Happy Birthday to Me!!

So today is my birthday! I'm a whopping 32 years old! Now that's hard to believe seeing as it feels like only yesturday I graduated from High School! For my birthday, my fantastic husband decided to buy me the Nikon D300! I got it on Saturday and have had some time to play with it but not as much as I would like. I am actually finding it a bit frustrating at times. I am sure this is because I know my D80 inside out and backwards. The D300 is a different camera with a different sensor and layout and of course different quirks. For tonight, I am just going to throw at you a few on my photos using the D300. Nothing spectacular but they are a start.

If anyone out there in blogland has some tips on the 300, I would LOVE to hear them.

I think this first photo of the tree is my favourite of all. It's a little strange and contrasty and that's what I love about it.

One of the things Gerben and the girls love to do is head to Toronto and spend the afternoon watching the airplanes come in. I tend to avoid this and let it be their activity, as it does nothing for me, but on Sunday I tagged along because I thought it might be a great opportunity to practise with my camera.

Airplane watching is very serious business in my family. I am sure you can tell that by the look on Natalia's face. She goes balistic every time she sees a new airplane turning in for final approach.

My favourite aircraft shot of the day was this one

Today I took the girls to the park so that I could get in more practise. All in all, things went ok. I am really thrilled with the speed of the camera but I was really struggling with blowouts at times. On my D80, I almost always used spot metering and underexposed by .7 to prevent or help alleviate that. I haven't gotten a handle on the D300 yet so it was beginning to get pretty frustrating. Gerben figures it's because I am putting too much pressure on myself to learn this camera quickly, as I am starting my private lessons on Thursday and I don't want to look like an idiot. He's probably right!!

Here's a few shots from today. Like I said, I like them but I don't love them. I am definetly still learning this camera.