As I was Scuba Diving the other day

Enjoying the cool water and the feeling of weightlessness.........



       Looking at all the beautiful fish and critters under the sea.



   I was having such a great time even the seaweed winked at me.



   I even found Nemo and helped him find his way home.



     And to help out the city I even got rid of some barnacles on the pier



      Leaving some for the wild fishies because...hey...that is just the kind of woman I am :-)



     Deeper and deeper I went.  The fish got bigger and stranger looking.





      Some were downright frightening and larger the the biggest ship



Some were giving me the evil eye and the hairs on the back of my neck were starting to float up.



    I could see them ganging up on me.



   They were pointing the way for the bigger fish to find me.



   Until finally the biggest meanie of them all......  There she is....there she is



    And remembering Steve I hurried to the.....exit



   To arrive safely outside the aquarium exit to tell you all my scary tale.

   Now isn't that better then Hey, look at the fish pictures I took?

My J shot

  I did get a J shot for Martha's A to Z photo shoot.  2 in fact.

      J......... Jellyfish.

Julie's Bloopers

   There seems to be a pretty high learning curve from my old camera to my new.  Some of my more interesting bloopers are listed.  Out of 900 pictures I am down to 300 I am still looking over to give you an idea.  I will be showing some I really like.  Nailed them I think but for now, the interesting bad shots.

    Nice underwater hippo shot, but who is that lady walking through my background?



       Just too much going on in this shot with the moving monkey's and waterfall.   My shutter didn't know what to focus on and obviously got no help from me.  Would have been a cool shot too.  sigh.



     In the midst of all that glare is a really cute otter which was cutely begging for treats.  A good photographer would have known how to prevent that.  Actually this amateur  did get a shot or 2 that turned out I will be showing later, but that was pure luck and 300 shots later, LOL.



         My first class talked about how to stop a shot for action shots.  Obviously I was still trying to figure out how to turn my camera on during that part.



  Again.... I wanted a picture of this hammer head shark really bad.  I took 200 shots and never did get a good one.  Thank goodness for National Geographic or I might never know what one looks like.


  Another failed attempt



    Now,  this next shot is not smoke drifting through a non-smoking bar.  It is actually a school of fish.  Would you have even guessed that if I hadn't told you?



  Mystery photo.  See the ghost in this one wearing funky glasses.  Just weird.



  Shooting through glass is difficult.  You get so much more then you bargained for.   Is the ghost looking for her glasses?



  My poor shutter doesn't know what to focus on.  Bird, drops of water, birds, drops of water.  Now I ask you.  Is that not the best water drops you ever saw!  Look how sharp....you can almost count them.  If only those darn birds hadn't been standing in the background.



  A pretty bird still looks best in a branch outside of netted area.  Just not really worth the shot.   Now there is a way to shoot that shot so the netting goes away and you just get the bird.  I haven't taken that class though.



    Here is another example of making sure your focusing on what you want to shoot.  Did I want the leaves or the great shot I missed of the bobcat yawning.  And once again behind the fencing.




   So these are my bloopers.  I kept these as there are things about these I can learn from.....I  hope.  Next I will be showing some shots that did turn out.  My $80.00 wasn't completely wasted.

Practing again

       My new bag clipped perfect on my bike so we rode for 13 miles and got pictures.  Haven't got them all downloaded but there are some good ones.  tomorrow the soo.  Something besides flowers.

More practice shots

        I have been practicing.  Most of my pictures are underexposed or over exposed.  Lots are out of focus as I get back into using the viewfinder as opposed to live view.  It is harder then I thought.  I was doing some rapid shots on a butterfly and I told my son.  Look Luke, I sound like a real photographer, LOL.  As long as they don't see my pictures.

      As usual I took around 400 shots and then had to decide which to keep.  I am keeping bad and good ones in my files so I can see what settings I had them on and take notes.

    Did you know you can right click on your picture and then click properties and it will tell you which settings you had your camera on?  I didn't know that.  Cost me $80.00 bucks to find that out and I am sharing it here with you for nada.  Of course I am probably the only one who didn't know that, LOL.

    I am having trouble decided what settings to use and sure wish I had a professional to tag along with and ply with dozens of questions.  My class was OK but for the money left many questions unanswered.  His big advice, practice, practice, practice.   Well I knew that.  I wanted to know settings, settings, settings.  So if you pros out there want to give me tips on each picture on what I should have done to improve and which settings that would be real cool.


       I also got a card reader instead of hooking my camera up to the computer and wasting my battery.  Another thing I learned about in class and cheap also.

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_1

My Son used my Soni

  Gee, it is such a great camera.  Hopefully when I get the hang of my new one it will be for me also.  Luke has a real eye.

new camera

  I got my new camera ( Digital Rebel XSi) and had the first class today.  I like the professor, nice guy with lots of knowledge and willing to answer questions without making you feel stupid.   I have so much practicing to do but here are a couple of first shots.  I had a willing subject who sat nice and still while I took its picture in several settings.











       You can see how different settings really affect the warmth of the picture.  I am not happy with most of them but can see the potential when I get so I am comfortable with the camera and know what the heck I am doing.   Expect more as I practice practice and practice some more.

    I found the perfect bag for my new camera since it takes up more room.  Hanging it from my handlebars is no longer an option.  It isn't made for a camera but should work out perfect.
Its a Trek truck bag that clips to the rear rack.  Padded, waterproof, lots of storage.  What do you think?
   Rick will be happy also as he won't have to carry it and it will hold both camera's.

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_6