The Gift!

I wish it had snowed when we were there in Tahoe. But I cant ask for it knowing, we were really lucky to have snow at all, considering the time of the year we had been there - last week of May.

It has been and is still in my list to take a macro of snowflakes. 

But well, I was excited to see the snow everywhere, since this was the first time ever I have ( we have - Sujaya and me) seen snow. 

The bright and beaming sun was good in one way, since it was warm and not a typical "snow" climate, where I should be freezing. But it sometimes brought in problems, particularly when ever I took my camera. The sun and the full white snow made things over exposed easily. So I kept popping up the f stop to bigger numbers, which also brought some nice landscapes.

This picture of Robin is for my sweet little Sujaya, who likes all kinds of tweety birds and she loves Robins and Blue Jays. I kept chasing this guy who was busy digging his dinner. The Golden Hour - as it is called (the last hour in a day with Sun light), brought in the dramatic light effect to the bird and the grass. The colors are natural - untouched. Straight Out Of Camera - not even cropped. 

And one more !

What else did I get to take with my wide angle inside the kids play area / casino?! 

Okie, here is a small game that I played. The pictures and settings are here, the inference is so very obvious:

Night view of Reno from 18th floor. 

Lens : Canon 55-250mm, ISO :100,  Exposure :30 secs, Aperture : 22, focal length: 55mm

Lens : Tokina 12 - 24 mm, ISO 100, Exposure : 30 secs, Aperture : 22, Focal length : 24

Lens: Tokina 12 - 24mm, ISO 100, Exposure : 30 secs, Aperture : 22, Focal length: 12mm

Lens : Tokina 12- 24mm, ISO 400, Aperture 4, exposure 1/60 secs, focal length 24 mm, flash used: Very much YES (one can see the flash light reflection on the glass)

Needless to say :) Camera dial turned to manual and just one press - click!! ONE REASON TO GO MANUAL. You will stick there. You wont mind deleting about 10 pics you have tried to get the settings right! But will sure get the thrill of it.

Walking straight into the boat!

The lovely shore of the beautiful lake. Converted it to B&W to make it a bit appealing, since the original version had harsh mid day light. Also tweeked the contrast a bit, to make it look not too gray. 

One can see the horizon in the above picture is all messed up. :) I was indeed tired after holding the super heavy wide-angle for more than two hours, that my hands became partially senseless and didnot even realize I was holding the camera all tilted. This is AFTER adjusting the horizon :)

Settings for above picture:

Lens : Tokina 12 -24mm, ISO 200, Aperture : 22, Exposure : 1/250 sec, focal length : 24mm.

Higher the shutter speed, starry the Sun. Lower shutter speed renders a big white Sun with circles but no flares/starry effect. So the key was to keep increasing the shutter speed after setting the required ISO and aperture till we get the starry effect.

One more mistake that I will keep regretting about for next few weeks. I wonder what on earth I was thinking when I left back the tripod in car to run to this place where I HAD thought of taking long exposure water shots. The only shot that came better in about 50 shots that I had taken - hand held! 

Atlast got a chance to try good landscape pictures. Thank my husband for giving this wonder trip to a scenic spot, with a wide-angle lens. Perfect Gift for our 6th wedding anniversary. Couldn't have asked for more. L.O.V.E.