Snap'n with a Tripod

The return of my tripod was refreshingly easy yesterday. I left work five minutes early and it only took two minutes to exchange for a tripod with all the parts. When I left the store there was an amazing sunset. Would post a photo, but didn't have my camera with me. Note to self, always have camera with you.

Last night I messed around with slow shutter speeds. Mounted my camera on the new tripod and started taking photos of running water. Unfortunately, the only waterfalls I could arrange came out of the tap or containers I poured into the sink. I wasn't able to get any "silky curtain" photos like you see in magazines, etc. -- maybe because I wasn't shooting the right kind of water, maybe because I really am clueless about how to work my camera, or maybe (likely) both. However, by going to macro and cropping a little I did get some close up shots that I liked (see new heading for this blog). Monkeyed around with the flash a little as well. I figured out how to turn it on when not in auto mode. For some reason I had this idea that using a flash is bad or amateur or something. But apparently it is necessary as there appear to be certain limits beyond which you cannot compensate with just shutter speed and aperture adjustment (at least with my lens; I wonder if a better lens would make a difference)-- especially in a dark house at night (which is were I will be doing most of my practice until spring).


Last thing, this photo was not taken last night, but I'll post it anyway. It's little Mary's hand holding my wife's finger. I like how the index finger is in sharp focus and the rest of the photo is a little blurred. I wish I could say I did that on purpose, but right now photography for me is like my golf game, a few lucky shots mixed in with lots of failed attempts. Oh, need to do something about editing software as well. Not sure I'm ready to pop for full-blown Photoshop, but I can't even put in black and white in the free software from Nikon that came with the camera. I can do it on the camera itself, but not on computer. Hum. I think this photo would be better in black and white, maybe.