You must be developing a distinct style, I spotted this one as yours immediately on the homepage. It's a lovely pic.

Bugger normality I want the sun back, stupid bloody country, bloody short Summers, mutter grumble.

I'm really going to have to get to Italia soon!

ciao Barone, glad you can spot me anywhere :D
though this is a picture I took last year, can you believe it :)

obviously i was being sarcastic there, i really have enjoyed the summer, it has been the hottest for me since living in England. hope you'll be able to go to Italy very soon. x

Do you use a tripod for these shots?

I was wondering the same about the tripod. I am sure you can still have some sunny days

I have not used a tripod for any of the pictures posted so far, and mainly not even for the pictures hosted on my foodblog . I have only used a tripod when I shoot the moon which obviously requires perfect steadyness as the exposure time is going to be longer.

The cameras I use are very different from each other. One is the Olympus, which is a compact camera, very light, 200 grams. Easy to handle with two hands, you can use the LCD screen to take pictures, so that gives you a better view of what is going on and how the picture will look.

The other camera I use is a Nikon D50, much more professional and heavier. The zoom I use mostly weighs about 500 grams alone, with the camera I reach 1 Kg and 200 grams. Doesnt have the option to look into an LCD screen so the camera has to be close to the eye, which allows much control and steadyness. The camera is held with two hands so you can rotate the zoom as you need it, and obviously hold it as well. Still can manage to take pictures without a tripod though, using some little tricks.

One thing you want to make sure, it's that your arms are very close to your body and when you actually press the button, you are not breathing. You breath, your body moves, the camera moves, the picture moves.

Generally speaking when there is a lot of light, chances to get a blurry picture are very low, except if you are jumping up and down while shooting. I try to use what I have around me to help when I need a tripod. For instance a fence, a bench, a wall, or whatever helps to get my camera steady.

For a picture like this in particular, there is no need for a tripod. The camera is very light and I was very close to the subject. I would use a tripod for night shoots or when I really need to hold my camera for very long.

I find that the tripod is a really good thing to use but has some limits as well in terms of praticity. You cannot always get the perfect angle you want, at least that's how I see it. Works well for portraits and self portraits.

The tripod I own it's also heavy and not easy to carry, and for "action" pictures you dont really have the time to set a tripod. You just need to shoot and hope that you haven't missed it :)

Hope this helps :)

The colours are fantastic, but I love the texture in this.