There are few things I look forward to more than the Canada Day long weekend. It signifies the start of cottage season and means an extra day to swim, enjoy the sun and hang out my family.
This year was very much like past celebrations, with the exception of one thing – I had a fantastic camera to capture all of the shots I usually never even try to get!
One such picture is the ever-elusive “kids with sparklers”. It was impossible to get a good shot with my point-and-shoot camera because I didn’t have much control over the settings; I was always using “Auto” mode. Because I’m very interested in taking artistic photographs, the idea of slowing down the shutter speed to achieve cool affects intrigued me. Considering it was dusk when the sparkler fun began, my first few images weren’t as dramatic as I’d hoped. But, once I modified the light compensation, the change was immediate and drastic; I achieved a darker background, which allowed the foreground – the sparkler – to shine.
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| Sparklers! (Aperature: 4.5; ISO 100; shutter speed 1/25; EV/light compensation -1) |
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| Sparklers! (Aperature: 16; ISO 100; shutter speed 1.6; EV/light compensation -1) |
The blurred subject is part of the artistic charm of this shot, above, which
captures the playful shapes my daughter was making in the air with her
sparkler. (Aperature: 1.8; ISO 640; shutter speed 1/60 sec)
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| Some of my favourite things to look at… |
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| Playing with aperature settings on close-ups of a pine tree and other plants. |
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| View from the dock at dusk – heavenly! |
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| Showing our Canadian pride! |
The kids had fun wearing their Canadian pride (literally!) with Canada-themed shirts, and enjoyed a day of fun in the sun fishing off the dock. They even caught a few!
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| Fishing fun (we threw them back!) |
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| She was so proud – her first fish! (Aperature: 2.2; ISO 100; shutter speed 1/200) |
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| Lightning! (Aperature: 1.8; ISO 640; shutter speed 1/60) |
During the course of our week up north, we experienced a big thunderstorm. The picture above shows a flash of lightning I captured. Then, once everything calmed down, there was the famed double rainbow! How lucky was I to be able to capture this? I can guarantee I would have never been able to get these shots with my point-and-shoot camera!
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| Beautiful skies, post-storm (L); a double rainbow (R; aperature: 1.8; ISO 180; shutter speed 1/60) |
At the end of the week, we enjoyed a lovely meal out and I happened to catch this sweet moment between my husband and our son.
We had an amazing Canada Day celebration and I’m thrilled at how far my photography has come already. While I still have lots to learn, I’m feeling more comfortable with my Nikon D3300 every day and love being able to capture these wonderful moments.
Disclosure: I am part of the Mom Central Canada Nikon MOMents team and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
Beautiful puctures Lisa! Very impressive shots. Love thr angels and details and the lightning pic. Looks like you had a great time up north
Beautiful Lisa! 🙂 I love the rainbow!! So fun to see what you've caught while playing with settings in less common situations! (Sparklers, lightning, etc.)
Loved seeing your post!
great shots!
Thanks, Maya! It was a lot of fun…except for the mosquitoes.lol
They took advantage of my determination to get good night shots!!
Thanks, Heather! That rainbow was amazing to see in person. If I had a wide-angle lens, I could've gotten both sides of it in one shot. 🙂 Oh well…next time!
Thanks, Jen! So kind of you to say!!
You captured some BEAUTIFUL photos!!!
These are amazing pictures! Great memories too!
Thanks for saying so! If you saw how many I took to get these, you'd laugh! But that's all part of learning. 🙂
Many thanks, Cecile! And, I agree…great memories. 🙂
LOVE the sparkler shots. Amazing caputure!
Thanks so much! It *was* a tough one to get… I probably took over 25 shots to get that one, all using different modes. I had to try them all out, tweaking the settings as I went. 🙂
You took beautiful pictures Lisa. I love the sparkler shots and the dock at dusk. Looks heavenly. Can't believe it's late August now! At least you captured some lovely summer moments in your photos. 😉
WOW I love the sparkler picture! Your pictures really give me a proud to be Canadian feeling! The sweet moment between daddy and son, melted my heart!
The sparklers pic – OMG! So cool! I love the artistic way you capture moments.