Welcome to June’s Wandering Camera linky party. Thank you so much for linking up and sharing your photos.  I love photography, so it’s a lot of fun to see and read about what everyone sees through the lens.

In my attempt to be outside and continue to take photos, I had to make a change in May.  I am not a morning person, so asking me to get up at 5:15 AM regularly will likely result in a disaster of some sort.  However, with the approaching summer it is getting too hot for me to be outside in the afternoon.  So I am up before dawn to go to the park for running at daybreak.  I may moan and groan to get out of the bed, but one look at the misty landscape around me with the Sun trying to break through the night’s cloud layer brings a big smile on my face.  Every time!!

However, just as I was starting to get used to going out in the mornings, I had to put a skidding halt to it during the last week of May.  I am taking care of a kitty post-surgery (not Montague).  So, photos had to be taken mostly around the house during those days.

Hope you enjoy this month’s collection of photos.  They are, as usual, in chronological order.

1. Mustard flowers

2. Peacock stationery from Florence, collected during my first-ever overseas trip

3. I love Magnolia flowers, the petals are so fragrant

4. Balloons overhead

5. Sunrise through dark clouds

6. The only glimpse of the pink setting Sun during the whole day

7. Raindrops on grass – looks more like an alien sea-creature

8. Star Thistle is not nearly as pretty as Cotton Thistle, but I still love the colour

9. A glimpse of red

10. Kitty paws are cute, huge tufted Maine Coon paws are even cuter

11. It’s starting to turn yellow and brown around here

12. Misty morning

13. 18-year-old whisky, may all Friday the13ths be this good

14. Red-winged blackbirds by the river

15. River trail, lined with mustard blooms

16. Green Teasel, I had only spotted the dried ones until now

17. Knitted sweaters doubling as kitty bed for Charlie

18. Hot air balloon catching the first ray of sunlight

19. Rising sun lighting up the misty grounds

20. Homemade soap at last

21. Blissfully sunbathing, unaware of the upcoming surgery

22. I love red in nature

23. And yellow flowers

24. Lovely jasmines

25. Time for travel planning

26. New Zinnia

27. Comforting – warm colours and they remind me of my grandmother

28. One of these is unlike the others

29. “Are you done yet? I would like to close my eyes!!”  I love those blue eyes!

30. Too hot to be outside, so playing with paint inside

31.  Addicted to thyme, it’s human catnip for me!

Apparently all the yellows and reds from this month’s photos seeped into other things.  I had wanted to make this quilt in a completely different colourway.  However, the urge of using red and yellow was too strong, so I gave in at the end.  Funny how sometimes your surroundings affect your creative mood so much!

Shutter Speed

I had mentioned in last month’s post that a well-exposed photo is a combination of three settings – ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. I covered the topic of ISO in March and Aperture in May.  Lets talk about the last factor – Shutter Speed.

Setting Shutter Speed

You will need a camera with either M (Completely Manual) or Tv (Time Value Priority) mode to set the Shutter Speed manually. In M mode you can set both Aperture and Shutter speed yourself. In Tv mode you only get to set the shutter speed. Based on your setting, the camera sets the Aperture to get a well-exposed photo.

Amount Of Light

You probably already know this – More light equals faster shutter speed, much more conducive to taking any photo.  When there is less ambient light, you will have to keep the shutter open longer.  Taking a photo with longer shutter speed is usually much harder to do without a stand.

Still Vs. Moving Objects

Shutter speed becomes less important with still objects.  If you are taking a photo of a building or a mountain, you can leave the shutter open for a long time on a stand and not worry about blurring since neither object is moving.

With moving objects shutter speed becomes a bit more important.  The longer the shutter stays open, more blurry the moving object is going to be.  For example, when I was taking wildflower photos during windy days, I had to keep my shutter speed at least at 1/250 sec.   The moving flowers became too blurry otherwise.   You will notice that when you take photos of indoor events, people always end up being blurry.

Aperture, ISO And Shutter Speed

If you remember from my post about aperture, it determines the sharpness of the photos as well as the brightness.  Higher aperture gives you sharper photos but reduces light and vice versa.

In situations where you want sharp pictures AND your shutter speed is not fast enough, you will need to set your ISO to a higher number. That will enable you to set the aperture to a higher number while keeping a fast enough shutter speed to obtain a well-exposed photo.

A Little Trick

This one requires you to relax and needs a bit of practice.  if your shutter speed is still low even after setting the ISO and aperture, you can do this to take a halfway decent photo –

Relax your shoulder and arms and as you are breathing out slowly, press the shutter release button to take the picture.  I find myself being much more stable as I am breathing out. I sway too much when I try to hold my breath.   Of course this doesn’t work when the shutter speed is closer to a full second, but most times I can still manage to take a photo without a stand.

Image Stabilizer

A lot of point-and-shoot cameras and lenses come with image stabilization now-a-days.  This helps a lot with taking photos in low-light situations.  So if you are shopping for a camera or lens, you may want to keep that in mind.

Keep playing with your camera settings and you will see the difference.  Change the shutter speed around and take photos, note how the photos get darker and lighter.  As I said before, photography is very hands-on.  I hope this encourages you to experiment with the manual settings on your camera a little more.

Now it’s your turn to share your photo posts. I always look forward to seeing them. Every photo is special because it suspends a moment and everyone sees the world around us differently! So don’t compare and contrast, just have fun and see the world that only your eyes can see!

