I'm going to stop and have a tantrum for a second

May 30, 2008 17:54

I swear to god, the next time someone says, "You must have a nice camera" or some variant thereof, I am going to hit them with my shoe ( Read more... )

entrepreneurship like burning, feeding the trolls, tutorials, the stupid hurts me

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sixpenny_book May 31 2008, 02:10:02 UTC
I have to admit, I used to be one of those people who would drool over DSLRs and think that my little Canon Powershot point-and-shoot was a piece of crap. But then I discovered the "Manual" setting rather than "Auto" and I've been amazed at how much I've learned just through trial and error--I can see my skills growing as the quality of the pictures improve, but the camera stays the same. That's not to say that I don't still drool over DSLRs, and I really would like to own one someday, but it is nice to have physical proof of my improving skills rather than just attributing it to a super fancy camera.

And you are an excellent photographer!! Your high-quality equipment just emphasizes and compliments it (just as a cook's high-quality cookware is a sign of their dedication to and passion for their craft) :)

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babyslime May 31 2008, 02:17:16 UTC
That is exactly the kind of elaboration I was hoping someone would make. The better equipment betters the skill that's there, but a person who has never cooked before sitting in front of truffles, a gas oven and a recipe that says, "rue, white cake, and cookies" would go.... "Buh?".
The quality equipment is useless to someone who doesn't know the basics.

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ayanamisama May 31 2008, 02:28:06 UTC
I have a decent little camera, but my pictures are nowhere near as gorgeous as Babs' (or yours, I'm assuming) and I don't know exactly what I should do to take better pictures.

Do you have any tips of places you could lead me to that would help me improve, if it's not too much trouble?

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babyslime May 31 2008, 03:09:05 UTC
Strobist. Planet Neil. Scott Kelby and Bryan Peterson. :)

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ayanamisama May 31 2008, 03:26:20 UTC
Thank you! I'll go check those out.

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sixpenny_book May 31 2008, 03:26:15 UTC
Oh, mine aren't nearly as nice as hers, either, but it is fun to play around with things to see what I can come up with. I really just kind of experiment--that's the beauty of digital cameras, you can screw up without spending a fortune on developing film. The biggest thing I've found is playing around with ISO and not using flash--increasing ISO in lower-light situations and using natural light really helps a lot, I think. If you have different "white balance" settings (sunlight, cloudy, different kinds of light bulbs, etc.) I've found that it helps to use those to kind of balance out colors. I haven't done much with exposure times, but playing around with those can create some cool photos, too. I'd mostly just say experiment! See what happens if you increase one thing and decrease another. Eventually you'll start to get an idea of what kind of settings you need for certain situations, and you can start to explore other functions and buttons ( ... )

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ayanamisama May 31 2008, 03:27:52 UTC
It was very helpful. Thank you!

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babyslime May 31 2008, 03:42:17 UTC
Awesome advice.

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gardenmama May 31 2008, 19:06:25 UTC
I totally agree. I wanted to improve my photography skills, so I started using my pns totally in manual mode, read all the books on photography and exposure I could find, took TONS of pictures, and made myself wait six months before I let myself buy a new camera. Now I have a nice camera that can do all kinds of cool things my other couldn't, and I'm learning all over again to take decent pictures ;)

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