Posted on 6 Comments

Shutter speed and brainiac birds

4837122721_95bd462c5e-flickr

We stopped for a latte last night, and saw a nearly-full moon over the shopping center.  I had my camera with me (why are you not surprised?) so I leaned it on the edge of the open van window and took this picture on Automatic.  I can see the bricks of the Starbucks store very easily, but the moon is completely washed-out.

At this point, my vast amounts of photography training kicked in.  Er, I mean, I remembered the discussions on shutter speed, aperture, and ISO I read in Photographing Your Family.

There was too much light hitting the sensor, and I could fix that by going into manual mode and selecting a fast shutter speed.  I could adjust the other settings, too, if it turned out to be necessary, but I liked the result I got just by changing the shutter speed to 1/40.

4837122797_7dbeb51bd4-flickr

I think it’s kind of fun to only see little glimpses of the buildings.

I wanted more detail on that tiny speck of a moon, though… zoooooooooooooooooom!

4837122735_9f72ae2b52-flickr

Ooh, nice close-up.  20x zoom, baby.  (Have I mentioned before how much I love my camera?)

So anyway, the moral of the story is that am capable of reading something, remembering it, and putting it to use when necessary.  That’s a relief!

Oh, and the other moral is, use a speedy shutter when snapping photos of the moon.

4837734828_344c71b342-flickr

I got another chance to pull out the camera about 15 minutes later, when this insomniac bird followed us into the house.  He freaked-out all over the living room, finally perching on the dining room blinds for a rest.  The lighting wasn’t so good here, and I didn’t have a chance to compensate because someone was nagging: “put the camera down and help me get this thing out of the house!”

Some people just don’t understand art 😉

LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH!

Sign up for occasional Polka Dot Cottage news and get a coupon for 10% off your next order!

Don't worry, we won't bother you more than once or twice a month!

Posted on 6 Comments

6 thoughts on “Shutter speed and brainiac birds

  1. I don’t know much about photography but that picture of the moon is so beautiful. Look at the texture! Wow!

    1. I was impressed myself. Thanks 🙂

  2. Wow! I am blown away by your picture of the moon! Whenever I actually got a decent pic of the moon I had to use a tripod. But I never got one as close-up and detailed as yours. I am so impressed. 🙂

    1. I used the edge of the window to steady the camera, so it was almost as good as a tripod.

  3. Gosh Lisa that is way too cute! I totally get why you were more focused on getting a good photo than on getting the bird out of the house. Art comes first Baby! 🙂 Love the Moon photo!! Just stunning!

    1. Heh. Thanks. We artsy types have to stick together 🙂

Leave a comment!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.