The Summerland Advocate-Messenger - Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community

Looking out my kitchen window, it's bloom time in the garden and I want it to continue all year round. The only way to do that in Nebraska is by getting out the camera.

It also means being patient as you sit in the garden on your favorite bench. You have to wait for when there isn't a breeze, when the sun goes under a cloud and then, move and move fast to get that perfect picture of that gorgeous bloom.

Snapping those photos is a challenge as who doesn't want the perfect photo?

I head to the garden bench with my cell phone and first snap photos of flowers that are close by. I also wait for the breeze to calm down.

It's hot out and the stir of the air across the garden is really very welcome, if only the flowers would stand still.

Well, they won't so I head to the house and decide to charge up a couple of my digital cameras.

That should have been done at least six weeks ago when flowers first started blooming.

We are an interesting society.

When film cameras were used, we knew nothing else until Polaroids. Then the digital world entered. It was less expensive than having film developed. Now its the cell phone world and we just have to touch our phones and switch to the camera setting. Snap, you've captured a favorite view.

There is more to our cell phone camera world. I decided to do some exploring about it. I called my favorite and very knowledgeable cell phone person. She admitted that the cell phone camera options wasn't her specialty. My next step was the internet. It is loaded with lens you can purchase for your cell phone camera. Well, that would go like this. I'll get the new toy, use it, not learn enough about it and then pack it next to my two digital cameras.

I dug deeper on the internet. There are also seminars offered. Then to my delight there are sites that explain the camera settings to be used on the phone.

Oh the fun I'm going to have.

I tried the first setting I had read about, portrait. You can even set the depth of field with the f-stop.I am so anxious to play amongst the flowers. Look out bugs as I'm about to ask you to say, "cheese!" I realize that not all the photos are going to be gallery specimens, but I'm sure they will get

me through the long, cold winter when I long for my garden full of color out my kitchen window.

Grab your camera or you cell phone. We can all be an awesome nature photographer as each photo is prize worthy in the eye of the beholder which is you.