cc licensed flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
I did this previously (see www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/831736263/ and www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/831736873/in/photostream/) by setting up my little Canon IXY and this new Canon EOS T1i face to face and in timer shutter mode.
Cameras at 10 micropaces!
So if you feel like you know something pretty well, what is there in restarting?
I’ve been happy for 2 years doing most of my flickr photography with my little pocket Canon cameras:
cc licensed flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
I’d not touched my digital SLR (a first generation Digital Rebel) in a long time, although a few months ago I did spring for a f1.4 50mm lens.
But it was a pre-conference photography workshop at last week’s NMC Conference that hinted it was time to go back, relearn, We spent about 7 hours with Bill Frakes and Don Henderson making photos at Point Lobos. It was not really a “class” with lots of “lessons”. We walked, talked, asked questions, watched, mimic-ed, traded lenses. It was about as informal as one could get.
It was the clarity of the people shots with the DSLR that got my attention, and then seeing the magic that others had done pushing depth of field and manual exposures that sparked my interest again.
I decide it was one of those points to shuck what I knew how to do and reset. So in about 15 minutes of decision, before leaving the conference hotel, I ordered this new Canon T1i from Amazon (I rely on the user feedback a lot). If it were not for that new lens I got a few months back, I might have gone Nikon (D90 likely), but in the end, the technical differences matter little to me, but this new one is a whole new camera of function, way beyond the old Rebel. Besides the range of exposures, speed, sensor size, a giant screen, pushing ISO, the HD video mode– wow, I have a lot to learn and relearn.
And not only that, the second day of the workshop, Don led us on a quick run through Aperture. I had the software from last year, but never got over that first barrier of overwhelm at a new interface (I was pretty versatile and comfortable editing in iPhoto/PhotoShop). But those 3 hours of hands on got me over the bump, and here I am tossing off my known and familiar knowledge, and going back to 1st grade.
Learning is unlearning and relearning. Its not comfortable to go back to a novice state, but with experience, one does not linger there long.
I bet you’re going to have a blast with the new Canon, and with Aperture.
One thing that keeps me shooting with my (old, obsolete, abused) DSLR is the image quality – look at a photo taken with a point-and-shoot, at full size. There are all kinds of nasty artifacts and blurring in the image, largely due to the JPEG format they save in. So much data is lost, and so much detail is chucked out.
I keep meaning to learn proper lighting techniques, but am scared of the money pit that will lead to…
@D’Arcy Norman: Yeah, I’ve been really most interested in just taking interesting photos, working this last year on composition, framing, and angles and not fretting over super quality (if it looks good on flickr…), but your photos definitely have that nice edge.
I’ve been hoping to push that 1,4 and the ISO for some night photos but it is pitch black here! Not much to snap.
mine certainly don’t have any edge 😉
the 1.4 should play nicely with warm lighting – candles, campfires, fireplaces, etc… surely you have some of that around there…