Happy Halloween my pretties…
I LOVE Fall! The colors are warm and bright. The light starts to change after Daylight Savings time (which, hello, is TONIGHT). I don’t have to wait until later in the day to get the beautiful long shadows and gorgeous warmer light temps.
I also have lots of opportunities to use one of my favorite pre-sets…Night Portrait/Night Landscape mode. The nice thing about this preset is that I can quickly get slow shutter speed and flash combination without fumbling with the controls or menus.
If you haven’t tried this setting, now is the time! Here are just a few of the great ambiance pics you can shoot…
The only thing you have to worry about is how slow the shutter speed is. The slower it is, the harder it will be to hand-hold and shoot. The flash will freeze anything that might be moving in the foreground, but the background might be too blurry because of the motion. You can eliminate some of this by using a tripod, bracing the camera against your body and relesing the shutter after exhaling.
Another way to achieve this type of ambient light/flash combo, is to use Shutter or Time Priority. This method allows you to choose an appropriately slow shutter speed (try 1/30 or even 1/15 of a second) coupled with your flash. Experiment with lower power on your flash in Manual Mode to achieve the best combination. You don’t want the flash to over power the ambient light!
PHOTOS FROM 2009
Research on the internet…
So after spending quite a bit of time in my yard and loving the macro capabilities of my new Nikon P6000, I have been able to take a few more interesting specimens for you and identify them!
The caterpiller that I posted last is a White-marked Tussock Moth caterpillar. The identification was made using BugGuide.net. This has so many great photos of insects and you can post photos and get expert advice on what is “bugging” you!
Here is my latest find…
This beautiful thing I knew was some kind of orb weaver simply because of the web, but what kind I didn’t know. By using a few keywords, I was able to find out about orchard spiders on wikianswers but the librarian in me needed to verify that information (editable websites or wikis should never be taken for gospel)…so back to BugGuide.net where I did a little search again and identified it as a Venusta Orchard Spider or Orchard Orbweaver! Fascinating huh?
I love to research and learn new things. There is so much useless knowledge rolling around in my head. My kids make fun of me but you never know when you’re gonna need that knowledge. So keep shooting and keep learning along the way!
