I recently bought a digital SLR camera, some lenses, and a flash, and have been spending some time reading and shooting in order to learn something about photography. Previously, I just used a simple digital point and shoot camera with everything set on automatic — I didn’t know an f-stop from an ISO. Now that has changed somewhat. I actually made the switch because I enjoy attending auto races and want to start capturing better photos of the events.

Lately, the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis has featured an exhibit by renowned glass blower Dale Chihuly. I took several hundred pictures and assembled a web site of the decent ones. If you’re interested, they can be viewed at www.wette.us/chihuly.

The equipment used was a Nikon D200 digital SLR, Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens, Nikon 18-200 f/3.5-5.6 lens, and SB800 flash. Unfortunately, I did not have a polarizing filter — I think some pictures might have come out better if I did. Some of the early indoor pictures look hazy because they are. When I entered the warm and humid Climatron from the cold and dry outside, all the glass on my camera fogged and stayed that way for a bit. I went ahead and took pictures anyway, and corrected them as much as possible with Adobe Lightroom.

If you missed this exhibit, it’s only on display at the Missouri Botanical Garden until January 1.