Last Day of January

For one month now I’ve been doing what I set out to do:  using my Canon Rebel XSi every day, taking and posting photos, as I learned more about my camera and lenses.  I have become more familiar and comfortable with my camera.  I have posted at least one photo a day–usually more.  As I go on I expect to continue to learn more and more.

Today was another fairly warm, sunny day.  I got home late and the sun was already throwing a golden glow across the back yard.  Here are some leaves from our young citrus tree.  Settings were f/4, 1/200, ISO 200.

This is another photo of buds on a chokecherry tree branch.  I’m realizing I’ve taken quite a few photos of these branches lately, but they’re good for practicing focusing.  This one is manual focus, settings f/3.2, 1/125, ISO 200.

Sophie was sitting with the sun behind her this afternoon.  Settings were f/4, 1/250, ISO 200.  I think this was manual focus but I’m not positive.

And Bonnie was sitting facing the sun.  Again, I’m pretty sure this was manual focus.  The settings were f/4, 1/200, ISO 200.

In the house, I experimented with macro mode on the camera.  This is Phoenix, a 14-inch jointed vinyl and plastic doll by doll artist Helen Kish.  Settings were  f/4, 1/60, ISO 400.

Outdoors with the 50mm f/1.8

It was a relatively warm sunny day today and I went out in the back yard with my camera for awhile.  For some shots I found that the automatic focus on the 50mm f/1.8 lens couldn’t quite do it, searching in and out for what I wanted to focus on, so for the first time I switched the lens to manual focus.  Manual focus was easier than I expected and I was able to focus exactly where I wanted.  I also used the exposure compensation which I haven’t used at lot this past month, and found that it really made a difference in shady settings.

Here are some chokecherries taken with manual focus.  Settings are f/7.1, 1/50, ISO 320.

And another photo of a single chokecherry with manual focus and exposure compensation of +1 step.  The brightness may be a little too bright, with the leaf on the upper left  fading into almost white, but I still like the single dark chokecherry against the light background.  Settings were f/7.1, 1/50, ISO 500.

I’m adding a crop of the chokecherry photo that cuts out the really bright upper left area.  When you click on this photo the large version is 100%.

Buds are forming in the trees and bushes.  In this photo, the sunlight coming through the branches seems to highlight a new bud.  Settings were f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 200, with +0.3 step exposure compensation.

Dewdrops in the grass in the morning–settings here are f/7.1, 1/80, ISO 200.  If you click on the photo shown here, the largest version is at 100%.

This is just a brown oak leaf lying in the grass.  When I looked at my photo afterward, I saw a tiny leaf hopper sitting on the left side of the leaf.  The settings were f/4, 1/2000, ISO 200.

Here’s a close-up of the leaf hopper at 100%.

Back to the 50mm f/1.8

I switched back to this lens today and I’m happy.  Not that I didn’t appreciate the capabilities of the telescopic 55-250mm, but I do enjoy working up close.  I like taking close-up photos and finding photo possibilities in small things.  This has been making me think about getting another lens for macro photography.  For the moment my goal is to learn to better use what I already have, but another lens that would help with macro work would be nice.

Here are some buds on a chokecherry branch.  It won’t be too long before the buds will open into white flowers.  Settings were f/4, 1/100, ISO 200.

Here are some dead brown leaves hanging from a chokecherry branch.  Settings were f/4, 1/160, ISO 200.

This is a vine on the wooden fence.  In the spring and summer these vines are covered with green leaves, but right now they’re pretty bare.  Settings were f/4, 1/100, ISO 200.

And a rusty iron tie-down hook that helped hold our old shed in place.  It’s still sticking up out of the ground.  Settings were f/3.2, 1/200, ISO 200.

