Poinsettia

This is my poinsettia I had from Christmas 2017. It never lost its leaves and finally after Christmas 2018 it started turning red!   Which is okay with me!  Some bright  color in winter is appreciated!  

This collage is the retro creative mode on the SX65.  The camera did the cropping and changing of the look of the original photo which is the right bottom corner.    The only reason I can see for using this mode is for abstract photos or maybe something more arty.    These shots are straight out of the camera.

The first extra is the mode natural.   It did the same thing with zooming and cropping but kept the original colors, maybe adding some hdr or more contrast.  Straight out of the camera for these photos too.   

The second extra is the swings I took yesterday in mono mode.  I can see this mode working for me!!  

I have to figure out how the camera is choosing where to crop as some of the photos the subject is completely out of the frame.   These photos were all taken on about 24mm which is the first setting on the digital zoom.  So I might need to zoom in a little closer to get more of the what I want in the frame.     Learning!     At the least, using this mode is sparking some creativity in the winter months.  

 Today we have a day of sunshine but I think that it is going to be gray again tomorrow and through the weekend.  I hope the sky is clear for the full moon eclipse on Sunday.  

My friend Ann who retired in October is looking for a new camera so she asked me what to get that would be the best camera for her.  I recommended this one as she is not really interested in anything more that taking snapshots (right now but we all know how that photo bug bites!).  She has so many birds in her yard and ends up trying to take photos of them with her cellphone.  We are trying to meet up later today to let her test the camera out to see if it is too complicated (it is not!) how comfortable she is with using it.