What Do You Do With a Nine Pound Lemon?? LINK TO NEW TR!

[Phil'sFrontier]

Just wanted to say hi. Been reading through your TR this morning.
I am also a Nikon fan. I had a D80 for a few years. This year I treated myself to a D7000 which is an absolutely unbelievable camera.
I think I read you have a D3000...right? I would love to give you some tips on shooting with your new camera if you like....not that I am a pro or anything...lol

Also me(Philip), DW(Jessica), and DD10(Christina) are doing our own countdown now too. We leave this frozen landscape for a needed thawing out on Feb 6!

FYI, it is a chilly -32 here to start the day, Good Morning!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Just wanted to say hi. Been reading through your TR this morning.
I am also a Nikon fan. I had a D80 for a few years. This year I treated myself to a D7000 which is an absolutely unbelievable camera.
I think I read you have a D3000...right? I would love to give you some tips on shooting with your new camera if you like....not that I am a pro or anything...lol

Also me(Philip), DW(Jessica), and DD10(Christina) are doing our own countdown now too. We leave this frozen landscape for a needed thawing out on Feb 6!

FYI, it is a chilly -32 here to start the day, Good Morning!

Aw, we'll just miss each other! We're coming home on the 5th.

I'm sorry, did you say NEGATIVE 32 degrees?! I can't even imagine. I feel like I can barely survive 32 and when it drops below 20, it's like torture.

I would LOVE tips on using the D3000! I'm such a novice but DH and I love taking pictures.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

haha yeah I said minus thirty two. It is definitely a different world up here. To help with location think of this...The disney cruise to Alaska stops in Skagway right. Skagway is about a 2 hour drive from here over the mountains.

First thing with the camera is I think you already take some really great shots. That is what made me keep turning pages(digitally) on your TR!
First tip is for fireworks shots...
When shooting fireworks you have to remember even though it is dark out, the fireworks are actually very bright. So you what to start with a small aperture. Maybe f8 or f11.
I usually set the shutter speed to around 2 seconds. This allows time for those beautiful trails to form on the fireworks. If you don't have a tripod on your person just use a ledge to prop your camera on. You can also purchase an inexpensive IR(infrared) shutter release to really minimize potential vibration, or just use the built in timer.

A great beginner book(I own a copy too) for photographers is called 'the digital photography book' by scott kelby. Say you wanted to take some nice fireworks photos; well this book in one page will cut right to the chase. Tell you f-stop, iso, shutter speed, gear you will need. Anyway it's a great book to check out if interested.

OK, now I need to get motivated, put Maggie(our black Lab) in her booties and get her out for a walk in this coldness...wish me luck
Have a good weekend and enjoy your fast approaching trip!

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

oops, I double posted, sorry.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Minnie is sooooooo cute!!! And the DIS was really slow!!

Nikki don't do online check in, it erases all your requests.

Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that! Thank you Jen!!

I just have to say I have always done online check in and always gotten my requests. I have called a couple days prior to checking in to verify my requests and they were always on the reservation.

 

[jenseib]

Minnie is sooooooo cute!!! And the DIS was really slow!!





I just have to say I have always done online check in and always gotten my requests. I have called a couple days prior to checking in to verify my requests and they were always on the reservation.

It's fairly new, but now the computer system erases requests when you do online check in.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Minerva is so adorable! I can empathize with the loss of a furbaby. I had a similar experience with my furbaby about a month after I returned from a great trip in France.

I can't believe that you guys are leaving so soon already. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the weather stays warm for you guys.

 

[ronnmel]

OMG, Minnie is soooooooooooooooo adorable!

I was checking the weather for a friend who is leaving tomorrow and I have to agree, the weather is just peeerrrrrfect in Orlando right now!

 

[stephielela]

Nikki!! We are getting so so so close! I am NOT pleased with the weather forcast as of today, but since it has changed EVERYDAY I will not worry too much.

I think I have everything bought, and I got a hipster for my birthday that I am really excited about using! I had the mini before, but I wanted something with a little more space.

I am hoping the next few days fly by!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

haha yeah I said minus thirty two. It is definitely a different world up here. To help with location think of this...The disney cruise to Alaska stops in Skagway right. Skagway is about a 2 hour drive from here over the mountains.

