More Metering Practice

So I finally opened up my new remote and one of the girl's tripods.  Yup.  They leave stuff, it's mine!  Sort of like all of Julie's art stuff that I have confiscated.  Now, if I can just find her Gorillapod that I know she has stashed somewhere...
I read some more from Aimee's fabulous blog It's Overflowing and gave metering with my prime lens another go.  I desperately need to practice before I head to Arizona.  I took the pics of the sculpture between about 3:20 to 3:30 pm.  It was super sunny today and the window in the living room faces southwest, so the afternoon soon is fierce.  The pics of the painting were done between 3:35 and 3:50 pm.  While the sculpture is on a small table right by the window, the painting is on a table a bit away from the window.  In some cases I had the drapes partially or completely drawn.  I had to attempt to control the light so that I could keep my shutter speed around 100 or below as those are the guidelines given for still work.
I must admit that I am completely freaked out about controlling the light in Arizona on a sunny day while I'm outside.  I may explode.
All of the pictures below were taken with a tripod and remote.  That was fun!

These two were taken with the mark right below and right on the middle hash mark on the meter.  I believe that I am liking my shots right on the middle the best.

With the next group, I only messed with the shutter speed and the drapes.  I left the aperture and the ISO at the same levels.

The drapes are partially open here.

The drapes are closed in this shot and the next two.  

This next set were taken with drapes open, partially closed and closed.  I messed around more with the ISO  and aperture.  Again, they were taken between about 3:35 and 3:50 on a very sunny afternoon.

This is my favorite of the painting exposures.  I think the color balance
and light are just right.

The next shot blew me away.  The colors and light are exactly right for the time of day.  While the subject is dumb (a branch that fell off of our tree after a heavy, wet snow) I couldn't resist just shooting in manual through the big window right into the evening light.  It was 5:56 pm.  Note that our front yard light is on in the picture.  That is how I know that the lighting is right.

I can't leave without a kitty pic.  She was sitting on our bed on a sunny day with lots of afternoon shadows being thrown around through the windows.  I wonder what she is thinking about here.

Thanks, Aimee, for your fine class.  Head over to It's Overflowing if you want to learn how to use your camera.