Corvette Z06

Originally uploaded by dgmiami

Sometimes one sets out on a hunt for the perfect location to take pictures of their subject, only to find a surprise location on the way home!

Today I drove down to Watson Island with a friend to get some pictures of his car in front of the Miami skyline. We went there, took the pictures from several angles, and then it started to rain.

We decided it was time to move on and see how the rest of the day would go. Perhaps we would come back if the rain stopped and take a few more pictures before heading in for the day. We ate lunch in Coconut Grove and decided to continue towards home.

As we drove through Coconut Grove, we observed a great photo stop. I jumped out of the car and started shooting… The result – awesome!

If you are taking pictures for fun like me, don’t forget to take a look around while driving to and from your selected location… you may drive by a place that is perfect!

The Paris hotel and casino

Originally uploaded by dgmiami

While visiting Las Vegas last week, I was able to take over 500 pictures and really get a grasp on the camera settings available to me in full manual mode. Having never done this before, I was pleasantly surprised at the results from a little experimentation with the settings.

As you can see in this picture, the water coming down from the fountain outside of the Paris Hotel and Casino appears to be a light colored curtain of water. Just to compare, I took a picture in full auto mode and was stunned how “ugly” it would look when the flash fires and captures the water droplets in air.

I sat on the sidewalk with my back to the fence separating me from the Las Vegas Strip, put my elbows on my knees and created a rather steady position from which I took this shot. I took several pictures at different time settings until I found the ideal time exposure of one second. The shot looked good on the camera display, but even better when I got it on to the computer screen. Another setting I played with on these shots was the white balance. I believe I set it to “tungsten.” Click the picture and see the picture properties on flickr (towards the lower left of your browser window).