Badge to share on your post and website

You can add any number of links to your posts from the previous month. The posts should have photos in them, with a story or anecdote. Your project photos (quilting, sewing, painting, knitting, etc.) are most welcome. You can also write a new post to link up. Please do not link up posts that are older than the previous month, they will be removed.

Please make sure to include the badge or a text link back to this site on each post that you link up. You can also add the badge to your blog. I am happy either way as long as you link back :-)

Spread a little encouragement amongst each other.

I will leave the link-up open for two weeks.

Wandering Camera is a monthly event that will run on the first Thursday of every month. The next post and link-up will be on the 7th of July. If you follow me via email, bloglovin or facebook, you will get a reminder.

Have fun!!

I am also linking up on Photo Friday, Our World Tuesday, Life Through Lens and Through My Lens along with other linky parties on my sidebar.
 

Welcome to the month of May Wandering Camera linky party.  Thank you so much for linking up and sharing your photos.  Not only is it a lot of fun seeing the photos, I really enjoy reading about them too.

April was such a busy month for me that toward the end I was ready to sleep in for 20+ hours straight if I could.  My allergies have gotten much worse too and unfortunately, they are going to stay that way until the end of summer.  However, there are pockets of time when the allergy is not as bad and I can go outside armed with medication.  I will take limited time outside over none-at-all any day.  So far I have kept up with taking one photo per day. Currently I am at 121 out of 366.

1. Door of an abandoned building

2. Scarlet Pimpernel

3. Lichen draped on tree branches

4. My painted woodlands bookmark

5. Lupine

6. Fountain pen and sepia ink – my favourite

7. Persian Speedwell

8. Charlie – sleeping behind drapes

9. Yellow And Blue

10. Native Wildflower Expo – got a few plants for our garden from there

11. Lovely day at the park

12. Purple Douglas Iris

13. Ready to plant

14. A tree from Beyond Borders Fair Trade

15. Close-up of the tree

16. First flowers from one of the new plants

17. New red leaves on roses

18. Mr. Treestone loves his paper bags

19. My new Brown Betty with my old, most favourite tea mug

20. A perfect spot

21. Clouds rolling in at sunset

22. Montague enjoys rain as much as I do

23. The Dancing Wind

24. Playing with Inktense pencils, making a colour chart

25. Cactus bloom

26. Bouquet

27. Storm clouds out of nowhere

28. First plums

29. Riverfront

30. Light arches

I want to very quickly mention Lara’s book – Crafted Appliqué.  You can find the full schedule of the book tour blog hop at her website Buzzin’ Bumble.  My day is the 14th of May.  I have all the supplies to work on my project and I am super excited to try out her method of appliqué.

Aperture

Now, on to talking about Aperture.  A well-exposed (well-lit) photo is supported by three pillars – ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.  I covered the topic of ISO in March.  Aperture is the F number – a number on your camera prefixed by the letter F.

I will omit the technical details on aperture and try to explain the basic goals of aperture settings.

Setting Aperture

You will need a camera with either M (Completely Manual) or AV (Aperture Value Priority) mode to set the Aperture Value manually.  In M mode you can set both Aperture and Shutter speed yourself.  On AV mode you only get to set the Aperture.  Based on your setting, the camera sets the Shutter Speed to get a well-exposed photo.  I suggest playing with both settings.

Amount Of Light

Aperture determines the amount of light entering your camera.  A lower number equals more light and that lets you use a faster shutter speed.  So in really low-light situations you can set your aperture to a lower number to get a higher shutter speed.  That way you can take photos without a stand or photograph a moving subject in low light.

Sharpness

Aperture also determines the area of sharpness of your photo. Think of looking at the centre of a photo. The lower the aperture number, the less area around the centre will be in focus.

If you want to focus on a face or a flower only at the centre and not the background, you will want to set the aperture to a lower number. As you increase the F number, more area surrounding the centre is going to come into focus.

Aperture And ISO

Here’s the caveat – since higher aperture number lets less light in, it will also decrease your shutter speed.

In situations where you want sharp pictures AND your shutter speed is not fast enough,  you will need to set your ISO to a higher number.  That would enable you to set the aperture to a higher number while keeping a fast enough shutter speed to obtain a well-exposed photo.

This sounds like a lot, but start playing with the Aperture values and you will see the difference.  Photography is very hands-on.  More you play, more you will see the difference.  I hope this encourages you to experiment with the manual settings on your camera a little more.

Now it’s your turn to share your photo posts. I always look forward to seeing them. Every photo is special because it suspends a moment and everyone sees the world around us differently! So don’t compare and contrast, just have fun and see the world that only your eyes can see!

Badge to share on your post and website

You can add any number of links to your posts from the previous month. The posts should have photos in them, with a story or anecdote. Your project photos (quilting, sewing, painting, knitting, etc.) are most welcome. You can also write a new post to link up. Please do not link up posts that are older than the previous month, they will be removed.

Please make sure to include the badge or a text link back to this site on each post that you link up. You can also add the badge to your blog. I am happy either way as long as you link back :-)

Spread a little encouragement amongst each other.

I will leave the link-up open for two weeks.

Wandering Camera is a monthly event that will run on the first Thursday of every month. The next post and link-up will be on the 2nd of June. If you follow me via email, bloglovin or facebook, you will get a reminder.

Have fun!!

I am also linking up on Photo Friday and Fun Friday Favourites along with other linky parties on my sidebar.