Friday, March 23, 2012

Cowboy & Octopus


1/1250 second, f/2, ISO 400


1/1250, f/1.4, ISO 400

After we got back to Mabel Watson Payne's own house from the playground there was still time to rest and read before dinner. Her Daddy explained that she is in process of giving up two daily naps for just one. Daytime sleeping has become erratic while this change settles in, and I could observe for myself that she was more tired than usual (for the end of the day) while I was taking these at-home pictures. Yet tiredness never turned into fussiness.

And reading stopped for a new round of playing when Mamma came home from the office.


1/500 second, f/3.2, ISO 800


1/500 second, f/3.2, ISO 800


1/1000 second, f/2.2, ISO 1250


1/1000 second, f/2, ISO 1250

Before too long the playing turned back into reading again, with the parents taking subtle precautions to make sure that no falling asleep would happen until bedtime. I believe the three adults who read different books with Mabel in different shifts were each required to include two complete readings of Cowboy & Octopus, her immediate favorite of the library books she picked out and brought home this morning after story time. I can probably recite it from memory at this moment, if anyone asks. The big blue octopus is called Oc-Oc in Mabel language.


1/640 second, f/1.4, ISO 800


1/640 second, f/1.6, ISO 800


1/640 second, f/1.4, ISO 800

By kind invitation I stayed for dinner, but dinner went photographically undocumented as I was too busy participating in the baby's dinner. She ate some peas and some rice and some cured tofu cubes, several cucumber sticks and a very small piece of cooked cabbage. (I could not swear for certain that the single strand of cabbage (a sample from a grownup's plate) ever actually got eaten, but it definitely got moved around on the tray a great deal and Mabel enjoyed talking about it.) Then tapioca for dessert, using her own little independent spoon. After the tapioca, she was still hungry, so there was applesauce. After that, it was time to go into this child's small but homey lighted-up tent of a bedroom and get undressed for the bathtub.


1/25 second, f/4, ISO 1000


1/25 second, f/4, ISO 1000

I mentioned yesterday about going back to the manual supplied with the new camera, and another thing I discovered (which I now remember being told at the workshop I went to, but never used, and so forgot) is white balance. Which tells the camera what kind (or sometimes they say color or warmth) of light is entering it. There are special settings for shooting under fluorescent light and special settings for shooting under incandescent light, etc, etc. The photos below were taken under incandescent light but I did not adjust the white balance because at the time of this bath I had not yet read with sufficient attention that section of the manual. To experiment with white balance (and learn to do a better job under artificial light) is now high on the list of upcoming endeavors.


1/6 second, f/4, ISO 1000


1/6 second, f/3.5, ISO 1000

Mabel and her mother have worked out a technique (above) for keeping her stable while allowing her to lift one foot at a time out of the water for its soapy washcloth.


1/6 second, f/3.5, ISO 1000