Mom's New Camera (Which Means a TON of Photos)

Mom's new camera arrived on Monday, she's been a crazy photo-taking person ever since.  For all of you who have been asking, Mom got a Nikon Coolpix P520.  According to Mom (because, really, what do I know about cameras?), it's a 'compact' (smaller than a DSLR) camera with a fixed lens (as opposed to being able to change lens like a DSLR), a 42x optical zoom (that Mom says would require her to use a tripod to use the full zoom range and is NOT why she bought the camera), takes 18 mega-pixel photos (although she can take smaller photos if she is so inclined), and most importantly for Mom, has all the features of a point-and-shoot, but also has all the manual/semi-manual settings.  These settings are why Mom bought the camera as she has decided that since she spends so much time and effort taking pictures of us, she wants to learn how to take advantage of shutter-speed settings, and aperture settings, and ISO settings and whatnot.  Since she only sorta knows what those things are, our Granny and Grandpa have generously bought her some books so she can learn "how to take good photos" as Mom say.

Here is Mom's camera:

For those of you who are going to ask, the little plastic tram car with the green windows in the background was Mom and Dad's wedding cake topper.

Anyhoo, even though Mom doesn't actually know how to use any of the settings (I'd show you a picture of the dial with the settings, but trust me - this post has so many pictures that you'll thank me later for not adding one more picture of Mom's camera), she is (and I quote) "deliriously happy" with her new toy.

BTW, you might want to 'biggify' these photos to get the full effect.

The very first picture she took was of us.  Of course.  I mean, she got the camera so she could take better pictures of us - what else would her first photo be of?

"Hey Fi, how many pictures do you think we're going to have to sit for?" "Abs, Mom has a new toy, so it could be in the hundreds.  But pictures means treats.  Trust me."

As soon as Mom got back from work the next day, she decided to see what sort of photos she could get.  Well, lemme tell ya, after seeing the first set of photos, I'm totally sold on the new camera.  Why, you ask?  Well, for the first time EVER, we have positive proof that Abby is an alien.

An antenna coming out of the top of her head!  I knew it!  Abby is an alien!  Not that I ever doubted it, mind you...

Heehee.

Mom also took some pictures of us in the late afternoon sun because, well, she could.

"How many pictures did you say we would have to sit for, Fi?"  "*sigh*"

Take all the photos of me you want, Mom!  Remember, I'm The Good Dog!  Santa, you're paying attention, right?

Of course, we were concerned about action photos.   So, Mom decided to see how well the camera would take frisbee pictures (keep in mind, Mom is still using the 'auto' setting - she is still trying to find some of the sports settings, and has yet to find and use the 'pet portrait setting, and yes, there is a setting for pet portraits, although as you'll see in a bit, Mom seems to be doing pretty well on her own!)

Doodle Launcher is clearly working fine!

Yes, that is snow you see coming down - we had several snowy days this week.

Powder shot!

While the camera takes great photos, it still hasn't improved Mom's frisbee throwing skills!

See, I get some air on occasion!

With the picture size and the zoom, with a combination of zooming and cropping, Mom can get good, close-in action shots!

The Doodle Launcher continues to perform as expected!

Even I got into the Doodle Launcher.

Crazy doodle!

So yeah, even on the very basic 'auto' setting, frisbee action photos are a go!

As I mentioned above, we had several snowy days this week and one night when Mom took us out, the sky was amazing - clouds, a bright moon behind the clouds, and snow coming down.  Mom dashed back inside and grabbed her camera, and even though she was still using the 'auto' settings, she got this Really Cool photo:

The sky really did look like that - Mom didn't do any color enhancements or anything!

The backyard light was on and Mom used the flash (which is why the snowflakes look like bright stars), and while the picture is kind of 'flat' (Mom says she has an idea why it is 'flat' but doesn't know how to set her camera up yet to give some 'depth' to the photo) it is still really cool!

Mom was so enamored with how the snowflakes looked like stars that she got another picture on another night to see if she could get a similar effect.  She's obviously still got a lot to learn (like bringing out a tripod...), but she's quite pleased with her initial attempts.

Okay, enough scenery photos.  Mom, you got this camera to take pictures of us, right?  So let's see more doggie photos!

One of the 'creative photography' books Mom has been reading suggests trying new angles.  So Mom spent a lot of time lying/sitting in the snow to get some 'unique' photos of us.

Queen of the Mountain (or hill, as the case may be).

The "dog's eye view".

One of Mom's personal favorites:

Frisbee dog!

Mom wanted to see if she could get some "dog's eye view" action photos.  She'll readily admit she's got a long way to go with these, too, but again, she's pleased with her initial results.

"How are you going to throw the frisbees when you are on the ground, Mom?"

"Seriously.  I brought this back to you.  You should throw it!"

"I'm running Right At You!"

Mom also wanted to get some head shots.  And since she had a bag of treats with her, we were (mostly) happy to oblige her.

 

Mom was really impressed with the camera on this next photo.

Yes, I'm pretty in this photo (as usual), but why was Mom so impressed?  Well if you biggify it (Mom cropped it below so you don't have to biggify it), you will see Mom reflected in my eye.  (Yes, she's raising her arm with a treat in her hand to get my attention, but still pretty cool, huh?)

Mom's looking at me, and I'm looking at her!

Another of Mom's favorites (BTW, one of the books she's reading suggests that when you pull pictures off your camera, you immediately 'cull' the photos, look at them, and then 'cull' again, so you've got a manageable number of pictures to work with.  Mom is following that advice and STILL has a ton of photos.)

"Out of bully sticks?!?  Noooo!"

I could show you about a hundred more photos on this same theme.   But Mom has also tried playing around with Photoshop to see what sort of 'effects' she might want to use.

Black and white with a hint of color.

'Tweaking' the 'color curve' (whatever that is) with Abby.

Trees in our yard in black and white.

Mom also tried to get some icicle photos.  Another area for improvement, but we've got a lot of winter ahead of us!

The first look at the icicles.  Ho-hum.

Zoomed in.  (Biggify for best results.)

'Macro.'

So yeah, Mom LOVES her new camera (if you couldn't tell), and she plans on putting some serious effort into learning about her camera and how to take photos, both from a technical point of view and from an artistic point of view.  Needless to say, stay tuned for all of Mom's efforts!

We, on the other hand, want to make sure Mom doesn't lose focus (a little photography joke there!) on the most important subject - us!

 

*kissey face*
-Fiona and Abby the Hippobottomus