My most exciting find today was a brown anole, a small lizard that is very common in our area.  They’re mostly around in the warm weather though, and this is the first one I’ve seen since early last fall.  Today was a pleasant sunny day with temperature up around 70, so this little lizard must have decided to come out and soak up some sun on the top of the fence.  I’ve taken lots of photos of brown anoles over the past couple of years with my Canon Powershot SX100 IS, but this is first time I remember using my Canon Rebel XSi with an anole.  Since I had the 50mm f/1.8 on the camera I couldn’t zoom in, so I stepped in as close as I could to take pictures.

All the anole photos I’m posting are cropped, and if you click on a photo the largest version you’ll see is at 100%.  In real life the body of this particular little anole is about 1 3/4 inches long, not counting the tail.

Settings here were f/4, 1/1000, ISO 200.  The only post-processing was a crop and some sharpening.

This is another one with only a crop and sharpening.  Settings were f/5, 1/640, ISO 200.

This one had a crop and some brightening along with sharpening.  Settings were f/4, 1/1250, ISO 200.

Dogs and Chokecherries

I carried my camera with me to work today, hoping an opportunity for a long-distance photo would come up.  It didn’t.  So when I got home I took some photos.  The dogs were out in the back yard, excitedly running to the fence to greet me when they saw my car pull up–except for Lulu, who wagged her tail but otherwise didn’t exert herself too much.  Settings were f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 200.

Against the back fence I took some photos of the chokecherry tree branches.  Settings for this one are f/6.3, 1/60, ISO 500.

Sophie discovered a spot that she  found so wonderfully smelly that she had to throw down her shoulder and roll on it.  Fortunately it didn’t have any smell to me!  Settings here are f/4.5, 1/250, ISO 200.

Still More 55-250mm

I still have the 55-250mm lens on my camera and I’m still enjoying being able to zoom in from more of a distance.  Today was a cloudy day, but I did get home early enough to take some pictures and it was a little easier today than it was yesterday to find a couple I liked.

Here’s Bonnie, our 15-year-old Sheltie mix, pausing as she’s walking around in the yard.  Settings were f/8, 1/160, ISO 640.

And here’s Sophie alertly watching something overhead.  Settings were f/8, 1/125, ISO 640.

And here are trees in a neighbor’s yard silhouetted against the cloudy sky.   Settings were f/8, 1/400, ISO 200.

Just Palms

Not much today.  If I’d had my camera and the time this morning, I could have taken photos of the two wood storks I saw on my way to work, but I missed that chance.  The day did turn out to be sunny instead of rainy, but I got home late this afternoon and didn’t have much time outside.  There were no birds around the yard to try my lens on, and I didn’t even get any good shots of the dogs.  This photo is the only one I liked at all–palm fronds from a young palm tree swaying in the wind.  Settings were  f/5, 1/200, ISO 400.

Another Rainy Day

It was raining hard when I got home from work and I couldn’t go outdoors at all with the camera.  I did take a quick photo from the back door of a wet palm frond in the grass across the yard.  Settings were f/5.6, 1/8, ISO 800.

So I was going to have to do indoor photography with the 55-250mm lens.  I decided try using the flash with the lens and that actually worked out okay.  Tomorrow is Custom Dolls day in my My Twinn collectors group, when people post photos of custom My Twinn dolls they’ve ordered.  Most of our dolls generally come from the My Twinn Friends page on their website, where people can choose from hundreds of already assembled dolls, but sometimes we do special order a custom doll with a specific face, skin color, hair color and style, and eye color.  I have three custom dolls so I took pictures of them using the 55-250mm with the flash.

The first one is Eileen who has the Helen face with red hair, green eyes, and freckles.  She came from My Twinn when they were located in Denver.  Denver dolls are considered the best quality My Twinn dolls.  Settings were f/4.5, 1/200, ISO 400.

Next is Timothy who has the Berkeley face mold (an Asian mold), light tan skin, golden brown hair, and light green eyes.  Tim came from the China era of My Twinn, when custom dolls were shipped directly from China to the customer.  The quality wasn’t as good as Denver dolls, but I’ve still always liked my Tim.  Settings were f/4.5, 1/200, ISO 400.

