Nifty Fifty in Action

I've had a 50mm f/1.8 lens since before the D70 went to the Great Camera Store in the Sky, but I never got a chance to try it.  Since I haven't wanted to bring the D90 out in the snow/rain/sleet, it has been shelved for a bit.  Today, I finally got a chance to try out the 'Nifty Fifty'.  Even though I still haven't figured out focus point settings yet (yes, yes, read the manual...), I REALLY like this lens.  Very fast, so it makes for sharp photos and great shots in low light.

And it is just fun!

The first shot I took with the lens - Abby in profile.

Photobomb!  (That snowball was intended for Fi!)

But Fi got plenty of catches with no interference.

And plenty of treats!

Gimme!  I want to play!

Another catch without interference!

Pretty girl!

Another pretty girl!

Day 46/365.

The Nose Knows

Or the noses know.  Either way, they are such pretty snooters!

Totally kissable!

Also totally kissable!

Day 45/365.

Call It Stormy Thursday

With apologies to T-Bone Walker.

Day 44/365.

Catching Snowballs!

It's not as easy as it sounds, but it's a lot of fun!  And it makes for great 'explosions'!

Our snow is actually not often wet enough to make snowballs, so the girls don't get the chance to catch snowballs very often.   It was also snowing wet snow while I was getting the pictures, and the throw is quite a bit shorter than a frisbee throw so everything happens much faster, all making for some additional challenges - but it was a lot of fun!

Day 43/365.

Project 365: The Go Red Challenge

February is Heart Health month, and working in Cardiology, I can't help but be aware of heart health.  The American Heart Association has a 'Go Red Challenge' which encourages people to be aware of their personal risk for heart disease, and to take steps to be more 'heart healthy'.  February 7th was National Wear Red Day to raise awareness of heart disease, particularly in women.  Fi and I missed the 7th, but we didn't want to miss out altogether.  I'm trying to complete a 'Project 365' - taking a photo (or more) a day for a year - and today seemed like a perfect day for Fi to Go Red!

What a pretty face!

I tried to get Abby to wear red, too, but she wasn't interested.  However, I did get a great shot of her eyes.  I was using the D90, and I didn't change the 'spot focus' before I took the picture, so only her eyes are in focus, but what pretty eyes she has!

Day 42/365.

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

I couldn't throw the frisbee to save my life today, so I opted for some other shots.

The sublime.

And the ridiculous.

Day 41/365.

Olympic Frisbee Tug-o-War

Olympic Frisbee Tug-o-War, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 40/365.

The gold medal contender!

Auto Focus Area Mode - Subject Tracking

Now there's a scintillating post title, huh?  I was *gasp* reading the guide for the P520 today and discovered a 'subject tracking' auto focus mode.  Theoretically, it is supposed to track the your moving subject and focus on the aforementioned moving subject.  The book didn't really explain how the camera did it, so I assume magic is involved.  Given that it has been snowing all day, I wasn't certain if the subject tracker would track a moving dog, or flying snowflakes.  I'll be interested in trying this on a day when it's not snowing, but  it seemed to work well in the snow.

Day 39/365



   
   


And it made for some fun Doodle pictures. Which is what this is really all about, right?

More Fun with the D90

Fiona, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 38/365.

I really need to read the manual. But since I haven't done that yet, I thought I'd just play around with the focus grid instead.



Finally a picture where Abby's EYES are in focus rather than her snooter!

I only got a few decent action shots. Again, I think I need to read the manual (a good start would be to figure out how to lock into center focus...). But I'm having fun and the girls know it means more frisbee time, so everyone is happy!



Happy dog!

Arrival of the D90

Focused Snooter, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 37/365.

I haven't done any setup on the D90; I haven't even read the manual. But that didn't stop me from snapping a few shots...

I have also never used the raw format before.



So I think I've got a fair amount of learning to do. But the D90 is going to be a fantastic addition to the 'quiver'.

Adventures with Lightroom

Fiona, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 36/365.

I watched an interesting tutorial on Lightroom today but I've got a wicked headache and couldn't put the time into the photos that I would have liked tonight. But tomorrow is another day!



