Playing around

Just learning some of the features of this terrific camera Candee got me last year.  This photo is a panorama of Sheeffry Pass.  One takes several pictures in sequence across a landscape and the included software, "Photostitch," puts them together.  This photo is the melding of 5 shots, covering about 120 degrees of angle out over the valley leading back to Westport.  In the old days, with a primitive SLR/film camera, I would play around with aperture, shutter speed, filters, etc. to achieve different "depths of field" (areas of focus) and varying contrasts.  I would also have several lenses for close-ups, portraits, and long distance shots.

With this new, terrific camera - a high end compact - a Canon G15 - I can zoom in optically and digitally; I can go to a "Scenes" setting for beach scenes, fireworks, night scenes, "soft skin," snow, etc.; I can shoot high quality video; I can have the camera take three quick shots, exposing at the optimal exposure for three different areas of the scene (e.g., sky, ocean, grass foreground - HDR setting) and combine them into one perfect picture, and on and on and on.

Of course, I'm lazy and shoot almost every shot in the "auto" setting.  Not to complain about the results, mind you.  I've gotten some great shots.  But I am promising myself to return next year with a much more intimate familiarity with the old-time basic functions of the camera, and shoot with different manual settings for shutter speed and aperture.  We'll see how it goes.

Again, click on the picture to see an enlarged version.
Now I'm in the hunt for a great seascape.