Quick post from the land of no furnace. Well, the furnace is fine (I hope) but yet another thermostat has tanked (I hope). Regardless, it's as much fun as you can imagine at MINUS SIX this morning :-o. Not to worry, the repairman has been called, but while I can put on a warm wool sweater, our water pipes can't. This normally wouldn't be a big concern in Kentucky...
Since I think we could all probably stand to soak up some sun, here's Betsy in the barn rafters a couple mornings ago. I'm sure I could have framed this better, but I still like the shot. The colors are pretty and the white contrast with the dark loft background provides something a little different.
I used my "spot" metering setting to take this picture. That's a simple manual setting that I'm pretty sure every camera has (check your manual or look your camera up online ;-). What spot metering does is read the light just off her rather than trying to read the light throughout the whole picture.
Under normal circumstances, our cameras do a pretty good job balancing everything out, but in this situation, with a bright white cat in full sun and a dark shadowed background, with "matrix" metering (the whole picture area), Betsy's white got blown out (glaring white and no detail). You could see much of the barn rafters in the background, but since I wanted the picture to be of Betsy, I wanted Betsy to look her best.
I play around with this setting when I'm taking pictures of something going on in the barn, when I'm trying to take a picture of something with the sun not at my back, if it's sunny and I'm trying to take a picture of bright white(ish ;-) Hank... Give it a try sometime :-).
Speaking of pictures, I posted some early morning shots on Twitter today. I wish I'd had my big girl camera. It was a stunningly beautiful morning. As the sun rose over Stella's hill, it was so cold that our ponds were steaming. And the steam was sitting in layers over the water. And the sunlight turned it pink.
The horses had frosty noses and eye lashes and even T-Bone's neck hair was frosted. I've never seen that before. Hank was still curled into a tiny ball in his straw bed. He looked up as I brought him some breakfast, but decided he might sleep in a little bit longer. Maisie was ready to start her day!
15 comments:
That is a nice looking cat!:-). I hope the furnace problem is resolved soon and, meanwhile, you have a wood burning stove to keep you (if not the plumbing) from freezing.
Oh my goodness!!!!! I hope you have a fireplace/woodstove in the house!! In the meantime, the Jotul stove in the woolhouse must be a lifesaver!!
So Betsy has ended up an indoor/outdoor cat then? So pretty.
Ooh. Stay warm! I guess I won't complain (well, I probably will) about our cold, grey, windy, rainy weather. It's still not as cold as yours. It's pretty ugly, though.
Loved your post about the bells, too! I had been wondering, along with everyone else. I was telling Ian about the bells. I think Shermy would have to be our bell-wearer. He's such a goober.
Hope you will have warmth soon!
It was six degrees here too. Brr. I hope you have your furnace working (or whatever) and are nice and warm. I have to keep reminding myself that I love winter. :P What a day for one of our ewes to lamb! I think that must be Murphy's Law!
Oops- forgot to tell you that I like your photo!
Betsy is a beauty!
Beautiful shot of Betsy. Cats always know the warmest spot to be in. Good tip about the camera settings - I will check mine out.
Yo Sara! Minus 6 degrees? And furnace problems? Ouch. Your photograph is a winner...good light makes such a difference. We are going to have at least a full week of those frigid temperatures. I'm going to Wegmans to buy some ranch dressing for Valentines Day.
Betsy is a beautiful cat and she poses like a queen..
IT's going to be -25 by morning and if our furnace was not working it would just not be very nice here.. We got 4 inches of snow and just wondering how it can snow when it's below 0...
Love your blog and all the pictures..
Have a blessed day and ta ta for now from Iowa:)
Oh my, I hope my woes aren't contagious! Hope the furnace (or thermostat) is repaired quickly and inexpensively, and that the pipes come through it all with no problems of their own.
And Betsy is gorgeous!
Betsy makes for great barn artwork! Furnace on the fritz makes for a chance to use the sofa sleeper in the Wool House, with your gas stove and Punkin throw..... What's not to like ?
Thanks for the bit of photo lesson, yes my camera has that but I had no idea how or why I would use it. I can see now I would use that sometimes with Chance. Thanks! Hope you get your furnace fixed:)
Actually its a perfect shot, great lighting and use of the rule of thirds... stay warm, the weather is perfect here in South Carolina where I've been the last 3 days..:-)
Dang...actually that is not what I was thinking :) I hope those other posts are right, you DO have a wood stove..stoke it baby!!!
We're only 26 here in balmy N Idaho.
Betsy, what a Queen! and she knows it.
Years ago, we had a cat that looked just like Betsy. Her name was "Tia". She was the sweetest cat have ever had and our family still misses her and wish we had another Tia!
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