First thing with the camera is I think you already take some really great shots. That is what made me keep turning pages(digitally) on your TR!
First tip is for fireworks shots...
When shooting fireworks you have to remember even though it is dark out, the fireworks are actually very bright. So you what to start with a small aperture. Maybe f8 or f11.
I usually set the shutter speed to around 2 seconds. This allows time for those beautiful trails to form on the fireworks. If you don't have a tripod on your person just use a ledge to prop your camera on. You can also purchase an inexpensive IR(infrared) shutter release to really minimize potential vibration, or just use the built in timer.

A great beginner book(I own a copy too) for photographers is called 'the digital photography book' by scott kelby. Say you wanted to take some nice fireworks photos; well this book in one page will cut right to the chase. Tell you f-stop, iso, shutter speed, gear you will need. Anyway it's a great book to check out if interested.

OK, now I need to get motivated, put Maggie(our black Lab) in her booties and get her out for a walk in this coldness...wish me luck
Have a good weekend and enjoy your fast approaching trip!

Thanks for the tips! I actually bought "nikon d3000 for dummies" but I really feel like the only way to truly get better is with practice. I will try the aperture setting you suggested with the fireworks next time!

Minnie is sooooooo cute!!! And the DIS was really slow!!


I just have to say I have always done online check in and always gotten my requests. I have called a couple days prior to checking in to verify my requests and they were always on the reservation.

It's fairly new, but now the computer system erases requests when you do online check in.

Hmmm, I'm not going to chance it!! Now that I know that courtyard view might not be what I thought was the actual WL courtyard, I can't take the chance of my "inner courtyard" request being erased!

Minerva is so adorable! I can empathize with the loss of a furbaby. I had a similar experience with my furbaby about a month after I returned from a great trip in France.

I can't believe that you guys are leaving so soon already. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the weather stays warm for you guys.

Yeah it was literally like a month or two after our honeymoon. Tom swears us being away from him for 2 weeks had something to do with it.

OMG, Minnie is soooooooooooooooo adorable!

I was checking the weather for a friend who is leaving tomorrow and I have to agree, the weather is just peeerrrrrfect in Orlando right now!

It is so perfect right now but I just checked today and the temp is WAY lower than it said yesterday! Grrr!

Nikki!! We are getting so so so close! I am NOT pleased with the weather forcast as of today, but since it has changed EVERYDAY I will not worry too much.

I think I have everything bought, and I got a hipster for my birthday that I am really excited about using! I had the mini before, but I wanted something with a little more space.

I am hoping the next few days fly by!

This is going to be the longest week at work EVER!!! I am not pleased with the weather either but let's hope it changes. You know I LOVE my hipster. It's actually kind of too big but I think the mini would be way to small. I actually wanted to write the company to suggest they made a size in between but I couldn't find a "contact us" link on their site!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

ONE WEEK!!! ​

 

[ronnmel]

Yay! for you!

 

[jenseib]

 

[ortholablady]

Hi Nikki! Weather's looking good now for next week! I can't wait to get out of here!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hi Nikki! Weather's looking good now for next week! I can't wait to get out of here!

Yes!! It's looking veeeery good! A little rain but we're going to pretend we don't see that....

 

[ortholablady]

Only one day on the accuweather. I'd rather be in Disney in the rain than home in the cold any day!

 

[Tracy161]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Thanks for sharing my excitement guys!!! I thought this last week was going to drraaaaag but surprisingly, it went by quickly - probably because I've been so busy trying to get report cards and lesson plans done before the trip. (Notice I said "trying" to get that all done.)

In other news, I randomly started getting crazy sciatica nerve pain on Wednesday. When it didn't feel better yesterday, I got really nervous. Luckily a good friend/coworker got me in to see her sister/chiropractor yesterday. She said it's not definite that I'll be "healed" by Wednesday but she wants me to go to her for therapy pretty much every day until then. What bad timing!! Normally, I wouldn't even do anything about it but because of the trip, I HAD to seek some sort of treatment! Wish me luck on that!

 

[Dream426]

Yay it is almost here. I hope you feel better though.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

I'm so sorry to hear about your back pain! I hope you are better for your trip.