Learning my Nikon D40 in 10 minutes a Day

How is that for a long winded title.  I have drooled over the Nikon D7000 for awhile now. Costco had the kit (body and lens together) for a killer price this past year.  I do not know if they still do, you know with Costco it is usually grab it when you spot it as next time it won’t be there.

But since it is a superfluous purchase and definitely not in the budget I have determined to learn to use my Nikon D40 more fully.


It has features and buttons that I have never fully explored or utilized and it is time I did. 

I use my camera daily but I never seem to have the time to explore all it can really do and it is a great camera.  I just have found some of it’s limitations in areas I would like a bit more flexibility. 

I take lots and lots of photos of my garden, the flower photos get me thru the long months of being buried in white (aka: snow).  I also use it for my blog post, website and custom sign photos. 

In my previous post I showed you a photo of my Luna Pink Swirl trying to bloom.



The next morning it opened.  (I am just sad that I only was able to enjoy it one day, we may get a freeze tonight and it rained all yesterday and today. Glad I took the photo when I did!)



Though the photos do not look bad I do know I can improve them once I learn my camera better.

All that being said I have whipped out my Nikon D40 for Dummies book, dusted it off and learned the first thing that may help in getting sharper photos.  

Did you know you can adjust your viewfinder focus? 

 I did not and doesn’t it make sense that as we mature and our vision begins to blur that looking thru that viewfinder can trick us into thinking we are getting a clear shot when in reality it only looks that way to us?

So I followed the directions and sure enough my viewfinder was one click off and it was easy enough to adjust. 

It took me longer to read the instructions than to actually make the adjustment.

I also learned that a faster SD card will improve my continuous shooting mode.  That is one thing I found disappointing in this camera, it is rather sluggish in continuous shooting.  Any improvement will be appreciated.  Now to price a faster card. 

So my goal is to take at least 10 minutes a day to learn the next feature, trick or anything about my camera.  They say if you tell someone else about what you’ve learned then you remember it better.  Repetition for retention. 

So you get to hear about what I learned.  Now we will see how well I stick with the daily 10 minute plan.

On another note, let’s see if you can guess what this is going to be.  It shouldn’t be too hard.  I have wanted to do one way too long and am now just getting around to it.





I will leave you with that and now I shall go relax with some crocheting.

A lost day.

Do you ever have one of those days when your well plotted out “to do” list for the day is sabotaged first thing in the morning?

Yep, that well describes my day.  I had great plans of getting a good portion of the office cleared out (catch all room for awhile now) and then I was to paint on some custom ordered signs I have waiting for me in my studio. I started these 3 weeks ago, too many things cropping up and eating up my time. Not one thing on that list got done.

On the up side, the electrician came today and fixed our flickering light and no outlets working in the entire living room and office problem.  It did not take long and,thankfully, cost much less than I ever thought it could.  Phew!  My budget is safe.  I was never so happy to wrap up extension cords and remove them to the garage, instead of them snaking around from one side of the house to the other. 

My hibiscus is valiantly trying to bloom, the lower leaves are already turning yellow from a couple of below 50 degree nights but it is as lovely as can be.



I thought for sure some hungry deer would make their way thru my garden and chomp it down to nothing but so far they have not nibbled on it or anything else in a few weeks. 



I had given up on getting any blooms from this cosmos.  I had tossed the seeds out rather late in the season and then when it was first ready to bloom I did have some deer browsing thru the garden one night, and the nipped off all the buds. But it is one determined plant, and I am so glad it is, I had not seen a double cosmos like this before.





The nights are definitely getting cooler, I actually had a fire going this morning to break the chill in the house, just a small one.  Then the day warmed up quite nicely to 82 degrees.  I made sure to go out and enjoy a bit of garden time, not many warm days left.

The morning glories out by the chicken pen are still greeting me with fresh unique blossoms each morning.  I sure hope to glean some seeds from these to have more next year, I just love them!



Some are purple and white then they fade into a rose color while the others are speckled and striped in blue with a rosy throat.



I  made up another batch of my oven roasted tomato sauce, I photographed it and will share that post tomorrow. At least I plan on posting it tomorrow but with the way things crop up to rob me of my time it may be a couple more days.  The point is I WILL get it done for you. 

Good night all…