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Friday’s Photo Faux Pas

When I looked up “faux pas” to check the spelling and see what the plural would be (the same), I was reminded that faux pas is a social blunder; it doesn’t really fit.  Still, I like the alliterative sound of it, so I’ll keep it for today.  (Shoot, now I have another word to look up.)

The other day, Robin asked me if I had a picture of this whole quilt: 

StateFair7

 

Well, today’s lesson is that not all pictures turn out to be the beautiful photo you see in your mind.  There was so much glare on the glass at the State Fair, this was the best I could do of the whole quilt. 

StateFair20090137

My solution was to get the camera lens close to the glass and take a photo of just part of the quilt (which is the first picture above).

That made me think about all my not-so-good pictures that I usually delete right away, and I certainly don’t post them!  Well, lucky, lucky you — I found some pretty funny examples  of “mistake” pictures to share with you today.  Whoops, just a little head movement here…

Examples2

Don’t look down your nose at me!  I’m just trying to take your portrait!

Examples5

Since I was shooting through the blinds, I was getting some terrible white glare on the window.  I knew if I raised the blinds, this house finch would be gone in a flash, but I couldn’t resist another shot of these tufts of feathers.

Examples4

You know how much I love the hummingbirds.  I managed to catch the most awkward looking position for this little one.   It looks like she impaled herself on a twig, but she was just turning around.

 

Examples7

Is she gone yet?

Examples3

 

Here is an example of my automatic focus catching the wrong thing to focus on — in this case, the leaves.  I hate it when that happens!Examples6

This picture came out all right, but before this one I had a terrible time getting the camera to focus on the bird.  I think there was too much light on the irridized feathers, and the focusing beam was getting all messed up.  My solution was to focus on the base of the twig she was sitting on, keeping the button pressed half-way down, then move the camera up to the bird.

Examples

 

And I can’t begin to tell you how many hummingbird photos I have that look like thisExamples8

And sadly, the hummers are gone.  I haven’t seen them for about three days, so they are on their way south.

–Sue

6 Comments

  1. Robin says:

    Thanks for showing a picture of the (somewhat whole quilt) even though it has the glar- it really looks lovely. I like all the bird pix also ( and the explanations with them)!

  2. Vicki W says:

    I get A LOT of photos like that last one!

  3. PM says:

    The Hummers are still in Cold Spring, but I expect them to be gone by the end of this weekend. The 19th of September is sort of the date when they are gone south each year. Smart birds!

  4. Robin says:

    Darn typing!- I meant glare!!!!!:)

  5. Barb says:

    I love your pictures! Especially the hummingbird with the “woozy” head. Just imagine if we could shake our heads that fast. Wow, I am dizzy just thinking about it! And the one with the tufts – isn’t Mother Nature just unbelievable, irresistable and everything else.

  6. Sandi says:

    Sue,
    The quilt you pictured was my favorite at the Fair. My picture shows a little more and can be found here http://alegacyofstitches.blogspot.com/2009/09/minnesota-state-fair-part-two.html
    The glare was definitely an issue but nice that things can’t be touched. I could have spent all day in the Creative Activities building. My son Devlin also liked this quilt…”Now that’s my kind of quilt” was his response. Thank goodness he appreciates quilts and I know that he will never use one to lay on as he does auto repairs. LOL!