Thanks to the great advice of some skilled photographers on this site, I was encouraged to use my K100 and the Pentax 18-55 to take some practice shots. It was late afternoon before the first real frost of the season (and I know some of you Canadians are laughing at the thought) and I thought I would capture some of the last remaining foliage in my yard. I also have been experimenting away from the auto and macro modes on my K100 and actually ventured into the AV mode - Wow, I really love what I can do!

Last of the Lantana, focused dead center of flower.


Poor bare branches of my Japanese Maple tree.


While not of foliage, this one is of my 3 year old son with a very mischievious look on his face.


and no post would be complete without my 17 month old daughter. My favorite part is of the drool comming from her mouth and catching a little bit of air time!

[Buschmaster]

What cute kids!

Those are some very nice pictures, as well. You're making me jealous.

[clarenceclose]

Lucky lady indeed to have such young and photogenic children.
Good compo and capture on your son.
You will have to share the one of your daughter with her future husband.

[sandpiper6]

Hi,
I'm in your region just on the other side of the river from Augusta, GA. Ya'll got quite a blast from that cold spell that went through! The wind we got was enough to knock ALL the wreaths and lights off our home. Scared me when it came crashing down all at once.

OK. Yeah for venturing out into AV mode. I ventured out into AV mode just over a year ago. I'm now experimenting with TV mode and complete manual mode. Was that lens the kit lens with a maximum aperture of 3.5? I love the composition of your first image. You might want to try dialing the aperture in just a bit to get more of the flower in focus, but still leaving the backdrop out of focus like that. Cool stuff!

Faith