the calendars, but it sure felt like it. I was naturally glowing after 30 minutes of walking around town.

The only post-production activities that took place was to add my copyright and to reduce the photo size. Here's the results of my adventure:


























There are times when I think the D7000 has a hard time handling high contrast or bright daylight shots:







Okay...so this one was an interior shot from inside one of the Old Town establishments:



I really like this camera a lot. It's wow-ing me with colorful images that don't need a lot of tweaking. I'm finding I have a lot of keepers. My new camera is amazing.

More Low Light Pictures

I'm at it again, testing my new Nikon D7000 toy. At first I had buyer's remorse, but that didn't last when I started snapping away and seeing the beautiful results.

I used my 18-200mm lens. All of the pictures shown here were taken in P-mode with auto settings and no flash. The outside pictures were taken after sun down. Then I took the camera indoors.

Here's the results:

Hydrangea Flowers - 95mm, F5.3, 1/125, ISO 1000 (bumped up the contrast-post production):




Poppy - 105mm, F5.3, 1/125, ISO 640:




Mystery Flower on Hosta - 170mm, F5.6, 1/125, ISO 2500:




Stained Glass - 62mm, F4.8, 1/125, ISO 5000:




Dining Room Light - 44mm, F7.1, 1/200, ISO 100



Self-Portrait - 18mm, F3.5, 1/25, ISO 6400:



This camera is "Wow-ing" me with it's low light capabilities. Next up...attaching my 35mm fixed lens and taking more pictures.

Stay tuned!

Low Light Photography

While I've enjoyed taking low light pictures using my Nikon D5000, the camera itself didn't have a wow factor. I've been spoiled with the wow factor I get when I use my Nikon D40. My D40 is still an awesome camera with limited capabilities.

So what did I do? I sold my D5000 and bought a new D7000. I'm still in the playing phase with this new camera. I wanted to share some pictures with no flash. Yes, I was in the kitchen while I was experimenting in this photo session. I was waiting for my banana bread to finish baking in the oven. I shot in P-mode with auto settings. I wanted to see the results...kind of like baselining before I start to tweak. Notice the ISO settings in the following pictures.

King Arthur Flour (52mm, 1/30, F4.8, ISO 1800):



A bottle of vanilla extract (120mm, 1/30, F5.3, ISO 2000):



My lunch bag (135mm, 1/20, F5.6, exp +0.7, ISO 6400):



This D7000 has been touted for it's low light capabilities. So far, I'm sold.

Another Year of Cherry Blossoms

A few days ago my brother and I headed down to the Tidal Basin to take some pictures of the cherry blossoms.  Unlike last year’s clear weather, the sky was overcast and there was definitely a chill in the air.  It was a cold and breezy day.  I forgot to bring my fingerless gloves (slap my silly head) and my numb trigger finger kept pressing the shutter release button in succession that resulted in several continuous shots being captured.  Nothing Kodak worthy to publish. 

I did manage to capture these: 

 

 

We headed away from the Tidal Basin and walked towards the Mall.  We kept walking in order to get warm and stopped whenever we happened upon a photog moment:

 

We headed north and had lunch at Ming’s in Chinatown.  We had a spicy lunch special of General Tso’s Fish Filet, rice, spring roll and hot ‘n spicy soup.  It was delicious and our tummy was nice and warm.

After lunch, we retraced our steps (route) and headed south along 7th Street.  As we were crossing in the middle of the street, I glanced to my right and saw a photog moment.  For a dismal cloudy day, I enjoy seeing bright colors pop up:   

 

It was a fun filled day of photo opportunities.  The cherry blossoms were gorgeous.

 

Here’s my brother, pausing for a pose.  I kept reminding him that he needed another neck to hold his 2nd camera: 

Underwater Photography - Fish

Taking pictures underwater, is a totally different photography experience. First, one has to deal with water movements or currents. Second, one has to deal with moving targets...as in fish. Fish like to move fast, darting in and out of coral. Just when you think you're going to capture the Kodak moment, the fish is gone. Sometimes you have to anticipate it's next movement, but that's a true guessing game. Sometimes, it just requires taking the picture and hoping for the best.

Here's what we saw while snorkeling in the Caribbean:









The pictures above were taken using the Canon S90 point and shoot camera with a Canon underwater housing. The camera was set to "underwater" mode and the included flash diffuser was attached to the housing. I don't recall the flash going off as we were snorkeling in bright sunshine most of the time.

I have to admit that most photography guidelines are not used while photographing underwater. Creative composition is key meaning if you see something you like, snap away. I admire folks that can take a clear picture of fish or marine life, centered or not. It's not that easy.

More pictures to come...