A few weeks ago, in order
to do a post about a local street sign, I dug out my old, cheap
digital camera that I hadn't used in years. This weekend I took it
for a spin in the gardens at a nearby regional park. The results were
pretty sad. I took ten pictures, and eight of them were blurred and
unusable; including, unfortunately, a zoomed-in picture of a
goldfinch in some flowers. The other two you see above.
It was a cloudy day, and I
guess the problem was the shutter had to stay open too long, and I
couldn't hold the camera steady enough. I don't know why the two that
worked, worked. I'll try again on a sunny day and see what happens. I
suppose a tripod would fix the problem, but I'm damned if I'm going
to be seen using a tripod with a Nikon CoolPix.
For those of you who are
interested in the botanical details: the top picture is some kind of
dogwood, and the bottom one is some purple flowers and orange-leaved
plants in a big concrete pot.
5 comments:
I hear you on the tripod/camera issue. I only take pictures in my backyard so there is no one to mock me for my choice of camera, which, like yours, is a decision that was made years ago.
While you didn't ask for any advice, by watching The Great Courses photography classes I did learn a bit about how to brace yourself to steady the camera when you aren't using a tripod or monopod. That course will be on Prime for another week, if you have any interest in watching it. Think of it - you too could become interested in taking pictures and have a new hobby that would only soak up thousands of dollars - what's not to like?
I guess I could start by reading the manual. I've heard good things about reading the manual.
One of the variegated dogwoods in the top picture and a coleus of some sort in the bottom (maybe sunset orange?).
That level of detail also marks my photography ... interested to the point of knowing some stuff, but not enough to really work at it and achieve any semblance of mastery.
I have used video cameras since their inception. Steady cam came into existence when movie directors wanted the long action shots. Sony picked it up first for commercial cameras and it made my life much easier. I always had tripods, monopods in my van. But didn't have the luxury of using them very often. With steady cam my videos looked much better even when using telephoto. A bean bag rested on the dashboard, arm rest, etc. was useful.
An eye-catching effort at leaf catching!
As for the variety, no wonder the name remains nebulous, as it appears to be somewhere between the Red Twigs and Weeping Koreans, and the Gold and Silver stands.
We had two of the green-leafed white flowering kind at our old home, along with a lovely pink one put in by a landscaper just prior to our takeover. It was only with us for a short time, nabbed by the frost in a zone too cold for it to flourish, but I can still recall its beauty.
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