Guess who came home with a brand new latest-greatest-state-of-the-art digital camera yesterday? That's right, the hubs. So guess what I've been doing? Yep, making a mess. :) Exploring, learning, doing it all wrong, and eventually getting a few right. So I thought I'd share some of the process here:
1. If your hubs didn't buy the extended battery pack or wall plug in thingee (what was he thinking!!!), make sure you have a good supply of batteries. I mean, LOTS of batteries.
2. It's best to practice on a subject that doesn't get up and move away every ten seconds.
3. Carry reading glasses with you everywhere until you get used to where the buttons are. (It appears that the latest-greatest everything is extremely TINY.)
4. Read the manual. If you paid attention to #3, you're prepared for the TINY PRINT manual.
5. Extreme close-up means "hold real still". Which I apparently can't do. This is a problem. Who wants to carry a tripod around with them everywhere???
6. Read the manual.
Heh. "Insufficient light can affect focus in macro mode." I finally got one really close and in focus. HOWEVER, you still need to hold real still.
At the end of the day, there was this glorious sunset, which I took about a thousand shots of. Two of them actually came out ok. (These you can click to enlarge.)
Digital camera from hubby--I'm so jealous. When we invest in a digital camera, it's not even going to be for me! He'll be needing one for work at some point. I'm sure I can steal it from him when he's not working, though. Sounds like you had a blast playing with your new toy! :) Will be watching for upcoming pics that I'm sure you'll want to share with us all 'cause we're so wonderful and everything. *grin*
Posted by: peddidle | June 25, 2005 at 09:04 PM
I think I mentioned before that, at one time, I had a photography business, so I shot LOTS of film. (Before the days of digital...) A photographer is usually quite pleased to get 2 or 3 acceptable photos from a roll of film, so you're doing very well! And the beauty is, you can just delete what you don't like and start over. :) Kudos on the sunsets...they're breathtaking.
Posted by: Nancy | June 26, 2005 at 08:53 AM
Try doing your extreme close-ups outdoors in daylight until you get used to the camera. It's very, very hard to hold the camera still enough in dim lighting. The sunsets are great. One thing that most people do wrong is to leave the camera set on "Auto White Balance" so the camera balances the pretty color right out of their sunset shots. Choosing "Daylight" is usually best for a sunset.
Posted by: Rick Lee | June 28, 2005 at 08:33 AM
Crikey, before digital it must have cost a fortune to be a photographer!! Well, it's good to know that my ratio is about normal, anyway. Thanks Nancy. :)) Rick, thanks for the tips. I'm not sure if I had the white balance set to auto, prolly I did. I'm still learning about the camera, and about photography in general, but I'm sure having a lot of fun doing it.
Posted by: Christine | June 28, 2005 at 07:12 PM