FAQ Friday, episode 4

Welcome to the fourth episode of FAQ Friday, where I'll answer the questions you've posed this week and make a big announcement.

From The 7MSN Ranch:
Q. Why don't you do some cool giveaways?
A. Because I don't have any sponsors knocking on my door offering up cool prizes, and all my disposable income seems to go to my veterinarian's kids' college fund.

Wait...what's that knocking I hear? Why, it's a sponsor! And they've offered to give away a prize to one lucky reader. Come back next week for the actual contest, but here's what the prize will be: an $80 gift certificate at online retailer csn|stores. Now I'll be the first to admit I'd never heard of csn|stores until they contacted me, so I did a little due diligence before taking the bait. Come to find out, they're a pretty big deal in this here online universe, and they sell everything from sectional sofas to sauce pans to scratching posts. Though I haven't purchased anything from them yet, their motto is "shop easy." After window-shopping my way through their site, I can vouch that it is refreshingly easy to search through their millions of products. So stay tuned for the contest next week.

From Pat in East TN and Nancy in NC:
Q. Did you put Deets up on George or does he go there himself to check out the view?
A. I'm still cheating and putting Deets on George's back, usually when I'm desperate for something to blog about. I figure if I do it often enough, Deets will hop up on his own. Deets loves it up there, George ... not as much, but he knows it makes me happy so he plays along.

From JaneK:
Q. Is the sky ever ugly in New Mexico?
A. No. I love easy questions!

There were several photography questions this week...

From Morning Bray Farm:
Q. So, was the D80 hard to figure out?
A. Kinda sorta but not really. I found Ken Rockwell's site soon after I purchased the camera, and everything I needed to know about using it, I learned from him. He has written his own user's guides for many popular cameras, and they are so much easier to understand than the manufacturer's guides, say nothing of being in large-enough type that I can read them! Whenever anyone asks me for camera and lens recommendations, I point them to Ken's site. There is so much excellent – and free – information there, I get dizzy.

From Jen at Cabin Fever:
Q. ...that last photo literally almost made me dizzy! Goodness. Very cool photo, though. Care to explain how you took it or what your camera settings were?
A. I wasn't sure myself until your question prompted me to go figure it out. It appears I pressed the shutter while I was zooming out the lens and a slow shutter speed captured the motion of the zoom. In other words, D.A.L. (dumb-ass luck). Here are all the settings:
shutter speed - 1/60
aperture priority
f/5.6
iso 160
focal length 44 mm
lens 18.0 - 135. mm

From Pat in East TN:
Q. How on earth did you ever get Smooch to keep the glasses on and then give that look in the last one?
A. D.A.L.


Keep those questions coming. Your appreciation of my four-legged family and photographs is what inspires me and keeps this blog going. Thanks, friends!