Back To School

Now I have a blog, I suppose I'd better learn how to take better pictures, as my current skill level is little better than an "atavistic" monkey without thumbs.  This is evidenced by my attempts to record the process of creating an Origami dinosaur a couple of days ago.


To this end, I hied myself over to the Digital Photography School, and jumped in to the beginner's section.

It's a pity they don't have a "Holy crap, have you ever even seen a camera?  Do you even have working eyes?" section, as "beginner" doesn't quite describe my total lack of skills.  I took a "before" reference photo so we can see if I learn anything at all.  It's an Origami Tiger Lily that I made for Tara a while back, on a sparkly green felt background.

Before invaluable photography basics

Hey, at least it's in focus.  But then, the camera does that for me.

So, they keep going on about exposure, which is apparently a good thing when it comes to cameras, rather than a bad thing when it comes to old men in trench coats.  I learned about color, shutter speeds, aperture settings and depths of field.  My mind was opened to the concepts of composition, ISO speeds, F-stops and light.  Now my brain hurts a little, but I think I get the fundamentals. Time to put the camera into Manual mode, and give it a whirl!

After invaluable photography basics

Hey, that's actually not bad.  The colors seem about right, everything is in focus, and it looks fairly natural.  Which is all well and good for a still-life, but I suppose the real test will come when I need to shoot at moving targets, like the kids.  With the camera.  This time.

So, all in all, a productive use of my time, and hopefully there will be a vast improvement in the pictures here that I take myself.  I really don't have an excuse now.

Now, for some people, I'm sure I haven't gone far enough.  I know, I didn't run the picture through Instagram for that really professional look. Well, for all you ingrates out there, here's a special treat, especially if you are also a fan of Nickelback.  Which you probably are, I mean, you use Instagram, right?



Good old Collegehumor.