Wandering Camera – May Linky Party

Camera And Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

Welcome to the month of May Wandering Camera linky party.  Thank you so much for linking up and sharing your photos.  Not only is it a lot of fun seeing the photos, I really enjoy reading about them too.

April was such a busy month for me that toward the end I was ready to sleep in for 20+ hours straight if I could.  My allergies have gotten much worse too and unfortunately, they are going to stay that way until the end of summer.  However, there are pockets of time when the allergy is not as bad and I can go outside armed with medication.  I will take limited time outside over none-at-all any day.  So far I have kept up with taking one photo per day. Currently I am at 121 out of 366.

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

1. Door of an abandoned building

2. Scarlet Pimpernel

3. Lichen draped on tree branches

4. My painted woodlands bookmark

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

5. Lupine

6. Fountain pen and sepia ink – my favourite

7. Persian Speedwell

8. Charlie – sleeping behind drapes

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

9. Yellow And Blue

10. Native Wildflower Expo – got a few plants for our garden from there

11. Lovely day at the park

12. Purple Douglas Iris

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

13. Ready to plant

14. A tree from Beyond Borders Fair Trade

15. Close-up of the tree

16. First flowers from one of the new plants

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

17. New red leaves on roses

18. Mr. Treestone loves his paper bags

19. My new Brown Betty with my old, most favourite tea mug

20. A perfect spot

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

21. Clouds rolling in at sunset

22. Montague enjoys rain as much as I do

23. The Dancing Wind

24. Playing with Inktense pencils, making a colour chart

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

25. Cactus bloom

26. Bouquet

27. Storm clouds out of nowhere

28. First plums

 

Photo Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

 

29. Riverfront

30. Light arches

 

 

I want to very quickly mention Lara’s book – Crafted Appliqué.  You can find the full schedule of the book tour blog hop at her website Buzzin’ Bumble.  My day is the 14th of May.  I have all the supplies to work on my project and I am super excited to try out her method of appliqué.

 

Aperture

Now, on to talking about Aperture.  A well-exposed (well-lit) photo is supported by three pillars – ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.  I covered the topic of ISO in March.  Aperture is the F number – a number on your camera prefixed by the letter F.

I will omit the technical details on aperture and try to explain the basic goals of aperture settings.

 

Setting Aperture

You will need a camera with either M (Completely Manual) or AV (Aperture Value Priority) mode to set the Aperture Value manually.  In M mode you can set both Aperture and Shutter speed yourself.  On AV mode you only get to set the Aperture.  Based on your setting, the camera sets the Shutter Speed to get a well-exposed photo.  I suggest playing with both settings.

 

Amount Of Light

Aperture determines the amount of light entering your camera.  A lower number equals more light and that lets you use a faster shutter speed.  So in really low-light situations you can set your aperture to a lower number to get a higher shutter speed.  That way you can take photos without a stand or photograph a moving subject in low light.

 

Sharpness

Aperture also determines the area of sharpness of your photo. Think of looking at the centre of a photo. The lower the aperture number, the less area around the centre will be in focus.

If you want to focus on a face or a flower only at the centre and not the background, you will want to set the aperture to a lower number. As you increase the F number, more area surrounding the centre is going to come into focus.

 

Aperture And ISO

Here’s the caveat – since higher aperture number lets less light in, it will also decrease your shutter speed.

In situations where you want sharp pictures AND your shutter speed is not fast enough,  you will need to set your ISO to a higher number.  That would enable you to set the aperture to a higher number while keeping a fast enough shutter speed to obtain a well-exposed photo.

 

This sounds like a lot, but start playing with the Aperture values and you will see the difference.  Photography is very hands-on.  More you play, more you will see the difference.  I hope this encourages you to experiment with the manual settings on your camera a little more.

 

Now it’s your turn to share your photo posts. I always look forward to seeing them. Every photo is special because it suspends a moment and everyone sees the world around us differently! So don’t compare and contrast, just have fun and see the world that only your eyes can see!

 

Badge to share on your post and website

Camera And Photography Linky Party | Whims And Fancies

You can add any number of links to your posts from the previous month. The posts should have photos in them, with a story or anecdote. Your project photos (quilting, sewing, painting, knitting, etc.) are most welcome. You can also write a new post to link up. Please do not link up posts that are older than the previous month, they will be removed.

Please make sure to include the badge or a text link back to this site on each post that you link up. You can also add the badge to your blog. I am happy either way as long as you link back :-)

Spread a little encouragement amongst each other.

I will leave the link-up open for two weeks.

Wandering Camera is a monthly event that will run on the first Thursday of every month. The next post and link-up will be on the 2nd of June. If you follow me via email, bloglovin or facebook, you will get a reminder.

Have fun!!


I am also linking up on Photo Friday and Fun Friday Favourites along with other linky parties on my sidebar.
 

 

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Bobcat In The Woods

Bobcat quilt pattern, Big cat quilt pattern | Whims And Fancies

 

Purchase Bobcat Pattern

 

I love cats and that includes big cats too.  In March I got a request for a bobcat quilt pattern for a school mascot and accepted it right away.  I wanted to give my block a stylized feel, so instead of using fabrics that would resemble fur, I focused mostly on just the colours.

The pattern is for a 16″ block.  It has only a few seam alignment points, which makes the block easy to sew regardless of how complicated it looks.

 

 

Bobcat Big Cat Quilt Pattern | Whims And Fancies

 

Purchase Bobcat Pattern

 

The pattern also includes alternate sections without the stripes.  That eliminates a lot of piecing and, in turn, a lot of sections.  It is an intermediate-advanced pattern because of all the details.  This large cat quilt pattern is available in my shop.

 

I really love how it turned out.  I am not sure yet if I am going to incorporate the block as part of a quilt or make a wall hanging with it.  Since I can easily imagine those markings on a kitty-cat, this block will always represent a cat to me.

 

 

Perylene Green Daniel Smith | Whims And Fancies

 

 

I have been playing with the colour green this month.  We are always in need of bookmarks.  I found a scrap of watercolour paper in the perfect shape of a bookmark on my shelf.  After an exhausting Saturday, I painted these trees using Daniel Smith’s beautiful Perylene Green.  I have been using the bookmark ever since.

 

 

Wildflower Expo Skyline Park Napa, CA | Whims And Fancies

 

 

Last weekend was the wildflower expo.  Unfortunately, for various reasons we couldn’t make it there on Saturday when they would have had more plants.  We went there on the cool and drizzly Sunday morning after breakfast.  They still had a wide variety of local plants for sale.  Although most of the plants were too young to have blooming flowers, there was a lot of information available and a group of very knowledgeable hosts to help educate us.

 

   

Wildflower Expo Skyline Park, Napa, CA | Whims And Fancies

 

 

These are the plants that came home with us.

 

 

Deep Purple Douglas Iris | Whims And Fancies

 

 

One of them is a Douglas Iris.  I spotted this flower on one of the plants and that was immediately followed by the plant being in my little cart.

Other than sewing, painting and planning the garden, I have been updating my website a little.  I added “Free To Imagine” as a tag line.  I also created a new template for my pattern files so they have a better look and feel.  It was a busy week, but the stolen moments of art gave me much-needed balance.

 

Happy Crafting,
-Soma

 

 

 

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