Oh the comfort zone, so nice to be in it. You’re not challenged, you’re relaxed but you’re also not growing in ability. I want to be a better photographer. That was one goal when I went out with Mary Gromer and the “Shoot or Go Home” Meetup group. I wasn’t disappointed! Yesterday I posted some of the building images I captured during the golden hours. It was when I turned auto bracketing off, that I began to learn more.

We were about to shoot the full moon. I’ve never done night photography and knew I needed to slow down my shutter speed. However, I was having problems, and then Mary came to the rescue. She started moving settings, shot a picture and then showed it to me. I asked her how she did it. She replied, “I put it on manual.” Ouch, the “M” word! I was on manual the rest of the night. I worked with the shutter speed and saw what it did or didn’t do. I did get some full moon shots. In retrospect, I should have changed to my long lens to shoot the moon itself. The 18 – 55 didn’t do it justice. But, it did well on the landscape of the moon and large crane. I get really tired at night, and my brain processing ability is reduced.

After we shot the moon, we found a gazebo to light paint. Again, I’ve never light painted before. I did buy two light sticks and brought along a flashlight. I’ve started a shopping list: a better flash light with a longer range and gel strips to cover the flashlight. My light sticks were fun as we flashed them in front of the camera or ran around with them while the shutter was open. But they didn’t create an image that I liked. Fortunately some of the other photographers had supplies. I was able to capture some nice images when I followed orders on what F-stop, shutter speed and ISO to put the camera on.

All in all, it was a great experience. I need to practice with the manual settings and become knowledgeable and comfortable with setting the aperture, shutter and ISO. So much to learn; so far out of my comfort zone!