Zooming - December 2013

The ‘zooming’ post for December includes pieces of Florida pictures (the first 5) and then pictures from Brookside (outdoors and inside the conservatory).

Brookside Gardens - December 2013

Brookside Gardens is the place for an evening walk through garden themed lights in December. I was there on a cold but sunny day when snow was still on the ground. The conservatory was lush with tropical plants (star fruit, bird of paradise, poinsettias, and bananas) and the model train display.

Outside, the dragon of lights looked relatively tame in the brightness of day and snow clung to the evergreens - and on some of the artificial flowers created with lights. There was a black squirrel sorting through the leaf litter. The Children’s Garden was cherry with colored lights on the white picket fence - but it was too cold to stay for long. There were very few people in the outdoors of the garden and the ones that were moved quickly along the path. It was a day for a brisk walk - or none at all.

Adventures with a New Camera Part 1

I am experimenting with my new camera - a Canon PowerShot SX280 HS . So far - the experiment has included only the simplest aspects of the camera: using the zoom of my own position to frame the picture want. So far I am impressed with the results.

At first I expected that the camera would not focus for the close-up flower shots that I have enjoyed capturing with my older camera (a Canon PowerShot SD4500 IS)….but I was pleasantly surprised that it did so well with the azaleas at the left. I like the way the flowers pop out of the image with the light glowing through their petals.

How well would the camera capture ripples in water? I experimented with an Asian-type composition shown below. I like the results but will have to try again on a sunny day to see what the camera automation will handle the glare from water in brighter light.

The big improvement with the new camera was touted to be the ability to capture clear images with the zoom feature. Plants are easy since they are still (if the breezy does not interfere). The dandelion and fiddlehead were good tests. I liked the clarity of both images - and that I didn’t have to expose myself to the poison ivy that surrounded the dandelion!

Images of birds and small animals will be easier to capture with this camera. It will take some practice but the automatic settings are quite good. My initial attempts with some birds and a squirrel are below. The challenge will be to frame the animals in their natural setting - avoiding things like the twig in front of the squirrel’s nose in the image below.

I am going to enjoy this camera! Maybe I’ll gradually use some of the fancy settings too.