My New Toy

For Christmas, Jeff and I got a digital SLR camera, a Nikon D80. To go with it, my mom gave us a Tamron 18-200 lens. The camera has automatic settings and can be used like any old digital camera, but being an SLR, it also can be used completely manually. I've been learning about F stops, ISO, and shutter speed and playing around with the camera to see what I can do with it. This Monday, since I was off for MLK Jr. Day, I went to the nearby Brookside Gardens with camera in tow. Surprisingly for this time of year (although unsurprising considering the odd weather we've had), a fair amount of plants were in bloom. So for your viewing pleasure here are a few of my pictures, all taken with manual control.

I like playing with the focus, and I like how in this picture the flowers up front are in focus and the back flowers are blurry.

In this pictures, I'm standing on a bridge, taking a picture of the reflection in the water below. I'm the person reflected on the left; there was a little girl standing to my right.


I think these flowers are so beautiful. Very delicate, but perfect. The color is so great too. And I love that you can see the specks of pollen on the petals. (I think if you click on the pics, you get a bigger image.)


In this picture, I really like the branches in the background. It seems very artsy to me. (By the way, these are cherry blossoms! You usually don't see these until April!)

And as the final picture, since Blogger is being slow about uploading these, is a nice picture showing the park and its reflection.

I'll try to post pictures regularly, but it can be a slow process, so we'll see.