So, obviously, I have not been keeping up on this but I have been taking pictures when I can. None of these are very good but here they are.

We went to Wheeler Farm today to take some pictures outside. I had high hopes for this trip because I had been stuck photographing inside for so long. It ended up being very windy and cooler then I had hoped. I had some trouble getting my light right and it was hard to see the view finder to know how I was doing. When I could see it though I was able to think things through to figure out what I needed to do to change it. The kids gave me something to shoot but not knowing what I was doing it was hard to get what I wanted quick enough. I might need to plan a photo trip with just myself so I don't feel so pressured to move quick. Both pictures that show the sky seem a little washed out. Maybe having a filter would help?

Day 9

I found a tiny bit of spring while out walking Sophie. I took quite a few pictures on our walk but most did not turn out. I had to experiment a lot with the lighting because of how much snow was out and how bright it was. I like this photo because of the blurred branches in the foreground.

Day 6

So here it is, an image I had to get by adjusting aperture, iso and shutter speed. I experimented mostly with the shutter speed with my camera on a tripod. I felt very silly spending sooooo much time taking a picture of a laundry basket but the shadows struck me as something and I had to play around with it. This was taken with a 5.6 aperture and a full 30 second shutter speed.

Already I feel like I am learning so much. I have gotten a basic understanding of aperture, shutter speed and a little of iso settings. I am expirementing with metering. Going through the actions but not getting good pictures yet.I am learning little things about how to change my cameras menu options as I go along. Also I have learned that I am bored to death of shooting inside and am dying to get outside. Hurry Spring!

Day 5 Shutter Speed

Ok, so this was my attempt at shutter speed. It didn't come out as well as I would have liked though. I couldn't ever get it to blur really good. I think I understand how it works and everything I just don't have a good example to post.

Day 4

All weekend I have been playing with my camera - learning a little and getting frustrated a lot. It seems like no matter what I did all of my photos turned out dark unless it was in auto mode. Very frustrating! Finally figured out that the exposure was set to -4.7 and Mark was able to fix it for me. Now everything looks so much better!

I didn't get anything worth posting today. Last night I played around with shutter speed and wrote the word Love with a laser and captured it with a slow shutter speed. I really want to get a remote or bulb for my shutter so I can take really long exposures of the stars. I also would love to get a new 35mm lens. Maybe someday.

Day 2

So today I set up my camera on my tripod and took one shot at a different aperture from f/5.6 (the lowest my camera will go for some reason) to f/20.

What I found was that at the smallest aperture I got the most light and the background was the most blurred. As the aperture got higher the picture became darker and the background came more into focus. I think f/7.1 looks about the best.

I am really enjoying reading Aimee's tutorials at itsoverflowing.com. I have no blogging skills whatsoever or I would post her link but she does Photography Fridays and has a new tutorial every week.

Day 1

This month I want to challenge myself to stop using the automatic settings on my camera. I love taking pictures and sometimes get some pretty good ones but I really want to learn to use my camera the way it should be. My goal is to post a new photo every day in March.

I set out today in search of something to photograph and found this beauty. I pulled over and this is what I came up with. You have no idea how hard it is for me not to fix it in Picasa like I usually do with my photos. I guess that is the point of learning to use my settings though, so I don't have to edit them afterwards. I was practicing with aperture and just dialing it up or down to see what worked the best. I wish this was brighter and her eyes were much bluer in person.