I am now the proud owner of a Canon EOS Rebel XTi. Awesome, huh? I've been shooting a Canon Powershot A520 for just about three years and have had wonderful luck with my shots. I say "luck" because really, I kept it in program mode, set up the shot and let the little Canon work its magic. Even though it has manual functions, I still loved the way the program shots turned out... the challenge for me was setting up the composition.
In April 2007, I bought a Panasonic Lumix F7 from Del, my very dear friend and photographic partner in crime. The Lumix is cool. The LCD on that thing has a preview feature and you are able to see how the picture will look after each adjustment, before you take it. It always bugged me though that my pictures turned out yellow, and I would get frustrated at figuring out the f-stop & shutter combo. A few weeks ago, Del showed me how to change the white balance (to get rid of the yellow) and how to meter (insert heavenly sounds of a-a-a-a-ah here.) yes.
Metering is AWESOME! Once I figured out how to meter I went crazy on taking manual exposures of everything.. pop cans, children, buildings, bells, ditches... The pictures from Cama Beach were all taken in manual mode on the Lumix. But... I still felt limited on the aperture and shutter speeds; plus, the Lumix has a fixed lens.... there would be very little hope of getting those awesome, wide depth of field landscape shots that I am dreaming about, or the magnification I demand (demand...ha!) for the close up flower shots that I adore.
So, here I am, today, the proud owner of an XTi. But, I am a little bit scared. There is so much I don't know. For instance, I knew that my lense was 18-55mm. Didn't know that meant that I would need a 58mm UV filter, Lense cover & Cokin adapter. But, I remembered Del's helpful advice... "Best thing to do is shoot everyday, Lor." So, I picked up the last of my camera gear at Kits Camera in Alderwood, went to the Lynnwood library and picked up some photography books (I am SUCH a nerd), and headed to Sunset Beach in Edmonds for my first photo shoot with the XTi.
At 8 o'clock tonight I didn't even know how to turn the thing on by myself. Luckily, it is cleverly marked with an "on" and "off" switch. Phew. The picture below of some trees is the very first picture that I took with my new camera. Not too shabby. Ok,ok, not too interesting either.
The next pic is of a Washington State Ferry at the Edmonds ferry dock. A little dark, but not bad, composition wise. I also realized when I got to the lookout that I didn't have a polarizer. grrr.
The sun dropped so fast! One minute I was squinting because it was so bright & wishing for a polarizer, then I looked away briefly to mess with my tripod and the sun slipped away! I like the silhouettes of the people on the beach in the pic below.
After wishing for a polarizer (oh, and I also left my microfiber cloth in my Lumix bag at home), messing with the tripod, and almost missing the sunset, I realized that I didn't know how to adjust the shutter and f-stop! I randomly pushed some buttons, and came up with the pic below... rather dark, but kinda neat.
Ok, so here are two of my favorite composition tricks: 1) if it is out of focus or the colors don't go well together, then just print it in black & white, blow it up, mat it & frame it & call it good; and 2) if you can't get the shot you want in the distance, then focus on something interesting up close and use that to frame the stuff in the back. (Like the boat and thistle pic from the Cama Beach post). Ok, now, since I didn't have full command of the aperture setting yet, the pic below is the closest I could get. Hmm, not quite there yet :)
I returned home and grabbed my owner's manual. A-ha! Page 71 explained how to work the aperture function. Whammy, I am back in business! I set up these monkeys near a set of round lamps in my living room. I had taken some similar shots with the Lumix, so I wanted to set up a similar shot to see how the two cameras compare. Aperture, shutter & ISO functions were easy to use, but something is not quite right...
Yep. The white balance. I adjusted to Tungsten lighting, and had better results.
So, there you go... my first day of shooting with a dslr. Thanks for reading this and joining me on my path to becoming a better photographer.
The next pic is of a Washington State Ferry at the Edmonds ferry dock. A little dark, but not bad, composition wise. I also realized when I got to the lookout that I didn't have a polarizer. grrr.
The sun dropped so fast! One minute I was squinting because it was so bright & wishing for a polarizer, then I looked away briefly to mess with my tripod and the sun slipped away! I like the silhouettes of the people on the beach in the pic below.
I returned home and grabbed my owner's manual. A-ha! Page 71 explained how to work the aperture function. Whammy, I am back in business! I set up these monkeys near a set of round lamps in my living room. I had taken some similar shots with the Lumix, so I wanted to set up a similar shot to see how the two cameras compare. Aperture, shutter & ISO functions were easy to use, but something is not quite right... 
Yep. The white balance. I adjusted to Tungsten lighting, and had better results.
So, there you go... my first day of shooting with a dslr. Thanks for reading this and joining me on my path to becoming a better photographer.
Congrats Lor. Very good start welcome to a the next level and the sound of your purse emptying=) As you will need a 10mm lens for your deep shots and a 55-200mm lens for close up work since our shooting styles are very simalar. More challenging but ever so rewarding. Have fun
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the purse emptying idea... at least I get airline miles for using my debit card ;)
ReplyDeleteYou are right; our shooting styles are really similar... you know the pictures you just framed - they are all my favorites, too :) (only my pics have, uh, better color saturation... oh dear, I never get tired of THAT one...)