Hi-
I am a hobbyist photographer who mainly shoots macro nature (flowers, foliage) and some sea and landscapes) and of course, my 4 kids:))
About a year ago, my employer asked if I would take some mini (15 min session) holiday family portraits, on-site. I work at a beautiful nursery/home decor place, perfect setting for photos. I have continued it this year, purchasing a portrait lens, etc, practicing and learning everything I could about this type of photography. I’ve had a very positive response to the images and have truly enjoyed this genre. They have all been daytime, outdoors, natural light.
My boss just asked if I could run out to her house to take a holiday picture of her, her husband and baby. Because of her work schedule, it has to be nighttime and she would like if outdoors, in front of their new house, with Christmas lights. I said yes, of course, but am panicking because I don’t ever shoot at night. I have a speed light but am not even sure how to use it. I have a Nikon d7200. The speed light I own (Altura) cannot not be set-up for TTL? (just learning about off-camera flash) so has to be manual and I am not sure of the settings I should use. Help! Please be kind. I never use flash and was hoping for a quick lesson so I can get a decent shot for her tonight.
Thank you in advance!
Martha
adding a photo from one of the sessions-a new baby! Really have enjoyed capturing these special moments!

Those sound plausible, although I wonder if snagging a wheel on a tree that was too close is any easier on the passage - and the equipment - than snagging a hub?

And while a wider stance should provide more lateral stability, I have the impression that in use, the greatest load on the wheel was vertical from bouncing over the irregular surfaces of the day - not a lot of smooth roads on battlefields. A "straight" wheel puts all those loads between hub and rim in compression through the spokes, while it looks like the spokes on an offset wheel also have to deal with torque at the hub and rim connections.

But - what do I know? I'm not an engineer, and somebody built those wheels that way for a reason. And the thing survived, so it couldn't have been all bad. It just looks funny, to me.

The news media carried the ball in its own interest of profit-making. Leadership reacted to selected opinion. Fear of the p******c led to panic buying. Finger-pointing substituted for plain words. The news media only rarely depicted the impact of the k**ler v***s as affecting the sub-groups already mentioned.

The news media presented (and still does) the number of cases of infection as sufficient information -- without noting the national death rate and the sub-groups most impacted.

Instead, by simple math, say the population is 360 million and the number of deaths is 260 thousand. The resulting death rate is 0.072 percent, or said another way, 72 thousandths of one percent.

As well, most of the deaths from the v***s occur among these sub-groups: obese people with diabetes, people with serious medical conditions, and older folk. Hence, if not in one or more of these sub-groups, an individual has a near zero chance of dying from the k**ler v***s.

If the news media and leadership presented these simple facts to the public constantly, then of course the public would respond intelligently.
Panic would subside. The economy might (only might) slow slightly. Businesses would stay open. People would keep their jobs. Foreclosures and evictions would happen about the same as before the p******c. The nation would not sink into $4 trillion in debt as an economic fix.

Leadership would still have a responsibility for protecting the affected sub-groups. Quarantining them for a while would isolate them from the spread of the v***s.

The rest of the nation could go about its daily activity as usual.

I assume since you are against socialism, you refuse Medicare and Social Security, libraries and public education. Since nearly every industry is subsidized by the feds (socialism by another name) especially, f****l f**ls, auto, steel, agriculture, disasters, you live in an off grid home, without electricity, ride a horse, and produce your own food. If that isn’t you, than you are a democratic socialist in part, like nearly all Americans.
Where the political parties disagree, is in how much of the economy should be centralized. About this reasonable people can disagree. For example. Health care costs can bankrupt you (unless you have Medicare). How much health care should be subsidized, by whom (which taxpayers get hit hardest), who gets covered, and how completely. We may disagree, but we should still have this conversation (maybe in a bar after a few drinks, I’ll pay for the first round)

Nope. Instead, this period should confirm that politicians should not make medical decisions regarding a p******c. Shutting down large segments of the U.S. economy and increasing the national debt by $4 trillion document an overreaction to this medical problem.

Instead, leadership should have quarantined the threatened sub-groups for their protection: Older folk, obese individuals with diabetes, and individuals with serious medical conditions. This rational response also should have included immediate extraction of individuals from the unsafe nursing facilities.

This limited quarantine would have allowed the rest of the population to continue their daily lives and to keep their jobs.

Of course, face masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds, and stopping large family interactions would have achieved the purpose of preventing the spread of the Chinese k**ler v***s. Various sanitary measures, as now implemented, also would have limited its spread. These measures would have required some businesses to reconfigure their operation to r****d the v***s.

Leadership should have persuaded the news media at all times to offer a sober view of the p******c and the response to it.