A Fruitful Day

Today was a camera day. Time for a bit more practice with my new Canon G15 which I introduced here: Enter The Canon Powershot G15

I’m determined to wean myself off ‘automatic’. Slowly.

Where to go? I couldn’t decide. Villages or forest? Mountains or coast? My husband pulled out a map, I closed my eyes and planted my finger down on the sheet. I’d landed on Choli, a tiny Cypriot village north of Paphos. So that’s where we headed.

The downside of my random choice was that the village was so tiny, we might drive right through without really noticing. The encouraging part was that one of my favourite vineyards lies on the route to Choli so it would be madness not to head in for a chat and head out with a crate.

The owner pressed a bottle of his award-winning Rosé on us as a gift:

The village of Choli nestled in a sea of orange and lemon trees so dictating the main photography theme for the day. Here are 3 of my attempts – what do you think?

Now off to sample that Rosé. Watch this space…

Carolina HeartStrings

Stunning photos. Also love the idea of picking a place on the map blindly and that you and your sweetie took off for such a great day trip!
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Yes I think we’ll use the finger map picking technique again! Seems a fun way to choose where to go
Caro Ness

LOVELY pictures!
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Thank you – I’m hoping to improve as I work out what all the dials do!
Bev

Hi there! I LOVE these picture!

Thanks for sharing them!
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Thanks Bev – I’m snapping away like crazy at the moment with my new toy so should get some shots good enough to post in my blog!
http://twitter.com/denyskelley Denys Kelley

Good for you for having a camera day! I call them Photo Safari ! I love doing exactly what you did. Get out there and take some pictures. Thanks you for sharing them with us. It’s like we got to go along with you.
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Photo Safari sounds much more of an adventure! I’ll be posting more pics as I get to grips with the camera
http://www.facebook.com/genae.dixonbanks Genae Dixon Banks

Good for you for taking your camera off of auto! I myself prefer to shoot people but kudos to you for shooting nature & structures..
- KarenGuttridge
  
  One of my shots was actually improved by taking the camera off auto so I was really pleased. Felt like a real photographer!
Amy

Karen, I would say that your photos don’t need any tweaking! It seems that you are learning how to use that new camera very well! Thanks for inviting us along on your camera day. It looks like it was a lovely one.
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Thanks Amy – I’m improving oooh so slowly! The great light here in Cyprus helps of course!
http://www.yarnology101.blogspot.com/ Brittany

Lovely photos! I think photography is such a fun hobby that can bring a lot of different people together. You’ve captured some amazing colors! I love vibrant (dare I say cartoony?) colored photos. You last photo seems to be lacking contrast a bit (because you were in the shadows), but I love the angle you caught of the street. To answer your question about adjusting the focus to include more of the lemon, you need a smaller aperture. That means, if you were shooting in F8, you need to go down to maybe F16 or F22 even. As bright as it is, you could have gotten away with it without any problems. A good place to look for photography help is http://digital-photography-school.com/. They have amazing articles and forums where you can get help or find inspiration! Good luck!
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Thanks Brittany for this really helpful answer – I’ll try your suggestions next time and post up the results! I’ll check out the website too. I get a little overwhelmed sometimes as I realise how much I have to learn but I guess if I can master one thing at a time, I’ll get there in the end!
Marian

Wish my oranges and lemons looked as good on my trees as they do in your photos.

P.S. Talking of photos. Stupid question. How do I upload an identity photo into my comment box????
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Hi Marian – the fruit did look good – that particular farm seems to take a great deal of care with the crop.
  
  As for the ID photo – not a silly question at all – everything seems easy when you know how! I use a programme called Gravatar https://en.gravatar.com/ which allows you to associate a photo with your email address. Then, each time you type in your email address when posting a comment, your image will appear. Let me know if you need any more info (email me)
  - Marian
    
    Yaaaaaay!
    - KarenGuttridge
      
      Yaaaaaay there you are!
  - Marian
    
    Only trouble is you need a magnifying glass to see it!
    - KarenGuttridge
      
      I tend to regard that as a good thing with my picture!
http://nodamnblog.wordpress.com Susie Kelly

Really fabulous photos, Karen. Chapeau.
- KarenGuttridge
  
  Thank you Susie…getting there slowly but surely!