Jul 8, 2008
posted by Shelley
It’s always a big deal for my Mom and Carl to head to Florida in the cold winter months. They have a place gulf side and would spend very little time in Indiana if not for family. I love it when they’re home — I not only enjoy their company, but they are awesome babysitters for the brown hound. The second they pull into their driveway in the spring, I have a bajillion jobs for Carl to do, and Mom normally spends at least 3 days sewing on buttons and cooking ‘real food’ — those things that I never took a great interest in.
I don’t know what I did to deserve it (heh), but recently Carl thought it would be great fun to shake me up. It’s no secret that their trips to Florida are short notice, but I do get a little warning. Standing at the kitchen sink, I hear the back door open and Carl announce that they are leaving immediately for their winter retreat. Whaaaaaa? I turn around to see them sporting their best ‘tropical’ outfits. Joke’s on them — I’m not sure I’ll let them leave until mid-January — certainly not until after the first big snow.
Jul 5, 2008
posted by Shelley
My 4th of July plans changed pretty much last minute so I didn’t get to snap even one shot. So here’s one taken last year…
Jul 3, 2008
posted by Shelley
Tomorrow is the 4th of July and you’re thinking about grabbing your camera to capture the celebration. You want some awesome photos! Right? If you’ve tried this before, you were most likely disappointed — especially if you were using a digital camera. For as long as fireworks have been around, photographers have been taking dark and blurry photos of them. Fireworks are tricky to capture — it’s dark and your subject won’t hold still. In this case, your subjects even disappear! Here are a few tips on how to get great shots despite the challenges.
- Use a tripod! Good fireworks photos require long exposures, and the best way to get them is to use a tripod.
- Have a flashlight handy! You’re going to be changing camera settings during the show and it is gonna be dark.
- Pick the best location early. Once things get going (especially if you’re going someplace besides your backyard to enjoy a fireworks show), it’s hard to move your stuff in the dark. Look for a place with a clear view of the sky. If possible, find a unique background that will make your photos most interesting (a lake, bridge, pool, friends…whatever) where people aren’t going to walk. Make sure the wind is blowing away from you so smoke doesn’t end up clouding your shots.
- Turn your flash OFF! Be bold and go flashless!
- Drop the ISO to 50 or 100. The higher your ISO, the more sensitive your camera is to light. Normally this means you want to use a higher ISO in dark settings, but when you’re shooting longer exposures (long shutter speeds) high ISO can introduce a lot of digital noise to your photograph. An ISO setting of 100 is a good bet.
- Use the self-timer to prevent vibration. To guarantee a sharper shot, set the camera’s self timer to the shortest duration and click.
- Focus on infinity and use the full manual setting on your camera if available. Set your focus to just less than infinity (or choose a landscape setting if you can’t manually adjust focus) and keep the aperture of f/8 to f/16.
- Use LOOOOOOOONG shutter speeds. This is the most important camera setting you’ll need to worry about. Start at minimum a full second, and experiment with different durations to see what works best.
How to do it: If your camera allows full manual control, it’s simple. Just set your shutter speed to whatever you want. If your camera doesn’t give you full control, put it in the mode that gives you the most control and turn off the flash. If you click the shutter to snap the photo while a rocket’s still rising and before it’s exploded, your camera should automatically meter for a long exposure and set the shutter speed appropriately.
Take lots of photos and make sure you share them! If it doesn’t rain me out — I’ll share a few of my shots here after the weekend…
Jul 2, 2008
posted by Shelley
The frequency of my posts here have declined to the point that I’m embarrassed. Perry should also feel very ashamed, as his last entry was who knows how long ago. We’ve been extremely busy with work — a huge project deadline is August 1st, and we’re starting to feel a tad more stressed with each day that we mark off the calendar. I’ve basically been ignoring my own advice — you know, the whole “don’t get so busy with the day-to-day busy work” thing. But hey…the holiday weekend is almost here.
I’m hoping that it doesn’t rain, even though that’s pretty much the forecast. I figure that the steaks will still be cooking on the grill — but the grill may be in the garage doorway rather than on the back deck. I’m also hoping that future posts will be more interesting than this one. In the meantime, let me share something that I found odd.
The business 800 number rings to my business cell phone if the caller pushes the button for my extension. At 4:30 am this morning my cell rings and I have the choice to answer the caller or send them into voice mail. I didn’t recognize the number as local or as belonging to anyone that I could possibly know (friends and relatives don’t call me through the 800 number), I let the caller leave a message. First thing this morning, (first thing for ME doesn’t start at 4:30 am) I check the message. It went something like this:
“Hello Sherry. This is (can’t understand) from Nigeria. I want him, McKain, to come to Nigeria. Call me back.”
So here’s the deal…before you call Nigeria on business, you might want to check the time zone. Did I call the gentleman back? Ummmm…I’m not tellin’.
