Cool Images....by Lisa

We decided to write about our latest interests, and mine is photography. I have been taking all kinds of pictures with my little point-and-shoot camera that I carry in my purse at all times. You never know when a great photo op is going to present itself (like the time the Taco Bell sign said "Take Home a Penis"). The pictures on my facebook page are almost all taken with a camera phone or my point-and-shoot. I decided it was time for a more sophisticated camera, so I bought my first digital SLR camera--the kind where you can manually focus and determine all the settings, or you can let the camera determine everything. I have had all kinds of cameras in the past--including my dad's old Brownie camera, when I was kid, the kind that has a neck strap and you wear it like a professional camera, but you look into the viewfinder by looking down into the top of the camera. I had the instamatic, the long, rectangular thing where you had to buy the strip of flash bulbs and each one burned out when you took a flash photo--remember those? We probably all burned our fingers handling them too soon after taking the picture. My grandmother would always ask me to adjust the settings on her instamatic before taking family pictures--remember those days? Posing, smiling until you thought your face would freeze like that, wishing they'd take the dang picture already! And how about the Polaroids, the quality wasn't very good but it was fun to watch the picture develop before your eyes. Then there was the the Canon camera I got when Brian was born, where you put the film in and had to manually advance it to the first shot, and use the auto rewind feature to wind it back into the cartridge before opening the camera, or you'd ruin the film by overexposing it to light. My sister gave me the Yashica camera that took panoramic photos on regular film-- those were so cool. I remember taking pictures of the 17 kids Brian went to prom with using that camera--fun times and great memories. Since then it's been a series of point-and-shoots like the Sony digital camera that originally was nearly $400 and too big and heavy for a shirt pocket and now isn't much bigger than a deck of cards. The Olympus Stylus--I liked that one because it had a good zoom lens and the cool way the front cover slid open and closed. My latest point-and-shoot, which I love because it's small and lightweight and has a permanent spot in my purse, and takes great pictures by the way, is a Canon Powershot A3100 IS. It's 12.1 megapixel, which is plenty. One of the many things I've learned as I've started studying photography more seriously, is that increasing megapixel capability isn't the key to great pictures--its using light to your advantage. My DSLR camera is a Nikon D3100, I bought it after consulting with my photography class instructor. It's actually not nearly as heavy as older cameras, even with the 200mm zoom lens, and that's important to me--I just won't carry a heavy camera around. That's why I never was much for taking videos before--the videocamera is too heavy. My new camera records video in 1080p, so I'm all set now, no excuses. I'm taking an advanced digital photography class that starts Monday and I can't wait! I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about how to use my new camera. I also found a great book, available in Kindle format only, entitled "Improve Your Photography: How Budding Photographers Can Get Pro Results", by Jim Harmer. This is a really helpful guide that is easy to understand and helps you learn the fundamentals of your camera. He's also on facebook, look for ImprovePhotography. He posted some really cool photos he took on a recent trip to Yellowstone, using a $12,000 lens he borrowed. I love going places and taking pictures. Maybe I'll hit the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden on the right weekend in April, when the 90,000 tulip bulbs they planted last fall are in perfect bloom. Last year I got some beautiful pictures there. Now I'm keeping track of the phase of the moon, reading about how to photograph it and end up with something better than a picture of bright yellow spot in a black sky. Happy Shooting!