Saturday, April 26, 2008

I learned something or.........

according to the Camera Totin Idiot "She can be taught!"

The tulip's in my neighbor Helen's yard have been beautiful this week! I've been busy snapping photos of her flowers because I knew they would soon be gone. The best time to take the photos are in the morning and at lunch time to catch the morning and afternoon sun on her front yard and back yard. I'm lucky I get to come home for lunch everyday!

I've been frustrated that my photos haven't been turning out the way I want them too. I see what others take of their flowers and I just haven't been getting the close up effect I wanted. Well, leave it to HIM to get to the root of the problem. "Read the directions" is what he told me this morning! So I did! And the result is wonderful. I didn't realize I had a Macro (close-up) setting on my camera. Well I do and I'm going to use it from now on for close up shots of flowers and things. Maybe even that new grandson!

Here is the photo I took today WITHOUT the macro setting:



Here's the photo after changing to the macro setting:




Much better! Don't you think?

There are two macro settings. Macro and Super Macro. When the camera is set on Super Macro the zoom button can't be used. I guess the camera is zooming in for me.

Here are some photos taken earlier in the week in the auto setting using the zoom. They are nice but I can see where the Marco setting is going to be great for flowers!




I took these photos in the afteroon when I was home for lunch and I'm glad I did because by the time I got home from work a little after 5 pm here is what I found:





Sad isn't it? I know tulips don't have a long life and the hard rain we received today probably would have beat the petals off but it would have been nice to have enjoyed them for a few more days. Too bad the neighborhood kids didn't think so.

My neighbor Helen died in 2003. Her daughter, Joy, owns the house and isn't able to live there right now but although Helen is no longer with us, I still enjoy her flowers just like I enjoyed them with her when she was living. I was sad when I saw the flower's petals laying on the sidewalk discarded and unwanted and it made me so glad I had taken their picture earlier in the week!

So what I learned is this - Always have your camera ready and take photos, photos, photos, because what you want to photograph may soon be gone and

Always READ the Directions!

6 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

Good for you! I'm glad you're having fun with your camera. Mine is two years old, but I am still discovering new features!

Tracy said...

Such pretty flowers! :)

Suzy said...

Ann~
Thanks for stopping by and all the nice comments. I was thinking about dropping the photo site,you're one of the very few that stop there.
What kind of camera do you have?
I think you'll love the macro feature,I use it alot!

Laurie and Chris said...

Great pictures! I love macro this time of year. On my camera you can get closer to the item you are taking pictures of on Super macro. On reg macro I can stand back and then zoom in. It takes practice but it is fun to learn something new. Also check to see if you have a follage setting this will help also. Good luck.

Maggie Ann said...

Your macro settings are wonderful! I love to see close-up shots. We are off to visit our new grandbaby in the morning!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pictures Ann! And, what a difference the macro setting made :) I have a Canon PowerShot S3 IS & I think it has macro on it but I still haven't read all the directions (& sadly I've had this particular camera almost 2 years!). So, tell your hubby, I'm going to take that advice as well ;) Great pictures :)