Action Thursday
On my Nikon D40, I have two action modes. The sports mode is the usual high shutter-speed mode used to take action shots. When the shutter button is pressed halfway, it will continuously focus so you can catch the action. I also have a child mode. This is basically portrait and sports mixed together. It has the high shutter speed to catch all the action, but also enhances skin tones. Also, the sport mode turns off the flash and the child mode allows the flash to be used if needed.
All of these photos were taken using Child mode. My sport mode seems to be not working right. It tries to hard to focus and slows the shutter down. I’m going to have to look into why it does that… I have no doubt that it’s user error.
Water fountain at the park near our place. I had a hard time actually taking this picture because the fountain button was really hard to push. I took about 20 shots that had no water in them!
I was teasing Roxy into thinking I wanted to play with her. But really I just wanted her to move around quickly near my camera 🙂 This was just prior to the death stare that she gave me… Click on this photo and check out her eyes!
I’m making some frosting. I SWEAR my mixer is on. It’s even on high. As in as fast as it goes. As in sometimes I worry about walking away from it because it’s shaking so bad. Dang that’s a fast shutter speed.






I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






This is such a great idea… and for those who are considering purchasing a DSLR, this will prove to be very helpful too!
I’m in! I have a Canon Rebel. At one point in time, I’d read most of the manual concurrently with a digital photography book. (yeah, I’m nerdy like that) I found it only helps to know where to change the setting if you know the affect will be on your photo. I can’t wait to brush up and learn some new tricks!! Great idea!
This is a great topic! The flash is so frustrating. Do you want people to share about equipment and hacks that have to do with the flash? I have found that various ways of diffusing/bouncing the flash has the biggest impact on my photos.
As far as your food photos go, have you considered constructing a light box out of white foam core and a couple clip lights? It would allow you to take your photos even at night but still feel bright and cheery! Just an idea. 🙂
Amy – feel free to post about whatever you want. The point is to share what you’ve learned about how to make the flash work for you. I’d love to hear what you do when you use your flash.
I have considered a light box. I had one on my Xmas list 🙂 I’m just worried about storing it in our tiny condo. For now, I just wait for daylight but I would like a light box in the future.
Totally understanding the lightbox storage concerns. I’m thinking that I’m going to get some white foam core from the store today and play with making one that breaks down easily into a flat stack. I’ll post my experiment. 🙂
Yea Steph said she was going to make on today. This is the one I had on my Xmas list. I still might get it since it folds up.
Ok, I made a collapsible version of the light box today with your situation in mind. 🙂 Can’t beat that nylon one you’re looking at, but for $6 this one does a pretty good job! Thanks for the challenge! Here’s the light box.
Thanks for the heads up, Jen! This is JUST the kind of help I’ve been looking for when it comes to taking pictures. Great idea for Foto Friday! I’m really excited. 🙂