A Visit to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens - Camera Practice!

My husband bought me a new camera for Christmas - a Sony NEX C3 with 18-55 mm interchangeable lens link to company website.  I LOVE this camera and used it extensively on our recent trip to Portugal.  I had not, however, practiced taking close-ups and using some of the more "creative" features that this great camera offers.  So, on this lovely sunday in March, I suggested we visit the Atlanta Botanical Gardens link to website and practice "our" photography.   This is a lovely venue and I have only recently become a member.  

The day was perfect for photography - a little overcast which allowed the colors of the flowers to shine through without too many shadows and overly intense light.  This camera has a "creativity" setting that is a lot of fun to use.  It allows you to take the photo in a number of modes such as highlighting only one color, sepia or black and white, overly intense "comedic" colors and others.   I practiced taking photos of particular flowers/plants in a variety of modes - the results are very interesting!

Creatively Settings, Reds, Bright Colors, Black and White Monocrome and Over saturated Colors

I found that the camera takes good close-in shots although the zoom (18-55mm) of the lens that is sold with the camera does not have the range that my prior little point and shoot had.  Sony's camera does allow you to buy and use their full range of DSLR lenses.  I'm not sure I want to lug around other lenses so I'll going to try to make do with what I have here.  

Creativity Settings

I did find that the "intelligent" setting (based on your actions - what you point at and focus) allowed me to take close-ups as well as the specific setting for "macro" photography - which is nice to know and does make spontaneous photographing easier.

Another interesting group - the photo on top-right was actually a "red setting" this plant did not read fully read by my camera which resulted in this two-toned photo

Photos in "red" setting - there is my husband Tim in his red jacket. 

Photos taken by my husband!