Sounds like your having a typical Hump Day!

And I hope it gets better, sweetie!

It's really hard to take unblurry pictures when your subject always wants to "boop" the camera with his or her nose.

The stuff in the background is "blurr free." I'm sure you meant to take a picture of the wicker basket and the cat was incidental.

Objects in camera are closer than they appear!

Frankeee! So cute.

Yay! Frankie pic! Coffee=good Go! Go! Go!

P.S. What kind of new camera? I'm a gadget geek and new equipment always makes my day!

Your day sounds like mine. Diet Coke and coffee filled.

Just think, when we change the clocks around, you will arrive home when it's still daylight out!

I have so much snow on the ground and my eyes are so very hungry for Spring! Take me a picture of your back yard!
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Are you using the "macro" setting on your camera for the close-ups? I found out mine were all blurry because I didn't know to do that.

Frankie: I'm ready for my closeup, Mr DeMille.

Tip for blurry pictures: Adjust the shutter speed setting on the camera. There will be a setting called shutter priority (often abbreviated AE). Turn that number as high as it will go. Your camera will automatically adjust everything else and you will get more blur-free pictures.

I think MY problem is that most of my pictures are blurry because I drink TOO MUCH coffee...

or not.

You took the words right out of my mouth!

Sweater, coffee, work hard, springtime outside, freezing inside. Yes, time for more coffee! :)

Hmmm, I concur with all your points!

I also concur with Frankie, if that makes sense. heh. Love ya, Frankie! xoxo

Might the time be right to start knitting a sweater of less absorbancy...new project?

Ditto what Marlyn said: MACRO setting. On my camera it looks like a flower. I've taken such lovely pics of my beloved marmalade....I can even get the golden flecks in his eyes.

Also, set the ISO to high, or 400-800. That should help. Totally unnecessary in the sun... but indoors where kitties are moving quick it helps.

But you have a restroom to use . . .

oooh I'm so ready for some spring. We got another 7+" snow last night.
Hi Frankie!!

happy hump day!

and what a pretty kitty frankie is!

Hey Laurie, do you have your macro turned on? Looks like a tulip...

This is about the "Brick Wall Theory" post, for I´m behiiiind on my readings

You made me cry. Give up on truffles? Really? Too sad.

Now, seriously, your Brick Theories make a lot of sense... better let go of all the bricks people throw at us before we drown.

Oh MAN, we just got another foot of snow up here in Ottawa. Took me AGES to get to work, and I have completely forgotten what spring looks, sounds and smells like. Good thing, too, because I don't think I'll be able to ever get these stupid freakin' boots offa my sorry feet.

Wow, THAT was caustic! Sorry. And sorry about the coffee/sweater thing. That sucks.

Ditto, Laurie. It's freaking gorgeous up here in Marin County and I can't focus on work to save my life...

If you're going to use Macro to take up close pictures of the beasties, turn off your flash. I have tons of washed out cat pics until I figured that part out.

PS - I'm going to Paris in LESS.THAN.A.WEEK. Yippeeee!!

France is over-rated. Come to England instead :o)

Laurie, I was thinking about you yesterday while I was at the auto repair store. They had a high speed chase on in LA. So, I was wondering if it was you... hehehe...

Objects of a feline nature, in camera, won't stay still! There's a whole genre of cat-nose-pictures, because they want to sniff the lens. Isn't there? Or is it just me???

All my shots on my camera were blurry until I realized that the darn camera wouldn't auto focus until I held the shutter button HALF way down. Then it'd do its thing, magically making things work, and then I could press all the way.

OK, weather moves from west to east. That means, lets see....it's March, it has come through Oregon and Wyoming and all that, then trudge doggedly through the Dakotas (it's sure to stop and admire the Black Hills and Mt Rushmore) then it'll dance across Minnesota (might stop at Mayo for a check-up) -- stop in the Twin Cities to visit Chaos and Mayhem ... then it'll finally get to Wissconsin. By then it should be actually "spring"; a stop at Norsky Nook for pie, a nice wander down this way, so it should get here (the weather, that is..and MAYBE Spring) long about...hmmm...MAY??? Optimism must prevail.

I guess it wouldn't be proper to suck the coffee out of your sweater, huh? Not that I've done that. Much.

Make sure your shutter speed is no less than 60 so that the photo won't blur when you are hand holding the camera. Let me know if you want some more detailed tips! ;)

i have no idea what your talking about the background is in perfect focus ;-)

I have to put my camera on the 'sport' setting to take pictures of my pets because they move so darn much. That and hair tends to blur easily.

Also, sometimes cameras do this thing where when you push down half way they focus and then when you push all the way down they take the picture. My Moms camera does this and I've never been able to take a good picture with it....

I'm sure you'll get it. Tour wicked smart and rather determined when you want to be ;-)

Cry me a river with your beautiful spring. We had six inches of rain today. And it's only 3 p.m.! Ah New England.

And I couldn't post a comment re: Harry Dupree, but I wanted to share the fact that for an embarrassingly long time, I thought that last night, Madonna dreamt of a bagel (La Isla Bonita).

Laurie,
Sorry about your sweater. I like the thought of spring in L.A. 'cause your weather moves east and I'm sick and tired of winter.

I'm working in an office, wearing a blouse, a sweater, and a sweater on top of that. We have no thermostat that we can control, and the facilities person who controls it is always complaining about how she's always so hot. I often feel weird putting ON a sweater before walking into the building, and taking it off before I leave. Ah, California, how I love thee!

Bah! I'm ready for real Spring weather. Yesterday, we had a hail storm. It came down heavy for a good 10 minutes effectively covering all surface in mini ice marbles. Fun!

