Hello there, Peeps.
I've had quite a few photography/camera/lens questions in the last week, so I thought I'd pop in with the answers to those questions here since a lot of them were duplicate questions.
- Yes, we took the tripod to Europe -- we used it for the pictures of us in front of the Eiffel Tower at night, so they wouldn't be blurry. We just set the timer and I hopped into the shot.
- All of the pictures in London & Paris were shot on our Nikon D5000 with the standard 18-55 kit lens.
- All of the pictures in London & Paris were taken on the auto/no flash setting. I haven't delved into the wonderful world of shooting in manual yet. ;)
- When taking night pictures, particularly when we were sitting at the base of the Eiffel each night, it was bright enough (because of all the lights on the tower) that I could just brace my elbows on my knees (to serve as a tripod) and get the shot.
- The new lens that Bartley just got me for my birthday is a Nikon 18-200. I will most likely be using it for pretty much everything now, although I just got it so I'm still playing with it.
EDITED TO ADD:
- Yes, I edit all of my photos in Photoshop before posting them on the web or printing them. I almost always have to lighten them up a bit which you can do by adjusting the "levels". Before I got Photoshop, I used Photoshop Elements which I loved! Much cheaper than Photoshop and for basic edits, it has everything you'd need.
- When shooting with the 18-200 lens, there are a couple things to note which might help you with focusing. One, the "clicking sound" the lens makes is totally normal....it's the vibration reduction technology that causes the sound and also sort of shifts the picture slightly when you're looking thru the view finder. Also, you can't be too close to the subject you're trying to take a picture of. So if you're taking a close-up of a card, for instance, back your body away from the card a bit, and then zoom the lens forward. You need to let the lens do the zooming rather than your body. If you get too close to the subject in your photo, the lens won't focus. I've found that I can get the end of the camera lens to within maybe 7-8 inches of the subject before the lens won't focus. Hope that helps!
If I've missed answering your question, feel free to leave it again here in the comments section, and I'll edit this post with the answers.
Now, on to a few book recommendations. It's been awhile, hasn't it?
First up are a couple books I read a little while back.
Head in the Clouds and To Win Her Heart, both by Karen Witemeyer
Both of these historical fiction books were fun reads with spunky heroines, compelling stories with a bit of suspense and drama and of course, a good clean love story thrown in for good measure. I love a good clean love story thrown in for good measure, don't you? These books are completely smut-free, so if you're worried about the possibility of smut, there's no need. ;) Also, these stories are not related at all, so it doesn't matter which one you read first.
Hurricanes In Paradise by Denise Hildreth
And lastly for today, one I just finished last week. It was actually on sale at our local Christian book store for just 5 bucks. For $5, I figured, what the heck. I'd give it a whirl. Turns out, I really, really enjoyed it.
It's a modern day story (shocking -- it's not historical fiction!!) set on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, at the Atlantis Resort, to be exact! All of the usual suspects that I typically love are present in this book.....stories of heartache and redemption, a bit of action, a mystery to solve, some loves developing here and there......plus this one has the bonus of a hurricane heading straight for the island! Oh, the dramaaaaa. :) I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think you just might too! Give it a whirl and see for yourself!
Hope you all have gotten your week off to a great start. We did some relaxing this weekend and then spent yesterday evening with Bart's side of the family for a picnic and huge fireworks display. Nothing like wrapping up a holiday weekend with picnic food, family fun and fireworks to celebrate our nation's freedom. It was a good weekend. I hope yours was too.
One last thing before I go.......I just want to thank each of you for the sweet puppy love comments you left for us on the previous post. We've both read each one and we appreciate them so much. We're so excited about our new little baby and can't wait to bring him home, so it was such a blessing to read that many of you are excited right along with us. Thank you, Dearies.
Happy Tuesday,
