February 11, 2009

Moss Cove: Hot Chocolate, Take 2

This time we remembered the matches, and no one (cough cough, Littlest Dude) had a melt-down.

Moss Cove 2-000001

Some evening particulars: the sunset was to die for; Littlest Dude was thrilled to wear his favorite new Dinosaur t-shirt (that was formerly the favorite of both his older siblings!); the hot chocolate was delicious; the weather was warm; and the tide level was back to normal (notice: all the rocks are covered this time - same beach 7 days later).

Moss Cove 3-000001

Some camera particulars: I toyed with the settings on my camera. I've now had my "big girl" camera for a year, and I still only know a small fraction of the many capabilities that it has. So I often play around with settings just to see what happens. This time I edited the "Picture Style" by bumping the Sharpening, Contrast and Color Saturation in the menu section. Each of the pictures on this post is totally, completely SOOC. Truth be told, I probably boosted the camera settings (sharpness, contrast, saturation) too high, but I LOVE the effect. And it was quite fun NOT to have to add anything to these.

The down side? I probably couldn't use these camera settings for portraits - at least not a sunset time (or probably in shadows). All our faces came out quite strongly orange. But hey, I can always do a quickie b&w conversion:

IMG_5659


Which all leads to my photo tip for the day: Play with your camera settings. Just about any digital camera will let you adjust your settings. Read all about it in your camera manuals. Experiment. See what happens. Have fun!

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11 comments:

Jon and Steph said...

I definitely need to play with my camera settings and learn more about my camera. I too have the Canon Rebel. My pictures just don't come close to yours ;)

Tracy P. said...

Love the one of you and Big Dude--surprising there could be so much light in your faces and you're not squinting. Did you count to three and open your eyes?

Holly said...

The eyes in that last photo are outstanding!!!!

Kelly Sauer said...

Beautiful work! I especially like the one where one of your Dudes is silhouetted against the sunset, hot chocolate in hand! I've been experimenting with my camera settings recently - I only JUST found my manual settings on my Nikon D-200 - I love it so much more than the automatic what-the-camera-thinks-is-best I've been using since I got it 1.5 years ago!

Heasleye said...

Now that looks like the perfect evening! Fabulous!

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

I love playing with contrast... and B&W photography is my favorite... something was lost when I went digital though and to make up for the lost dark room time photoshop does a great job!

Anonymous said...

I think they have a really cool look to them--they aren't over-corrected, and the "sunset" feel is quite strong. Very neat!

Heidi said...

What?! You mean I should actually read my camera manual?! Wah! I think mine is in a different language....

Lovely photos of a lovely family evening.

Unknown said...

What great advice. Play and have fun with your camera! You really can't go wrong with that advice. : ).
PS That dinosaur shirt is pretty cool :).

Teri said...

I love messing with the camera dials. And I am so glad your 2nd attempt at hot chocolate was a success!

Whew. :-)

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

When I can't fix my color I love the simple BW too! Your pictures remind me of when we lived in a bay community not far from the beach. We had so many picnics and walks. It really was grand. I miss it. Sigh