It doesn't get any more boring that this! But after trying to figure out how to remove the eyepiece on my Canon XSi to put on the new rainsleeve for the Alaska trip (somehow we planned a trip to Alaska in the rainiest month of the year, go figure!), as a last resort, I finally opened the camera manual. I remember a friend years ago telling me not to bother with a DSLR class at the local community college. Literally all they did was read their camera manuals for weeks in class. She was disgusted. However, I'm beginning to think it's not a bad idea to read the camera manual from cover to cover and then keep it along as a reference. While learning to remove the eyepiece and fit the rainsleeve over it and replace it, therefore keeping it mildly water resistant, I got sidetracked and read bits & pieces. I think I read the manual when I first bought the camera, but now that I've used it for awhile, I had many more "ah-ha"! moments when reading the manual. Hmmm.. If you're curious, this thing is like an oversized baggie, designed to accommodate my long 120-400 lens as well as my everyday lens. The only two parts that are open are the eyepiece and the lens, but it's easy to work all the controls through the baggie. It's an OP/TECH USA Rainsleeve and comes in a packet of 2 for $5.83 on Amazon. It should work equally well on my tripod or handheld, although it's a bit bulky to accommodate the longer lens when I'm using it with my regular 18-200 everyday lens. Meantime, look what I downloaded onto the IPad -- a copy of the owners manual so I won't have to take the book separately. It's not big, but every ounce counts when you're trying to fit everything for a monthlong trip in a backpack!
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Taking photos every day, I guess I need to learn a bit about taking photos in the rain. So I looked online for a guiding blog and every photo I took following online advice turned out black, not dark, black. :( So I started playing. I had hoped the flower photo would show the rain falling but no rain. The drip is OK, although the entire photo is dark and I'm not sure what I should have done about that. Settings were: ISO100, manual focus, f8, 1/60 on Manual. And all were taken on evaluative metering and cloudy white balance. So I tried again... This time I almost got a droplet splash - if you look really close in the middle you can see some splash and little spray coming up. But not a good shot, yet. I'm learning though with every failure! :) Settings were ISO100, f6.3, 1/100, manual focus, -0.7 exposure compensation. Look really close - you can almost see how hard it's been raining all day. But again, not a good photo, but I'm learning to blur the water. Settings were ISO100, f5.6 1/40, manual focus, TV and +0.7 exposure compensation.
I think maybe I learned something today ... I'm not sure exactly what, but hopefully it'll be an exercise to build on. If anyone out there reading this has any idea of what I should have done better, please PLEASE leave a comment and help me learn! I've decided that I've always wanted to learn more about photography. I take photos, most of them get trashed. But I keep on trying. I've decided to use this "Daily Photos" blog on SailWinterlude.com to share stuff as I learn. If you're interested, please stick around! First, in order to take better photos, I have to take more photos. Daily. Almost every blog I read has the same advice, so it must be true, right? One blog, Digital Photography School has a newsletter with a weekly assignment. I've never participated (and still won't) - I know when I'm outclassed. But this week's assignment is "Vertical Lines". When we took our walk, we went looking for vertical lines. Drum roll.... my favorite, although I'm not sure it's all about vertical lines ... my corn tunnel. The reason it's my favorite? I've been following another website, Moose Peterson, who is an AMAZING photographer, probably my very favorite. I've been paying attention to the settings he's using and he seems to shoot alot on AV (aperture value). I wanted most of the photo in focus and he says to use a higher f stop, so I used f22. I know if you're a "real" photographer, you'll say it's overexposed and other stuff, but I DID IT without being on "P" or auto! And it's not too dark to see down the corn tunnel, so I'm happy happy happy!!!
Hoping to get some good bird photos during our trip to the N. Cascades Nat'l Park and then Alaska ... practicing a bit on some of the birds sitting on my bird feeder. :)
As we're getting ready to spend a month in Alaska, this morning, a glacier appeared in our own back yard on the lake!
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