Pool water with the sun’s reflection.

Yesterday was perfect. Truly perfection. The temperature was perfect: 81 degrees with low humidity and a gentle breeze.

We had some shopping to do early in the day such as a new umbrella since the one we’ve had for four years broke and refused to go up anymore. The new one is striped for a change.

We also had to buy another solar cover for the pool. We replaced our old worn-out cover last year but the new cover was so heavy and thick we had trouble reeling it up (and I certainly could not do it by myself), plus it did not fit on our current reel and we had to purchase a new one. It just was not working so we decided to ditch it. The new cover is much lighter and fits on our old reel, so we will try and put the other one on Craig’s List or something to try and sell it.

I got a new pair of sunglasses to replace those that were stolen off our table at the get-together at Rio’s in Ft. Collins. I hope that college kid who cleared our table is enjoying my Revo’s! I hate dishonest people.

We also dropped by the huge and great camera store in our area, Unique Photo, because they were having an Expo with lots of different camera reps and all kinds of things going on. I wanted to talk to the rep about my new Canon T4i since I was not happy with the photos it was taking in Auto Intelligent mode. The shots were always over-exposed. (Okay, I admit I set my camera to “auto” quite a bit. Bad me. But sometimes you just don’t want to mess with settings.)

I had the same difficulty with the very first Rebel I had, but my most recent Rebel (the XSi) did not have that problem. It took pretty decent photos in that mode. Now “Program” mode was another story: there the photos were always under exposed! No camera is perfect I guess.

Anyway, I talked to him and he told me to completely ditch Auto Intelligent mode! Hmmm. Makes you wonder why they even have it as a selection, doesn’t it? He suggested I use the Program mode instead since it gives you a couple of different options, such as adjusting the aperture down or up a few stops.

He also told me about a class called “Canon EOS Discovery Day” that he teaches where they go through your camera and all its features (and how to use them). It sounded like something I need, so I signed up for the next one taking place July 20th. I can’t wait!

While we were there I somehow ended up talking to the Canon rep for photo printers, which I have been telling Rick we need for quite a while, and he had a deal that we just could not refuse. Not something we had planned to buy yesterday, but there you go.

Once home the afternoon was spent installing the new solar cover and setting up all the furniture around the pool. We are getting such a late start to pool time this year! I don’t know what we did before we had the cabana.

We swam a bit and the water was delicious!

And speaking of delicious: our meal shown two different ways. (It’s’ a veal chop.)

Back to the pool to sit and enjoy (I took another dip).

I tried out a new setting on my camera Handheld Night Scene which takes 4 consecutive shots and combines them all together (like HDR). These are the cabana lights that we forgot to put up and Rick just brought them out in a pile and plugged them in. There was no other light except for them.

Cool, eh? I have a lot to learn about this new camera!

We still had humidity during the day until last night.  Then had the windows open and the ACs off for the first time in four days!  It was wonderful.  Should be a perfect day here today and another perfect day for you as well.  Enjoy!

Wish we had perfect days. It’s been in the 90’s with high humidity—feels like breathing with a blanket over your head.  No rain. I hate summer, especially in the south. Boo! Not in a good mood. Pool, here I come. It looks awesome!

p.s. the photo of the lights is so pretty!

C, it’s so nice not to have the AC running, especially at night.

Bigsis, well, the pool awaits your arrival ... soon! Glad you liked the pool of lights!

Oh, I love that handheld night scene photo of the lights. I wonder if my camera has that setting? I haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t mean anything.

I wouldn’t feel bad about using auto settings. I use them a lot too. I don’t see why we have to make life harder just to suffer for our art—LOL! (It’s good to know how to use manual settings, though, since as you pointed out sometimes auto doesn’t expose things correctly.)

Steve, thanks! My setting is right on the dial next to the HDR mode. Haha, I get what you’re saying about the learning curve of a new camera. I just need to learn more to get better photos, so I think the class will help me to do that and be more creative. Glad to hear you use the auto settings a lot too!

You take great photos - do you keep them on computer file or do you print them? What a full day you had, I bet you were ready for some pool time relaxation.

Joyce, thank you! However, there is always more to be learned to hone the craft of photography. Mostly I keep all my photos digitally in iPhoto, and hardly ever print them off. That’s where our new “photo” printer which is just dedicated to printing photos and nothing else is so cool. The pool time relaxation one the weekend was incredible and much needed.

Great photos…especially love the 2nd veal chop and cabana lights.  I know I don’t have that setting (at least I think I don’t) on my camera but wish I did.  It did a great job!

Thanks Helene! I think the setting is new. I need to stay out after dark more to play with it! I think it could be fun!