Lots to Learn

I have been trying to learn how to use my camera to its full potential and not rely so much on the presets but it hasn't been easy. As much as I had hoped that just sitting down and reading the manual cover to cover would work it didn't. I found the technical stuff aperture, exposure, ISO

very hard to wrap my brain around because my brain just doesn't work that way. So I got another book about my camera and read that and yet another and after reading the three different books and retaining very I little went on a search to find something else to help me learn because what I really needed was hands on step by step lessons with the camera. There weren't any classes readily available but I came across two books that were helpful-Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson and Digital Photography by Scott Kelby. Both great books. But what really helped was my favorite Scrapbook sight-Two Peas in a Bucket offered a free 12 week course online. I have been doing it for 6 weeks and learned a ton and the best part is that they explain everything step by step and then give you step by step challenges, exactly what I needed and now everything is making sense and I actually took pictures in manual yesterday(meaning that I chose the shutter speed, aperture and white balance) and some came out pretty good. And Kenzie even agreed to be my model!

So here are some of the best ones. All were done in natural light, because one of the first things that I learned was that I no longer like the onboard flash and avoid using it as much as possible.

All pictures are straight out of camera as I haven't learned how to use photoshop yet either, that is on my long list of things to learn too! Shot with a 50mm lens that is awesome for shooting indoors!

And I had to include this last one just because it makes me laugh.

This is the "Haven't you figured that camera out yet??" Look.

So I always on the lookout for new victims, I mean models, so if any of you are in the area and want to do a little modeling, let me know. You know just hop on a plane and come on out here. How about it Jill? Cause you always look "fabulous"!!