SOME DAYS I COULDN’T SHOOT MY WAY OUT OF A WET PAPER BAG

Photographically it was not one of my better days.  Luck is usually with me when I’m out and about with my camera and at the end of the day I generally end up with a few acceptable photos for my blog.  I just couldn’t seem to do anything right this morning and at the end of the day when I downloaded my pictures I had to just sit here and shake my head.  Most of today’s photos ended up in the trash can.

THIS IS THE PATH ALONG LAKE HURON’S SHORELINE AT THE DOGGY WALKING AREA

CAN YOU GUESS WHICH OF TODAY’S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN WITH MY SAMSUNG GALAXY A5 CELL PHONE

HEY WHOA BACK THERE PHEEBS YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU DISLIKE WATER

In yesterday’s Shout Box Steve asked, ‘Do you shoot all of your photos in 'manual' mode?’  Well that got me to thinking about that and anytime I start to thinking about stuff I am taking quite a chance at what might come out of it or which blind alley my thinking may take me down.  But here’s my in depth complicated answer to Steve’s question.  Yes, No, and I don’t know.  Let me explain…….Up until my Nikon D7200 camera came along a couple months ago I very rarely used the ‘Auto’ function on any of my other Nikons.  I pretty much always shot in Manual mode.  There are 4 main settings on my Nikons, P for Program, S for Shutter Speed, A for Aperture and M for Manual.  Most of my photos are done on the P for program setting.  I have this program tweaked to my shooting style.  I have the ISO set to 800 ISO, focusing is dead center of the frame for flying birds and moving objects, metering is set for a slightly wider center area of the frame for the same reasons.  P is my default setting.  If I want a deeper ‘depth of field’ I will switch to Aperture priority and if I were taking a picture of a waterfall I would choose a Shutter speed priority to give the falling water a nice silky soft look.  Manual mode I use mainly for any night shots.  In Manual mode one can adjust both Aperture and Shutter speeds.  Now having said all that I am finding the D7200 on Auto is very smart at making the right decisions for the best overall landscape type photos.  I’m finding what I am doing now is taking a photo in my Program mode then taking the same photo in Auto mode and comparing them back and forth.  Sometimes I get it right and sometimes Auto gets it right.  When it comes to close-ups of flowers and bugs etc I use my Program mode.  Same for birds and animals.  My Program mode does a better job than Auto mode with that stuff but Auto mode quite often does better with landscapes and lighting etc.  Before I had the D7200 it was me making all the decisions but with the D7200 it’s like I have a partner now and we work as a team going back and forth.  Some shots I get it right and some shots Auto gets it right.  Neither one of us are perfect of course but technically speaking I think the D7200 does have a leg up on me for sure.  Of course there are many other factors involved in everything I’ve said but I’ve tried to keep it simple.  Luckily when it comes to simple I don’t have to try too hard.  Now let me quickly add something here.  A professional photographer reading what I have just wrote is probably thinking ‘this guy doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about and you know what, that photographer just might be right.  Bottom line…….I’m just a guy with a camera who goes out, sees something he thinks is interesting, points the camera in the general direction and presses the button.  Some days I get lucky and other days like today I couldn’t shoot my way out of a wet paper bag…………………..

Kelly and I headed off to London Ontario about 11 this morning.  I had one last piece of camera equipment to add to my gear so it was off to Henry's Camera Store for me.  Kelly’s destination was the Roots Canada store in Masonville Mall.  Picked myself up a set of Aputure Macro Extension Tubes at Henrys then drove back to where I had dropped Kelly off.  She was out about half an hour later and we headed for McDonalds and a couple coffees.  An hour later we were back home again.  Weather-wise we had ourselves a gorgeous day.  Sunny skies, a light breeze and low humidity.  Nice day for a drive and of course we took all the back roads to London and back.  Luckily Henrys Camera store and the Masonville Mall are close together in the north end of London so we never have to get ourselves tangled up in any heavy traffic.  We can get to Henrys with only two traffic lights and the Masonville Mall across the road with one more.  Bonus:))

WHILE WAITING FOR KELLY AND WITH MY 35MM LENS AND ONE OF THE MACRO TUBES I TOOK THIS CLOSE-UP PHOTO OF THE JEEP LOGO ON THE STEERING WHEEL

HERE COMES THE COFFEE GIRL

GROANER’S CORNER:(( First and last photos as well as the two flowered shoreline pics were taken with my Smartypants phone……………

Things You Shouldn’t Say To A Police Officer If You Get Stopped::

1. I can't reach my license unless you hold my beer.
2. Sorry, officer, I didn't realize my radar detector wasn't plugged in.
3. Aren't you the guy from the Village People?
4. Hey, you must've been going about 125 mph to keep up with me. Good job!
5. Are you Andy or Barney?
6. I thought you had to be in relatively good physical condition to be a police officer.
7. You're not going to check the trunk, are you?
8. I pay your salary!
9. Gee, officer! That's terrific. The last officer only gave me a warning, too!
10. Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so one of us does.
11. I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there are no other cars around. That's how far ahead of me they are.
12. When the officer says "Gee son....Your eyes look red, have you been drinking?" You probably shouldn't respond with, "Gee officer your eyes look glazed, have you been eating donuts?"

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- My boss told me to have a good day, so i went home.

- I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

- She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.

- A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

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The other day I had the opportunity to drop by my department head's office. He's a friendly guy and, on the rare opportunities that I have to pay him a visit, we have had enjoyable conversations. While I was in his office, I asked him, "Sir, what is the secret of your success?"

He said, "Two words."

"And, Sir, what are they?"

"Right decisions."

"But how do you make right decisions?"

"One word," he responded.

"And, Sir, what is that?"

"Experience."

"And how do you get experience?"

"Two words."

"And, Sir what are they?"

"Wrong decisions."

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Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Dwayne.

Dwayne who?

Dwayne the bathtub I’m dwowning!

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