Day 196—To The Rescue

I took a break this morning after dropping Bobo off at the vet and packing for my weekend excursion. Because the weather is cool and breezy, I sat on the patio with my camera and my camera manual planning to spend an hour trying to learn more about it and hoping that the hummingbird would stop by for a photo. I experimented with focus and tried to learn which button and dial combinations resulted in what setting changes. I fiddled and made adjustments to make sure the exposure would be perfect if the hummingbird decided to pay a visit. He stopped by briefly and settled tantalizingly on a bare twig across the patio but those shots were very underexposed. Then, the rumbling sound of a low flying airplane, one of the Coast Guard planes from McClellan Field. It flew right over my house, heading, I suppose, to help out at the Robbers Fire near Colfax. I pointed my camera up as the plane flew directly into the sun. Because I had set the camera to photograph the hummingbird, the lens was wide open so the resulting shots of the plane were barely visible and ghost-like. But I decided to try some adjustments in the Lightroom Develop module. I decreased exposure, sharpened, changed whites, blacks, contrast and who knows what other sliders I touched. But I like the result. In fact, I made so many changes to this shot, there is no point in identifying the settings as I normally do. I also discovered that there is a spot on my sensor so I’ll be taking my camera into Action Camera next week to have the sensor cleaned.