Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Raindrops on Berries
There was finally a break in the rain and I went outside to practice using my new camera.
Honestly, it’s a slow go. I’m thinking I’ll need to print out the entire 300 plus page manual to figure out even the most basic functions.
Still, you can’t go too wrong with raindrops on berries.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
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Looks amazing. A great start.
Thanks so much. It’s more challenging to learn a new camera than I remembered, but I’ll get by in the meantime. 🙂
Just keep scrolling the camera menu options on dull afternoons, and you probably won’t need the manual.
From what I can see from these lovely photos, you have already cracked it, Susanne.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks so much, Pete. I appreciate your comment. 😊There’s so much I can’t figure out and it doesn’t seem intuitive at all. But at least I can still take pictures while I try to master it.
Most menu systems in cameras are not in the least intuitive. Fuji have the best ones, in my opinion, but Nikon and Panasonic leave a lot to be desired. In the LX100 and TZ70, the camera settings are found under ‘Recording’. I thought that was for video!
Yes! I kept seeing ‘recording’ in the manual and thought the same thing till I saw they were describing taking a picture. My trouble is even with the dials and how to get a clear shot in manual and other modes. And why the full zoom only extends when I’m using Auto mode. I think the camera knows something I don’t know! But I’m determined to figure it out! 😄
As I recall from quite a few posts back, you also were interested in developing the skill to photograph a raindrop in mid-fall. Perhaps with the new camera the skill will manifest? This factoid courtesy of Union University’s “Science Guys”: the average raindrop falls at a rate of 15 to 25 mph regardless of the distance the raindrop is traveling; size (air resistance to the drop) is more impactful on speed. GORGEOUS photos. Every PNW garden should be planted with all things winter red or close thereto including roses that form hips, shrubs with red branches, winter berries, holly, holly and more holly, etc. We need to have the bright spots of cheer in these dreary weeks (months….)
That’s right! I’d forgotten about my quest to catch a falling raindrop in motion. 😊 I certainly have plenty of opportunities this fall! Even so I think catching one would take a good deal of luck!
I recently purchased a Sony a6000 and I feel your pain about trying to figure out the functions. It is a wee bit disturbing when a camera is smarter than you. Photos are beautiful. I particularly love the reflections I see in several of the drops.
Thanks so much! Glad to hear I’m not alone! I keep waiting to crack the code! 😄
Those are great photos, so you’re doing fine so far! I still have things I have to go back and look up. Cameras, like most electronics, are loaded with tons of features many of which will be of no interest to you. And because of this, the manual is 300 pages long. You could probably go through and find the 20 or so pages you need and make your own mini manual!
Thanks so much, Graham. I’m doing fine using Auto for now. Not doing fine with other modes. And zoom will fully extend in Auto mode, but not the others. Does that make sense to you? Maybe it knows my settings aren’t right for that. Too many mysteries but I’m sure it will eventually come together.
It’s going to be fun to see what you can do with this camera!
Thanks, John! I like what I see so far, and can’t wait to learn more of the functionality! 😊
these are beautiful, Susanne! Great job with the macro setting! for a second I thought this might be a Sunday Stills song lyric post subbing roses for berries 🙂
Thank you! They almost were! I started out maybe looking for ‘the holly and the ivy’ but couldn’t find any suitable pictures!! So ended up with these berries instead and didn’t want to stretch your theme too much! 😄
You may not have the camera figured out yet, but you sure know how to pick a lovely subject and make it beautiful!
Thank you so much! 😊
Of course!
You’ve captured these perfectly! I know what you mean about the manual but if I were you I would start off using the Intelligent Auto mode, and master that first. There are some ways to tweak it for each shot, e.g. increase depth of field, under or over expose, which are worth getting to grips with early on. Once you’re comfortable with that, then try other settings such as aperture priority or specific scene settings. I reckon I use iA about 80% of the time but with the depth of field reduced (I like it shallow for most shots), I use a specific scene setting such as hand-held night shots about 10% of the time and only 10% do I use anything else. That’s usually program mode which I have pre-set to under-expose so I can get away with a faster shutter speed when needed, or occasionally aperture priority when I want to do anything other than that, e.g. slow shutter speed for waterfalls!
Thanks so much for your comment! It’s encouraging to hear that you use Intelligent Auto mode most often. That’s what I’ve been doing so far and I honestly like the results. I was hoping that I could use the other modes as I was accustomed to on my Sony, but what you say makes perfect sense! Master the Auto first before moving on to other modes.. Thank you! 🙂😊
You’re welcome – and as I already said, do ask if you have a question you think I might be able to answer!
Thank you!
Great pictures, you know how I love closeups! I know exactly how you feel, I’ve had my Sony camera/camcorder for about 4 years and I’m still learning things about it. Have you gone to YouTube to see if there are any videos to help you with your specific camera model? That’s what I did, and it was helpful.
That’s.a great idea! I’ll check out YouTube. I’ll also see if any books have been written specifically about this model. When I got my Sony RX10 a few years ago, I found the manual was not that helpful. But I found a book written by a photographer on the camera and it helped a lot. My problem is, I’m impatient, and want to know it all now.😄
Totally understand!
I know very little about photography, but I love the images you are capturing.
Thanks so much. I guess that’s the point of it all. 😊 I’m too impatient wanting to use the advanced features, but am encouraged by all the comments I received.
Amazing! I love the reflections in the drops. I zoomed in on each of them to see if I could see you in any of them. One of them has a really clear gate or fence in there different drops! (Figures, while people are discussing how to use the camera, my immediate reaction was to look for reflections. 😂)
Thanks so much! I enjoyed the reflections too! Did you find me in there somewhere? 😉 🙂 As far as the camera goes, I’ve decided to do what I can for now, and let the rest go. I’ll learn it over time. I still have my Sony which works great for the other stuff I want to do.
I wasn’t sure if I found you or not. If you were wearing green, I might have, but then it could have been part of the greenery around it. 🤔
I didn’t see me either! 😉 🙂
This could have been a painting it’s so mystical! Fantastic!
Thank you so much! 😊