January 1, 2014

When I decided to start this blog so I could track my progress with my new camera, I set a goal to take a picture a day and publish it. I’m realizing after only one entry (yay, way to think this through!) that this is a bit of a lofty goal.  I’m (obviously) not a professional photographer, so I don’t tote around my camera everywhere I go.  Clearly I’m going to have to work in some camera time each day if I’m going to be able to attain my goal of a picture a day.  but I have that New Year’s optimism, so we’ll see.

Sadly, I’m a procrastinator.  Add to that my being sick over the last 36 hours and you won’t be surprised to find that I waited until the last minute (read: nearly forgot) to bust out the camera and point and click to get a shot in.

If you read the very first entry, you know that I’m learning Camera Language.
It’s like learning Klingon, only harder.

When I took the picture below, I was fussing with the ISO on my camera.  Apparently, when you take your camera off the Auto settings, damn near everything you do requires you to have a very steady hand.  I was outside on my front steps–no shoes (I was wearing socks, I’m not stupid)–and the temperature was 26 degrees.  So I was a bit chilled.  Chilled & no shoes means not a steady hand.  This is the 6th picture I took, and the clearest.

I don’t completely understand what ISO is, but I know that it has to do with the amount of light that the camera uses when capturing a picture.  You can have a lot, or a little.  This picture was taken when the ISO on my camera was set to 500.  It can go as low as 80, or as high as 6400.

The camera I have is a Canon PowerShot SX50 HS.  I don’t understand what all the letters represent, but I know it’s smarter than I am.  I have a lot to learn.

Be thankful that I chose this picture to put up, and not one of the others that would make you think you’re drunk.

Who, what, when, where and why.

Hi!  I’m Elizabeth.

So here’s the story.  My husband got me a camera for Christmas.  I opened the box in the exact same spot that I am typing, deleting, and re-typing this entry so I think it’s kismet that I am beginning this blog here, right where I’m sitting.

This thing has a crap load of dials and doohickeys (only a slight exaggeration), and I’m scared to death that when I hold the camera I’m going to drop it.  It’s got a language all its own and I don’t speak camera.  So I have to learn.

While I’m learning to speak this new language (ISO, aperture, focal length, metering, white balance, et al) I figure that I’ll end up learning to take better pictures.  So here we are.

I’m hoping to document my progress over the course of the year, and my goal is to publish a picture once a day.  And I *really* hope that each picture that I post will be better than the one I put up the day before.  

Fingers crossed.

Look at all this gobbledygook! I’m screwed.