Date Night: Photo Study

DH and I needed a break last night. It's been a very long week. We usually choose dinner out followed by a movie somewhere. I've really been wanting to see that Julie & Julia movie but DH wasn't in the mood for that last night. He just want to sit, take in the sights, and relax.

So, last night, we opted to try the new La Carreta's in Denham. However, since we couldn't find a parking spot there, we went to our 2nd favorite backup restaurant Don's Seafood Hut. My first favorite is Brunet's in BR but since our last experience there, DH refuses to go back. :(

After dinner, I mentioned the movie but we had about 2 hours to kill before showtime. We decided to go downtown to stroll along the great Mississippi River and walk off all the fried seafood. While there, I took my camera and attempted to try out some new settings that I don't normally use. Like those Low Lighting settings. What a challenge for me!

DH got a little frustrated with me too since I kept pointing the camera at things instead of holding his hand. **eye roll here** Anyway, here are some of the shots I took while out and about. I guess you could call it a Date Night Photo Study. :D

I have a Kodak Easyshare, Z712 IS. The settings on the camera area as follows:

1. Portrait: for full frame photos of people and other subjects
2. Panorama: L-R
3. Panorama: R-L
4. Landscape: Use for distant scenery
5. Night Portrait: Use to capture subject and background.
6. Night Landscape: Use to capture distant scenery at distant
7. Snow: Use for bright snow scene
8. Beach: Use for bright beach scene
9. Text: Use for photos of documents
10. Fireworks
11. Flower: Use for close-up photos in bright light.
12. Manner/Museum: Use when sound and flash are not desired.
13. Children: Use for action photos of children in bright light.
14. Backlight: Use for photos where light is behing subject.
15. Candle Light: Use when capturing in candle light.
16. Sunset: Use in sunset light.
17. High ISO: Use to capture pictures in very low light conditions.
18. M: Manual Settings
19. S: Shutter Priority settings
20. A: Aperture Settings
21. P: Auto settings with exporsure and flash compensation
22. Smart Scene: Camera automatically selects the best scene mode for surroundings
23. Sport: Use when subject is in motion

Now, hubby looked at these photos and mentioned that my aperture settings were off or not set properly. It's an automatic camera, should I need to set settings?

In the following photos of my hubby, I used a different setting for each photo. I think this one was on the Smart Scene setting with no flash. Note the fuzziness.

This one is fuzzy too!

This one was taken with the Night Portrait setting. It automatically flashed.

This was taken with the Night Portrait setting without flash. You can see more detail without the flash but it's also grainy.

Here again is the Smart Setting with flash. Again, note the fuzziness.

I think I went back to the Night Portrait with flash here.

And here.

And here.

And here...

And here again.

Tonight, hubs and I are going out for a walk in the dark. I'm gonna play with the settings some more. One think I've noticed about my camera, the automatic flash isn't popping up like it should. But it will open if I help it with a fingernail. I think I have a stuck latch or something.

Guess I need to sign up for a photograph class. Hmmm.