Manual Focus

 I've been working with my Nikon camera since 2008 but have never used manual focus.  It can be a little intimidating working in manual.  Many professionals work with Aperture settings but most, and the photographers that I admire, shoot in manual.  In manual you can have total control over your camera and each shot.  Gracie was playing in her pool today so I snapped some cute shots in "sports" setting only to be disappointed when I downloaded blurry shots.  I was so discouraged.  I Googled some tutorials on shooting in manual and was so encouraged that I grabbed my camera and took Gracie outside around sunset to try my newfound knowledge.  

Here's what I got and I am thrilled!

I barely had to edit this.  The lighting and skin tone came out perfectly because I used my exposure gage on my camera for the first time.  Duh!

I love this one.  I asked Gracie to look up to the sky and it burned her eyes so I got this reaction.  I love that I can see her eyebrow hairs; that's sharp shooting!

I realized after I shot this one that I had the focus set to the right, hence the soft focus on face and sharp detail on her hair.  But I love how ethereal this one looks.  You can really sense the breeze blowing through those golden locks.  

 I'm so excited to shoot in manual on my next several shoots.  I have 3 shoots next week.  All babies; yummy!