Using Birdwatching Scene Mode - not just for the birds!

Looking at the settings that Birdwatching Scene Mode sets up on my camera, I wanted to view the difference in the settings as I zoom out.  The only thing I have against the Nikon P610 is that the lens is variable in that I can set it all I like at 3.3, but when I zoom out it changes according to what focal length I end up with.  That doesn't happen with the Panasonic FZ200 but hey, not camera is perfect.  Anyway, when I zoomed right out, there weren't any birds outside the window at the time so I aimed at a hibiscus bud.  Oh - the leaves behind it blurred out and gave me a good clean shot.  Aperture down to 5.6 but still nice and clear.

Then
I aimed at a much smaller flower, a seaside daisy.  The aperture went out to 6.5 and I found I really liked the result, with the large ginger lily leaf going right out of focus and leaving the seaside daisy and a few stems (I did crop this a bit because a lot of dead stalks were to one side).

Learning from experience

I have just been reading Rob Sheppard's blog about how important experience with your photography equipment is; I too find that, even though I read about how to get the best out of my camera, when I actually go out and start practicing what I have learnt in theory, that is the only way to integrate it into my understanding.  I had been reading about reflections in water as well as composition of shots.  This is a cormorant that I noticed when I had those things buzzing around in my head.  It was quite some distance away and I had a shutter speed of 1/1000 and F/2.8 in Aperture Priority, and I moved around to try to get the best background.  The background of grasses was the least distracting.   Eventually I narrowed it down on my computer to this shot, which I cropped to get the effect.  The reflection was almost complete - I found that was surprisingly difficult to capture, so many of the shots I took had fractured reflections, this was the closest.  I had expected the water to be still and show the reflection perfectly but there were ducks swimming around nearby which obviously was disturbing the surface.
My own reflections:  I think I should have changed the aperture - it was on 2.8 but being so far away, I should have tried for a greater depth of field.  I will try to change my aperture more in the future - I have tended to stick to 2.8 rather too much, and thinking about it, the cormorant was further away than it's reflection - so although I had the auto focus on 23 area, the clearest part is actually the water.

Cormorant, Lochiel Park wetland lake

©Christine Linton

The blog I referred to at the top is here:
http://www.natureandphotography.com/?p=1899