Attempting Low Light Photography

Since my Dad was hard at work raking the yard yesterday evening, I decided to take Juliet out to jump in the piles of leaves.  Since sunset is around 4pm here, (crazy I know) I figured now is as good a time as any to start practicing low light photography without flash; I actually decided to force myself to go outside my comfort zone and practice by making it my weekly theme on my 365 project.  My pictures always have seemed to take a hard turn downhill whenever attempting to shoot outdoors after sunset, along with my confidence.  These are still a little grainy.  For instance the second picture was one of the last I took; by this point it was really dark out.  It's still too grainy for my taste and was my first clue that it was time to move indoors.  The more I know about my camera and shooting in manual, the easier it is to adjust what I need to make things work.  Practice, practice, practice.  Juliet had a great time, whether or not the pictures turned out.  As it should be.