September Treasures
I’ve bought myself a new camera. Nothing flash or fancy, just a new little point and shoot which happened to be on offer at our local Aldi. Currently I use my old camera and my phone, both of which produce photos which are perfectly acceptable – but I want them to be better, and despite the discounted price, this camera has more settings and more megapixels than both. I figured I had nothing to lose.
So, having taken the camera out of the box and charged it up, I wanted to try it out. There are umpteen settings for different scenes and situations – I may well end up with never using any of them but I wanted to see how it worked. I decided to take the dog for a walk. He was quite happy to be part of my camera experiment, although not keen to be in the photos himself.
We set off across the fields. I should probably apologise in advance for the number of photographs in this post, but I needed to try out all the settings just once if never again. I’m sure you understand!
It was only a week or two ago that the crops on both sides of this path were so tall that you could hardly see the path, and certainly not along it to the hedge like you can now. It looks rather desolate at the moment, but the farmer has been out ploughing already.
And already the green fuzz of winter wheat is starting to show in the furrows.
Time to change the setting. I wanted to see if I could zoom in to take pictures of the dew on the grass. It’s not too bad, this one, but I may need more practice – and definitely on a day without a dog tugging on his lead!
As the fields merge into each other, the footpath swings to the left. The field beyond is full of fluffy seedheads, and as we approach, a flock of goldfinches rises into the air.
This is what they’ve been after – seedheads from the thistle plants.
I’m trying out the plant mode now. I’m quite pleased with this picture of berries. What do you think?
It’s definitely starting to feel as if summer’s coming to an end now. I still don’t really want to call it autumn yet, but as today is officially the first day of autumn, it looks like there’s no choice! Heavy dew in the mornings, berry-filled trees and horses with jackets on. It won’t be long before there’s no escaping that winter’s on it’s way.
For now, though, I’m enjoying the morning sunshine. This road has been re-surfaced since the last time we walked along it, and the new tarmac shines.
Ooh, look, now I’m using the zoom to spot the alpacas at the other end of the field!
On the way home now. I just love the colours of this tree. This is one of the better things about autumn – I’m not so keen on the rain, the wind and the fog that will be heading our way before long.
Late blackberries. They’re a lovely size but too close to the road for me to want to pick them. I have got a bag full in the freezer that are going to become blackberry and apple jelly which I picked from Culcheth Linear Park the other week, so I’m happy to leave these here.
We’re on our way home now, walking through the village back towards our house. I spotted these Cosmos flowers over a garden wall. Aren’t they pretty with their pink edges?
Round the corner we came across these sunflowers peering over the fence. The dog paused to sniff a particularly interesting smell and I tried out the backlight setting on the camera.
Back home again and I’ve found a couple of late summer jewels in the garden. Sweet peas which have refused all summer to climb upwards but have insisted on spreading across the path …
Flower buds on the witch hazel …
The last of the marigolds …
Dew on the nasturtium leaves …
The garden is starting to look tired now and ready for a winter rest. I’ve already started cutting back some of the plants but there’s still plenty more to do. It’s nice to find treasure, though, just when you think that there’s nothing bright left around.
I’m still no expert with the camera but improving my pictures is on my to-do list (along with 101 other things!) and I’m keen to work on it. The only thing is that you’ll have to look at them all … I hope you don’t mind! 🙂
Ooh, I'm glad to included lots of photos, they're great to look at. I'm wounding now if my camera has a backlit setting. Your zoom function seems pretty good, and your close shots are nicely in focus. My camera claims to have a macro setting which I believe is for close shots, but it never seems to focus on the thing I want it to!
Thanks! It's not bad for a cheap and cheerful little camera, is it? I love your blog photos even without all the settings, you always seem to capture the moment perfectly! xx