Zooming a lens – Slow Shutter Speed

Posted on November 1, 2023November 1, 2023 by Anne Sandler · 21 Comments

Playing with lens and camera movement!

I enjoy doing things differently, especially when it comes to my camera and lens. Last week a small carnival occupied some of the Sunrise Mall parking lot in Citrus Heights. Perfect! I had to go and two photo buddies met me there.

When I say small, I mean not too many rides that are great for slow shutter speed photography. That coupled with my injuries from the August auto accident (They tell me it will be a long time recovery for my neck and shoulders.), helped me decide to leave my tripod in the car. You’ll see that in some cases I needed it.

Here are the pictures–handheld.

Some of these may not be perfect, but I had an hour’s worth of fun. Next year the tripod!

Posted on August 16, 2022August 16, 2022 by Anne Sandler · 38 Comments

Lens Artists Challenge #212: Motion

Patti’s motion challenge propelled (good motion word) me to try panning which is why this response is just a little late. My experiment of panning a car as it past by was a dismal failure. Therefore, there won’t be any panning in this post. But I will not give up! Someday there will be a panning image in a post!

So back to other forms of motion.

Stop action. A fast shutter speed usually works. I’ve even tried continuous shutter. Here are some examples.

Next is slow shutter speed which blurs the action. I do enjoy playing with this type of photography.

And I do like creating motion by zooming my lens. Try it when your at a carnival, out at night around neon signs or during Christmas time when all the lights are shining.

So there’s my photographic range of motion. Thank you Patti for this fun challenge. I will be working on learning how to pan and welcome any advice. When you reply to this challenge be sure to link to Patti’s original post and use the Lens-Artist tag. And thank you all for joining in with your groovy images last week. It was fun seeing what motivates you. Next week Amy will present the LAPC Challenge. Be sure to look for her post.

Interested in joining the Lens-Artists challenge? Click here for more information.

Posted on January 13, 2022January 13, 2022 by Anne Sandler · 9 Comments

Catching up, part 2: Christmas Lights

Yes, I’m still back in December 2021. On the 27th to be exact! Donna and I went out locally to photograph some Christmas lights. The conditions that night were perfect: not too cold and clear.

Last year I had some trouble with my Fujifilm camera. It was the first time using it for this function and I couldn’t get the lighting right. This year I knew it was okay to pump up the ISO. What a difference! This camera handles a high ISO so much better than my Nikon 7100 did.

Here are some of the results. Now pay attention to some of the snow men!

Did you see the great robbery in progress? And the robber’s weapon? If not, look again! As you can see, I also had fun with some slow shutter speed and zooming the lens. Thanks for visiting!

Posted on December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 by Anne Sandler · 22 Comments

Lens Artist Challenge #128: And Here Comes The Holiday Season

Ann Christine’s challenge propelled me back in time and brought me back to the now. As a kid, I didn’t look forward to this time of the year. Most of my friends celebrated Christmas, and my Jewish friends celebrated Chanukah. Each received wonderful gifts. My family didn’t have money for gifts, but we had a family menorah (or Chanukkiah). I remember we’d light the candles each night, but going to school and hearing the other kids talk about presents was tough.

This is why I started collecting menorahs, and gave each of my children, their spouses and grandchildren their own Chanukkiah. At our Chanukah celebrations, we’d light them all and turn off the lights. I delighted in watching the candles burn. When I see these lights, I’m reminded neither Christmas or Chanukah originated with gifts, but with love and hope.

Now we have a blended family and I get to participate in both Chanukah and Christmas. I love to go and photograph decorated homes.

Most of all, I like to zoom the lights and rotate my camera while the shutter is open.

Although we didn’t get down there this year, my favorite place is California’s Capitol building and tree. The building is beautiful in its own right, and the tree adds a wonderful holiday feeling.

My wish for you is to have a safe and wonderful holiday season! We need patience and resilience in 2021.

Posted on November 4, 2018 by Anne Sandler · 3 Comments

So what have you been doing? Wrapping up October

My October was busy with routine stuff and photo outings. However, these outings didn’t produce a super amount of images, well any that I would post here! But practice is great and I’m still learning. So I’m just going to separate them into outings.

Folsom Lake, late afternoon shoot. This outing was with our local camera store, Action Camera. They are great and are always willing to help.

The shoreline was rocky and expressive.

The clouds were beautiful.

Tire and bird tracks in the sand.

Rocky terrain.

Davis Ranch: This was with my All About Photography Group. We went out to Davis Ranch, in Sloughhouse, where all sorts of produce is sold. They are known for their delicious corn. At this time of the year, they also have a corn maze, a pick your own strawberry patch and more. And, of course, pumpkins!

I think this is a corn stalk.

I liked this pumpkin!

Small gourds. Imagine this as a puzzle!

Jensen Botanical Gardens: Marlene and I visited this garden in Carmichael. It would be beautiful in the Spring, but during the Fall, not much was blooming. It was a great exercise in shooting what was there!

This butterfly posed.

I didn’t have my macro lens with me.

But my walk around did well.

I love shooting flowers.

Carnival Pictures: My Camera Totin’ Tuesdays group took the day off and did a night shoot at the Citrus Heights Sunrise Mall’s small carnival. This was a great way to practice slow shutter speed and zooming. I was amazed to see everyone’s pictures and what they concentrated on. Some didn’t zoom, some did street photography. But I enjoyed zooming. I also brought along my neighbor and friend, gave her my D3100 and showed her how to do slow shutter and zoom. She was amazing, especially since I didn’t give her too much direction! You’ll have to guess what some of these were because I don’t remember. But I did have fun!

Posted on July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 by Anne Sandler · 4 Comments

Enjoying a cooling trend: The California State Fair

It’s great to live near the State Capitol–you don’t have to travel far to enjoy State functions. So why did it take me 15 years to go to the California State Fair? I’m pretty sure it’s because it’s held in the middle of the summer heat! But my Toastmaster Photography Club got lucky because on our scheduled attendance evening, it was cool! So our small group in All About Photography Toastmasters met at 6:30 p.m. and enjoyed the evening.

I hung out with Linda for the night. Since I wanted to experience what I could in the short amount of time we had, we walked quickly and covered a lot of ground. My only disappointment was not finding the animals.

It was easy to get lost. There were at least three ferris wheels and additional duplicated rides. You couldn’t say, “Meet me at the ferris wheel!” It was Linda’s first time using slow shutter speed to catch effects and using the zoom technique for abstracts. She started out slow, but caught on and got some great pictures.

You won’t go hungry at the fair. Food booths were all over the place. You could eat somewhat healthy with chicken skewers or go totally wild with a deep fried Snicker bar covered in whipped cream and fudge. Ouch!

Linda and I ate before we arrived and just indulged in an iced mocha (me) and smoothie (Linda). I’m thinking I should have tried the funnel cake instead!

Hopefully there will be some cool days next year because I intend to go back during the day and shoot more. I’ll also be entering some photos in the competition. So why don’t you take a look.

Color attracted fair goers to game booths.

I don’t know how high this ladder was, but this guy was determined to show off before he jumped. I’m not sure what he jumped into, but I’m thinking air bags.

We were far away and buying our drinks while this was going on. Here he is about mid way through the jump. Next he had a suit on and made the same jump while on fire. Sorry, I was paying for my drink at the time. No shot of that!