I should use a tripod more but often I’m walking with both of my kids and only have the time to hand hold and get a couple of quick photographs. I use the aperature priority setting on my Nikon almost exclusively and adjust the ISO (in less than ideal light I’m shooting at 400 ISO) and aperature so that I’ve got a shutter speed that is fast enough for hand-held photography and is a low enough f stop that I’ve got good depth of field. Sometimes I also underexpose the image to bring up detail in the highlight areas and then adjust with Photoshop – doing this also gives me a little faster shutter speed. With macro work the challenge is finding that balance between aperature and shutter speed since the area in focus is often very shallow. My Nikon also has the ability to choose which part of the image is the focus point – very handy when the subject is off center.

I’m enjoying the images that you’ve submitted to the Island Nature flickr Group!

Was on Goose spit yesterday for the first time; a lovely spot and very interesting plants there. I will go again.