When I realized that the November 3rd eclipse would be visible as a partial eclipse from the east coast I knew I would be making a trip to my favorite beach in Chincoteague Virginia. This time of year is when the eagles migrate to the area and a stop at Conowingo Dam was in order. Since I read about the idea of November as bead everyday month I brought some beads with me. I didn't do any beading even though I looked at them a few times. I did see a lot of eagles and an eclipse and learn more about how to use my camera.
With less than two weeks to the deadline of the Haute Couture contest I am as much on schedule as I ever am. I usually work right up to the day before the deadline and take photos the next day. I probably take way too many pictures of everything and I use the RAW and JPEG settings. I have been known to take 400 pictures of a sunset. For beadwork the best thing I have discovered is using the exposure bracketing setting. The lighter of the three shots has a much whiter background than it would if you had only taken the picture once, even if you make the settings the same. It does give you three of each picture and I easily take a few hundred photos of beadwork I am submitting for a contest. There are so many settings on my camera I am constantly finding new ways to use it. To photograph birds in flight I use sports which sacrifices picture quality for focus but I like stopped action. The sunrise eclipse was the first time I really stopped the aperture down (to f32) and used a 100 ISO. Usually a sunrise is about the clouds and colors not the sun itself so the pictures had to be dark. I needed to turn the auto focus off. There was a lot of wind at the beach and I got sand all over my lens but I was very pleased with the results. As far as beading, the star effect around the sun has some vague thoughts of a wrapped cabochon necklace beginning to shape in my mind.