Frankie looks as though she is giving Spring a come hither look. Wonder if that will work for me?

What I would like is a good blizzard that dumps three feet of snow on our fair city, thereby immobilizing it and giving us grownups a snow day! The weather is warming up, the leaves are coming out, and my allergies are flipping. It's too warm for winter things and too cool for summer things. UGH.

I hate moving the clocks around and think we should just ditch the "standard" time. I also wonder why they are still persisting in calling the winter time "standard". Shouldn't the one we spend the most time in (which is DST now) be standard and the other one be the weird one that has to be justified?

Wow I just saw you had a new post and bam a gagillion comments. Well, what alot of peoples said, macro mode is for close ups like that. Check you manual, it'll be awesome. Once you figure out the built in modes and master them you can move on to playing with things like shutter speed. Enjoy!

The A/C is on in your office? It's 32F/0C here. Darn these everlasting midwestern winters.

The evil kitty is to blame. Those furry critters are the source of all that is evil in the world.

Spring? You have Spring?? Lucky duck. It snowed on Sunday and again this morning, here in bee--yoo-tiful Colorado. (It is beautiful. I'm just bitter about no signs of Spring.)

I've been trying to let this go all day; but, I just can't. This is a reference to your post a few days ago about song lyrics.

Billy Ocean is black??!!

Holy s**t! I guess this is what happens when you go through most of you adult life without TV. My husband frequently asks me, "Were you living under a rock? Were you stoned out of your gourd? How is it you don't know these things, woman?"

I guess he is right. Woah. This is one weird, creepy epiphany.

Work is hard... that's the truest statement I've heard all day. I hope it's getting better. I'm just happy to be one day closer to Friday!

Hope the sweater is doing okay... I always seem to spill something when I'm wearing white pants. Of course!

Oh, and you must have the same camera my husband does. He got it right before one of our vacations, and the auto setting never did work right, he had to go manual all the way to get it to work. It still isn't great... I think we may be upgrading one day soon as it's too frustrating (even for him, the tech guy who can figure anything out).

Have a good Wednesday!

Here is a link to The Pioneer Woman's blog that explains about how HER camera works for different kind of pictures. It MIGHT be of some help. (good blog too if you have time for it)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/2007/01/camera_faq.html

(I'm a real camera dummy myself).

I do like your pictures, blurry or not.

I heard the announcement on the radio about changing the clock. The first thing I thought was "Wait - didn't we just do that?"

Had to show you my darling Marmalade.... shot sans flash, in macro mode.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2029/2215345441_d2820c9a9e_b.jpg

Can't wait to see more great shots of the insane kitty posse!

What a funny face!

Shhhh.... please, don't complain about air conditioning and spring.The fact that we have yet another week of 20s and 30s to face here is almost too much to bear.

No matter if the picture is blurry Frankie is still beautiful with her model pose and mysterious look!

YAY, FRANKIE!!

About time those 2 other camera hogs let you have a turn - love the bicolor nose!

Also make sure your camera is set to spot-focus, rather than the default setting. In the default mode, it literally averages out everything it "sees", and then makes a best guess. In spot focus, it specifically focuses on the object smack in the middle of the viewfinder.

So happy to see cutie Frankie, but in this pic she looks uncharacteristically menacing, as if she has fallen under the influence of Soba's yet unpublished Manifesto. Are you watching this phenomenon? Look out! As for cameras, I've just bought a new digital that I hate even more than the old digital I gave my kid. The new one is too "helpy" in an MS-kind of way, so it takes up all my time giving me guides and crap I don't want or need. Meanwhile, I can't get past the "guides" to just take the fri#$%ng shot, and then it uses up ungodly battery power and the shutter delay is onerous. Contemplating going back to my "learning cameras," 35mms which were my dad's and grandpa's in the 1950s. Ha--Kalesy about "La Isla Bonita"--"Last night I dreamt of a bagel"--that means the next thing was, "I fell in love with a bagel."

I absolutely hate daylight savings time. Such a pain in the butt

o.0 I didn't know Daylight Savings was this weekend until you mentioned it. Bleh.

How do you take your coffee? Black coffee is easier to get out of things, and it also feels like you're getting more caffeine that way.

Love the Rosencat, blurry or not.

Hey Leslie,

I am here in Marin (novato)too and you are right it's gorgeous right now!!

One quick tip for the camera.. if you are like me and use the "auto" setting most of the time, you really need to be at least 3 feet away from your subject.. that is why the baskets are clear but Frankie is not.. or you can use the macro, but for me, the auto setting 3 feet away is the best choice.. I am apparently too lazy to change the setting.. ha.. better yet.. if you have a good optical zoom on your camera, zoom in from farther away and it will look better on the auto setting.

WHAT??? It's time to change the clocks already? You made me grab my calendar to confirm that yes, soon I will have to struggle to kick my fat rear out of bed IN THE DARK to get a morning trudge in. Sigh. Can we please just leave the time alone like they do in Arizona?

TOO.MUCH.SNOW.
Toronto has wayyyyyy more of it than we are used to and it won't seem to stop. I am jealous of all those in spring already. Evergreen is the only green we have up here :(

Karen, Thanks for that link to PioneerWoman's blog. I LOVE IT! It's now on my list of mandatory daily surfing.

(http://thepioneerwoman.com in case anybody is interested and missed Karen's prior post)

The AC is on. Woah. There are five inches of snow outside my house. I cannot see the ground. It is probably 30 degrees.
And the AC's on where you are.
And we have a winter storm watch for this weekend. LOL.