Good morning friends,
Hope everyone is still in good health.
This morning I went out in the garden and tested my new 70-300mm lens on manual focus with a 2sec timer on a tripod using live view and my cable remote. Well I am still struggling to getting the hang of this manual focus and the fact that I must take off my glasses to see on the screen in very irritating. I uploaded all 10 photos and as I looked at it I deleted them one by one. They were all out of focus 😭 I never shoot on live view or with manual focus and I had much better results when I looked through the viewfinder and autofocus. But I am not going to give up. I will try again and again and again…… Until I master the art of manual focus. I think I must start on larger subjects and not flowers and also when it is not that windy. If I want my photos to be sharp and of better quality I will have to get outside of my comfort zone.
I have also ordered some ND grad filters for my camera. Not the expensive ones for now. At least I know that many landscape photographers started out using the cheapies to get the hang of it and that it will give a purple cast to my photos. But I am not going to spend hundreds of Rands on filters that I will never use. So these cheapies will give me an indication of what I really need here in the South African light.
I am also getting together a list of things I will need on my own landscape photography expeditions. For now it will only be a few hours hike at a time. I will have to get use to the bag on my back and not having my camera in my hand the whole time. Safer for me as well as my camera. I will also have to decide that I am only going to capture landscapes and not flowers, birds, insects and everything around me. This will end up making an 1 hour hike a 5 to 6 hour hike…. This is going to be the most difficult part of getting use to only capturing landscapes on a given day. The thing with flowers is they are here today but will they be there a week from now…. That is my dilemma. But it all comes down to choices that I will have to make, careful planning, and getting to know my new surroundings.
Photography is such a great career with so many opportunities. I can’t wait to get started on my photography assignment but first I need to get all better and a bit fitter than I am currently are. From Monday morning 20 September 2021 I will start walking on my treadmill again. And I am going to start with my Camerabag on by back with my hiking shoes. Don’t worry I will start slow and increase my my time and tempo over time. I do realize that walking on a treadmill and walking outside in the elements and in nature is not the same, but this will at least help me getting fitter a bit faster.
It is a beautiful cool morning outside and according to the weather forecast we are having a cold and windy Spring day. A maximum temperature of 16°C is predicted.
On my To-Do List for today
- Do more research on hiking trails in and around Cape Town
- Watch YouTube videos on landscape photography by Thomas Heaton and other photographers.
- Go through my photos and see if I can spot some of my mistakes.
- Prepare Dinner
Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I am truly grateful for all the views, likes, follows and comments I get.
Wishing everyone a wonderful day.
🤗Big Virtual Hug 🤗
Coreen