The last custom doll I ordered was from the early Virginia era of My Twinn.  Micah has the Micale face mold (another Asian face) with light brown hair and brown eyes.  The quality of Virginia dolls has also been less than Denver dolls, though they’ve been improving more recently.  I’ve still always liked Micah too.  The settings were f/4.5, 1/200, ISO 400.

These were the first flash photos I’ve taken all month.  I haven’t wanted to use flash, but it did work out all right in this situation.  It’s supposed to continue to rain tomorrow so I’ll have to figure out what else I can do with this lens indoors.

Yellow-rumped Warbler Myrtle

There were some small birds up in the trees in my neighbor’s back yard this afternoon, flitting from tree to tree and calling to each other.  They were too small and too far away for me to identify them.  I zoomed in as much as I could with the 55-250mm lens and took a few photos of one of the birds.  I was pleased that I could see the bird well enough in the pictures to identify it at Whatbird’s online Field Guide as a Yellow-rumped Warbler Myrtle.  These photos are crops from the full photos, and are at 100% when you click to see the full-size image.  Settings for the first photo were f/5.6, 1/200, ISO 320, and for the second one f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 200.  I was shooting in aperture priority.

And then a Lulu photo–settings were f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 200.

More with the 55-250 lens

I went out in the back yard and worked some more with the 55-250mm lens today.  I focused on the pine cones high up on some of the pine trees.  The pine tree in the January 15 post is one of the trees I photographed.  If you look at the January 15 photo, you can just make out the silhouettes of some pine cones hanging from some of the branches.  With the 55-250 lens I was able to zoom in on the pine cones and actually take pictures of them.

Here is a pine branch with easily visible pine cones.  Settings were f/8, 1/320, ISO 200.

This is a crop of the original of the previous photo–click on it to see it at 100%.  Not bad for a photo at that distance with a hand-held camera.  I’m really pleased with the ability to zoom in like this with this lens.

I took a few dog photos too, since Sophie and Lulu came outside with me.  Here’s one of Lulu lying in the sun.  Settings were f/6.3, 1/800, ISO 200.

And here’s one of Sophie in the shade.  Settings were f/6.3, 1/200, ISO 800.

And next is an example of the sort of mistake I make so easily–forgetting to check and change camera settings.  I took my Masterpiece doll Faith by Monika Peter-Leicht outside for some photos.  Faith is my largest doll, 46 inches tall and the size of a real 6-year-old, with extra joints at her knees, elbows, and wrists.  I sat her on the wooden pool steps and took some photos of her without stopping to think that I still had the white balance set for shade.  So I ended up with some very bright and golden-looking pictures of Faith.  Since the battery went out at that point and I didn’t have a charged battery ready to replace it, I couldn’t take more photos with the correct setting after I realized my mistake.  I corrected the tone and colors the best that I could in post-processing but they’re still not really right.  I have to remember to check and change settings–maybe a reminder here will help me!  Settings were f/8, 1/400, ISO 200.

55-250mm Lens

Today I got out my Canon EFS 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens and put it on my camera.  It’s a bigger, longer, heavier lens than either of my other two, and this lens is doing what I wanted yesterday–zooming in from a distance.  I tried it first on the dogs in the back yard while I stood in the doorway, probably 60 feet or more away.  The dogs weren’t even aware I was taking pictures.  Here’s Lulu the basset hound.  Settings were f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 250.

And here’s Bonnie, with Sophie walking behind her.  Settings were f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 500.

I tried taking some photos of branches of the huge pine trees in neighbors’ yards.  This pine tree is in the yard past my next-door neighbor, and it’s very tall.  Even hand-held, you can see the individual pine needles.  Settings were f/8, 1/400. ISO 200.

And this is a crop of the picture above (click on the picture to see the crop at 100%).  Even at 100% it’s not bad for a hand-held photo at that distance.

The 55-250mm lens would definitely help in situations like photographing the killdeer and geese yesterday.  It would probably work best with the tripod to keep it steady, so I’ll have to experiment with using it with the tripod.