Oh and the D90 arrived today! (But again, I'm hampered by my headache and did nothing more than unpack it and put the battery on the charger.)

Variations on a Theme

Variations on a Theme #1, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 35/365.

Variations on a Theme #2

A Girl and Her Frisbee

A Girl and Her Frisbee, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 34/365.

The girls had a great afternoon frisbee session. I was using the center focus today, and I was quite pleased with the results.

Abby with her head in the clouds

Abby with her head in the clouds, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 33/365.

I didn't get a lot of great action shots today, either. Some of it was I needed to adjust for the bright light and some of it was that the camera was on auto focus and it just wasn't working for me. Oh well.

I did try to get some more shots of the aspens.  Today wasn't one of those 'bluebird' days (a few clouds, so no deep blue sky), but I'll keep trying.



In other news, I broke down and ordered a used Nikon D90. I have to admit, I'm looking forward to trying the fast 50mm lens.

Everything is more fun in new snow!

Everything is more fun in new snow!, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 32/365

For some reason, my action shots generally didn't come out well this morning - clearly it is operator error, I'm just not sure where. Faster shutter speed? Change the focus? Who knows. I'll keep trying until I find something that works (for partly cloudy days with intermittent light snow; obviously something else will work better with 'severe clear').

All that said, I love the girls in motion, and Fi running with a frisbee is a Happy Dog!

Focused

Focused, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 31/365.

It's so rare to get a picture of both girls sitting together (and not biteying each other) that I didn't think about the aperture until later. However, the more I look at this, the more I like it. Fi is typically more focused than Abby, so it's pleasantly ironic that Abby is the one in focus in this shot.

Flower in Winter

Flower in Winter, a photo by lizd. on Flickr.

Day 30/365. Very cloudy and grey, so I tried to capture that. Shot with the Nikon S8100 point-and-shoot.

Dead D70 and Lightroom

Sadly, the D70 has been reduced to a paperweight.  I took it in to get the sensor cleaned (it was really dirty) and somewhere, somehow, the 'mirror actuation lever' broke.  It wasn't the camera shop's fault (just ask them), and I know it wasn't my fault, and I can't even blame Abby, so I'm going to go with poltergeists.  At least the camera shop refunded the cleaning charge.

Of course, I now have 3 lenses, a bunch of adapters (it's amazing what I find in this house when I open cabinets) and a new camera bag.  So, I am now debating between buying a used D70 body for $100 or if I buck up and buy a used D90 for $285.

No, I haven't given up on the P520.  In fact, the bridge camera is doing exactly what I want it to - I am putting a lot of time into learning a lot about the various semi-manual settings (shutter-priority, I love you!), and I'm really pleased with the pictures I'm getting.  But, I can see the value of having different lenses (I've got a 50mm f/1.8 that I am DYING to use) and I really want to play around with RAW files.

Which gets me to my other adventure.  I bought an academic (i.e. no manual but cheap) copy of Lightroom 5 (being an academic has some perks).  I have just downloaded it today, and I'm on the steep end of the learning curve.  (No 'save' button?  Really?)

But I can see the potential for the software and am looking forward to learning it.  Here are my very first attempts with some pictures taken today in very flat light.

Heehee.  Surly doggie!

 

Her face just cracks me up.  I'm not 100% thrilled with the results of  my Lightroom adventures, but her face makes me laugh.

Even surlier doggie!  I couldn't get this one 'right' either - yet another reason I want to play with RAW files....

Yes, she is wildly pretty (and there is no blue tint!)!

Fi's schnozz looks abnormally large here, but another picture from which I was able to remove all the blue tint from the flat light (which I am counting as a victory!).

So.... Cheap D70, (since, theoretically, if I can't take a good picture with 6MP, then I wouldn't be able to take a good picture with 12MP) or just put out the $$ for the D90 and get most of the latest bells and whistles...

On an unrelated note, I think I'm going to start posting my Project 365 photos here each day - I've been posting them on Flickr, but I think I'll put them here, too.  The ones during the week are taken with my little point-and-shoot, but finding interesting things to shoot at work is a great exercise for stretching my 'eye'.

