If you are like most of us amateur photographers, you use the automatic settings on your camera.  My first full-time job was as a TV cameraman.  I enjoyed it, but when the opportunity came to move into engineering I went for that and the better pay check that it brought.  In those days, I used manual settings on my still shots.  (I didn’t really have a choice, but I would have chosen to set aperture and shutter manually if I’d had the choice.)

Today’s digital cameras are very sophisticated.  Even the inexpensive models have sophisticated technology.  The automatics work well in most situations.  Sylvia and I use a generation-old Panasonic that has optics by Leica.  Multiple modes allow us to adapt easily to existing conditions.

Still, it pays to be familiar with how your camera process a scene.  Let me share an example.  I’ve posted numerous sunset pictures on this blog over the last three and a half years.  Some of them have been very dramatic.  A large part of my success results from knowing what my camera will do.  Yes, it will show me on the screen, but how do I get it there.  (Don’t you love that instant feedback?  You don’t have to wait weeks to finish a roll of 35 mm film and then wait for processing.)

Let’s start with a wide-angle shot of a typical sunset.

It’s not very exciting, is it?  No clouds or haze to pickup colors for the wide shot.  Less than a minute later I took the next shot after zooming in on the sunset.

Whoa!  Where did all that color come from.  And that cloud . . .  It doesn’t even show up in the wide shot.  Pretty good, right?  Wait two minutes.  That’s all just two minutes and re-frame the picture slightly.

Just including less sky, made it appear darker.  The sun position in two minutes shifted enough to increase interest.  See how it seems to sit in a “socket” formed by the trees?

Bottom line: Patience and familiarity with your camera pays big dividends.  Shoot lots of shots.  Examine them closely and learn.  Please deleted second rate shots.  As a good friend once told me, “The main difference between a professional and an amateur is that the professional destroys his second-rate work.”

The three shots above are all as they came from the camera.  I did resize them for faster download.  I made no other alteration to these images.

The computers are in the basement and fully operational.  Thanks to Sylvia’s help, it went smoothly and relatively quickly. 😀

Wednesday morning, I sat at the computer visiting my favorite blogs and sipping on a cup of Guatemalan coffee.  From time to time a popup window would inform me of another link placed on my Wordless Wednesday post.  I picked up my coffee mug.  Empty. 🙁

Empty cup in hand, I started for the kitchen for a refill.  I almost made it.

That’s when I saw her standing on the front lawn.  I watched for a bit and then returned to the office for the camera.  She had been nibbling the nice green grass.  As I snapped a pic, something else had her attention.

We’ve seen several from this group at times over the last few weeks.  This was mid-morning and that was the middle of our expansive lawn.  (Yes, it takes a lot of work to mow all that.)  She had seen enough.  She turned.

She didn’t raise her tail to warn others.  It was a slow jog.  Not in fear.  Merely cautious.

Still at a jog she passed the garden, rounded the birch tree as she made her way to the bottom edge of the lawn.  Then with a bound.  She made into the tall grass, brush and trees.  Gone.

As I thought about the scene that I had just witnessed, the garage door opener activated.  Sylvia had returned home.

Sylvia came into the house and told me about the deer on the front lawn.  (She had watched it as she drove up the driveway.)  I showed Sylvia the pictures I had captured.  Our conversation then turned to other matters.

During out weekly telephone conversation last night, my son, Scott, told me about this fascinating new sport.  I can see this catching on with bored humans, probably not so much with cats, however.  Did you ever do anything like this with your pet?