Tinkering with my settings for sunset

  Tonight I went for a walk at Stony Brook Audubon Sanctuary in Norfork, MA. I just didn't want to waste my night and it is close to home. My big lens is still in the shop and I wanted to practice taking photos anyway. I stayed through most of sunset. I didn't stay until total darkness which was my plan. It turns out the mosquitoes were hungry and I was on the menu. So I got back to my car with quite a bit of light left.

   I took a bunch of photos of the sunset all from the same spot. The view was over the pond. I put a Purple Loostrife in the foreground. Purple Loostrife is the pretty yet very invasive purple flower you see in marshes. I tried a bunch of different things with my camera. I played with shutter speed and flash mostly. Many of the photos did not come out well, while others did. I am including some of the bad photos below.

  None of these photos have been enhanced in anyway when I got home. I didn't play with light, color, or saturation. It is amazing what a camera can do. I will not bore you with the file info on each of the photos. If I were sitting on your side of the computer, that would bore me to tears also. Besides, it is fun to experiment on your own. As you scroll past, keep in mind these photos were all taken in a five minute period. There was still plenty of light left as you can tell by the last two photos. Some are clearly darker than others, but it isn't because it was getting darker outside.

   Lastly, I have a pretty nice camera, but the truth is most cameras have the same settings I played with tonight. Hell, most cell phones allow you to adjust your photos and settings. My hundred dollar point and shoot that I keep in my pocket on vacations can do what I did tonight.

   Don't worry, not every post is going to be about camera settings and different things I am learning, but for some of you, it must be nice to see something on this blog other than bird photos, right?