Project 365

Since I take pictures every day anyway, it seemed like a good idea to try the Project 365 - taking a picture (ideally a good picture) every day.  When I get home from work these days, the light is fairly low and the photos of the girls aren't optimal, so I've decided to bring my Nikon S8100 (my pocket point-and-shoot) to work and see if I can get interesting photos from the workplace.  Luckily my co-worker is a packrat, so she's got a lot of interesting stuff around, and it's forcing me to really look for interesting stuff to photograph.

I usually post my daily photo on Twitter each day (the only use I've found for Twitter... If you are interested, I'm @lizdranow on Twitter).

Here are a few of my photos from the past week at the office.

1/32, f/3.5, ISO 160, 30mm

1/30, f/4.0, ISO 172, 30mm

1/34, f/3.5, ISO 160, 30mm

1/32, f/3.5, ISO 160, 30mm

It's also a good mental health break during the work day!

D70: RTFM!

Today I thought I'd try out the shutter-priority setting on the D70; I'm getting a better understanding of how it works (with regard to ISO and aperture) with the P520, so I figured I'd see if I could get similar results with the D70.

Except that I couldn't get the shutter speed to change.  It was 'stuck' on 1/160.   I kept turning the command dial and nothing happened. 

All my action photos looked like this (actually, they looked worse - these are the best of the lot):

1/160, f/10, ISO 200, 120mm

1/160, f/10, ISO 200, 60mm

Since this is an old camera, I was panicked that there was something fundamentally wrong with the camera and my DSLR was bound for the scrap heap.  I was so desperate I even *gasp* downloaded the manual.  Yeah, yeah, how many times have I muttered "Read The F**king Manual, moron" under my breath at hapless users?  Alas, the manual had the helpful advice of 'set the mode dial to 'S', set your shutter speed with the command dial and take your picture'.  I kept turning the command dial and NOTHING!  Ahhhh!  Scrap heap for sure!  On a whim, I googled 'D70 shutter priority, can't change shutter speed'.

And the heavens opened.  Seriously.  I think I heard angels singing.  Apparently there is a setting in the menus that allows you to use the 'multi-selector button' in place of the command dial (at this point, there should be no question as to why I got the less complicated P520), and yes, my camera was set up to have the multi-selector button change the shutter speed.  I changed it back to the command dial and all is right with the universe.  (Of course, this all happened after I had come inside, so action photos on the D70 will have to wait for another day.)

But in looking through the manual for the shutter priority setting information, I came across about a zillion other settings the D70 has that I don't understand, and many that I could inadvertently change.

Such as focus.  It is possible to lock the auto-focus into one of several different positions (center, top, bottom, left, right), and if you DON'T lock the auto-focus, it is quite possible to move the focus around.  Which is why in this photo, Abby's ear is in excellent focus, while her snooter isn't.

1/160, f/5.6, ISO 200, 120mm

And in the bottom focus point, why Fi's frisbee and her nose is in focus and the rest of her face isn't.

1/160, f/5.6, ISO 250, 120mm

Needless to say, there are a large number of other 'options' that I don't really understand.  The good news is that the D70 really is a good camera; the other good news is that I can figure out what I want to do on P520, and then see if I can get the D70 to do it.  The other good news is that the D70 is actually a tad intimidating, so the P520 really was a great camera choice for me.  Will I get another DSLR when the D70 finally goes to silicon heaven?  Definitely.  But I'm glad I didn't start this photography adventure with a highly complicated camera.

And hey, at 1/160 shutter speed, I can still get some decent portraits. 

1/160, f/7.1, ISO 200, 80mm

1/30, f/3.8, ISO 1000, 48mm

Okay, so the last photo was shot using the automatic mode because I was hoping that I hadn't lost control over the aperture, too.  Which is a good thing, because I used the amazon gift card given to me by my bosses at work to by a refurbished f/1.8 Nikkor lens, and I would have been really bummed if the same day I bought the lens I discovered the D70 had gone to silicon heaven.

If you need me, I'll be one reading the manual.  For both cameras.