Frozen Rain

55mm, 1/60 sec, F/6.3, ISO 200, Close-up program.

55mm, 1/60 sec, F/5.6, ISO 360, Close-up program.

55mm, 1/60 sec, F/5.6, ISO 220, Close-up program.

55mm, 1/80 sec, F/11, +1.0 EV, ISO 1600, Aperture priority.

55mm, 1/500 sec, F/11, +1.0 EV, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority. The color turned out too dark on this shot, but I love the silouette of ice.

55mm, 1/60, F/11, +1.0 EV, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority.

The Day Dawn is Breaking

30 mm, 1/160 sec, F/11, +1 EV, ISO 1600

46mm, 1/250, F/11, +1EV, ISO 1600

Candy Carousel

38mm, 1/10 sec, F/5, +1 EV, ISO 400

I really feel like I messed up all her birthday pictures, there isn't one that I love in the whole bunch! Anyway, this is the best cake one.

Which lens?

If you had to choose which lens to add to your collection, which one would you choose?

• Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DL-M "Motorized" DG Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens with Built-in Motor Drive for Nikon SLR Cameras Including D40, D40X, & D60 (click here for more info)
• OR
• Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras (click here for more info.)

I need to choose one as an idea for my hubby to give me for Christmas! I currently have the standard 18-55mm.

I want your opinion!!

Cape Cod

30mm, 1/200 sec, F/7.1, ISO 100

38mm, 1/640 sec, F/5, ISO 200

30mm, 1/30 sec, F/4.2, ISO 1600

45mm, 1/200 sec, F/5.6, ISO 100, changed to Sepia

55mm, 1/125 sec, F/5.6, ISO 100

55mm, 1/200 sec, F/5.6, ISO 100



38 mm, 1/250 sec, F/8, ISO 100

52mm, 1/100 sec, F/10, ISO 400

55mm, 1/10 sec, F/32, ISO 400

Photo Shoot

These pictures may seem very typical and basic, but this was a big deal for me! It was my first successful photo shoot where I chose all my settings manually! I had tried it earlier in the week with Keira and hardly any worked out. I would be lying if I said it was easy. It was harder than I thought. Some of my setting changes had more drastic results than I expected. I was pretty stressed about it. I made some mistakes, but I learned from them! My biggest challenge is how to keep my subject in focus. When I let too much light in, it blurs out my subject. I played with my camera a lot to see the differences in settings.
I brought in a pile of clothes and dress-ups and she did her thang. These are a few of my favorite.

55 mm, Child Program (I guess this shot wasn't manual! I wanted the colors to pop, which it does in the child program), metering mode: multi-pattern, 1/60 sec, F/5.6, 0EV, ISO 640, AF-A, white balance: auto.

55 mm, metering mode: center-weighted, 1/100 sec, F/5.6, 0EV, ISO 1600, AF-A, White Balance: auto

55mm, metering mode: center-weighted, 1/30 sec, F/5.6, 0EV, ISO 800, AF-A, White Balance: auto

Here are a few from the one with Keira. I'm so sad that some of them are blurry. I posted them anyway to get opinions (aka help.) I don't have time to post the settings right now, gotta run!

Bathtime

55 mm, 1/60 sec, F/5.6, ISO 200

Peek-a-boo with Paul

55 mm, 1/15 sec, F/9, ISO 400, +0.3 EV

55 mm, 1/50 sec, F/5.6, ISO 400, -1.3 EV

Cloudscape

55 mm, 1/500 sec, F/11, ISO 200

Sunday Beauty

55 mm, 1/10 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400

(Can you tell she had just been playing with my lipgloss?)

Blue Moon

55 mm, 1 sec, f/5.6, ISO 720, changed to Cyanotype and cropped.

Sunrise

Loved the sunrise but too bad the yucky window screen is in my way. It really muddy's up the pic.

NYC Misc.

Flash Comparison

So, there I was, sitting on the heating vent in FAO Schwarz, nursing the baby, and I decided to play around with my camera.

I took a shot with the flash and a shot without the flash. I was shocked that the picture without the flash showed the true colors that I saw with my naked eye. I thought the flash was always supposed to help. Not true!

The rest of the day I was cognizant of the flash and the colors I was getting in my shots. Almost every time, the shots without the flash showed the true color. However, I got blurry images sometimes. I don't know how to adjust the settings on my camera manually, so I was at the mercy of my camera's auto choices while I had it on the "no flash" setting. All in all, I didn't get great shots of NYC because of this. However, I'll be better prepared next time because my "Nikon D40x Digital Field Guide" just arrived. I have some homework to do, but I hope I'll know what to do next time. In the meantime, enjoy the shots that did work out.

1/60 sec, F/4.5, 31 mm, ISO 200 (with flash).

1/30 sec, F4.5, 31mm, ISO 560 (no flash).

The Iconic FAO Schwarz soldier

1/8 sec, F/5.3, 46mm, ISO 1600

NYC Taxi Through a Rainy Window

1/30 sec, F/5.6, 55mm, ISO 1100

George Washington Bridge, NYC

1/125 sec, F/5.6, 45 mm, ISO 180

Foggy Day

1/60 sec, F/5.6, 55 mm, ISO 200

I stood at my back door and took this picture. I loved how the fog framed the trees and gave it a gray background.

Baby in a Basket

1/40 sec, F/5.6, 52mm, ISO 400

Classic West Point

1/100 sec, F/9, 38 mm, ISO 200

Gerbera

1/60 sec, F 5.6, 55 mm, ISO 200

Untouched.

Daddy Kisses

Jack

1/2.5 sec, F/5, ISO 1600, 40 mm

A very hard picture to take! It was hard to stabilize the image because of the slow shutter speed needed. My tripod is so small that I didn't think I could use it on this shot, but I wish I had tried it!

Pink Poodle Puppy Dog Eyes

1/60 sec, F/5, ISO 200, 40 mm

Crayons

1/30 sec, F/5.3, ISO 500, 45 mm

(Too bad the crayons aren't sharpened!)