photography 101

I've always been a big fan of pictures (maybe it runs in the family? my dad seems to be too!) . . .I have albums and albums of high school and college photos, and a sizable stack of scrapbooks too (there was that Creative Memories phase, and now I love to make photo books online with digital pics). . . If we ever were to have a fire, photographs & albums would top (after people, of course!) my list of "things to save."

I don't really think I actually take great pictures, but have learned a little about cropping and digital photo editing/enhancement, which helps improve the final product. (Praise the Lord for red-eye removal! My mom, sister and I always have red-eye!). I've thought about taking a photography class, but never have.

But now I really want to. Billy got me (squeal of delight!!!) a dslr camera for Christmas, and I am having a lot of fun trying to figure it out. I have read quite a few online tutorials, and have tried to read through the book manual that came with the camera. But I think I am more of a "learn from someone" kind of a gal vs. a "learn from reading about it" kind of gal. So I am looking into taking some sort of class or maybe finding someone to "tutor" me on the use of a dslr this summer (anyone? anyone?). Now that I have a good camera, it's time to take good pictures.

Anyway. From my reading, I figured out that to take the kind of pictures I've been wanting to take, I needed a lens with a low aperture capability (I still need to figure out a LOT more about aperture and how it works) - this will allow me to get pics with crisp images and blurry backgrounds. Last week I finally splurged and purchased said lens (it was actually very reasonable and was highly recommended in my readings) - and I got it this week! Yippee!! So today I practiced on the spring blooms in our yard (they stand still better than Braden!).

So here's a lilac pic taken at a "normal"/auto setting - with a higher aperture. Nice, but not that great.

And here's a lilac with the new lens and a low aperture (and I did boost the color). Much better! I love blurry backgrounds!

Again, a flowering plant of unknown species from our yard with the higher aperture . . .

. . . and now with the lower aperture and - yep - a blurry background! . . . and yeah, I know - a kinda blurry flower too . . .oops!

I am so excited to play around more and try to figure out what I am doing! This lens is a little trickier to get used to because it is a prime lens (doesn't zoom - gotta move your feet to zoom in), and is manual focus only - so I am still learning. Good thing summer vacation (and extra free time!) is just around the corner. ;)

And one last pic - because you know there has to be a Braden picture at some point in my posts! Apparently it is also a good thing that we have hair cuts scheduled next week - check out that hair!