Photography Skills

A few months ago I let you all in on a secret - I took an online photography class to learn more about my digital camera. Check out the original post here.

I have been an avid amateur photographer since I was a kid back in the dark ages - when little instamatic cameras and Polaroids were all the rage. In college I took a photography class and splurged on a Canon AE 1 and really learned how to shoot great pictures. I used that camera for years taking pictures of my babies, who turned into toddlers, and all the way up until about the time they graduated from high school.

AHHHH those were the days of rolls (and rolls) of film piled up in a drawer just waiting for someone to send them away to be developed. Then enter the digital age, when I received a little Sony digital camera as a gift to use to take pictures of my grandkids. That made me happy for a few years because it took great pictures without having to do much more than push the little button. SNAP, CLICK and DONE.

I wasn't satisfied tho and I bought a better camera to take on a mission trip to Alaska. I mean I NEEDED a better camera for there right? I had always loved my Canon AE 1 so I decided to get another Canon and went with a DSLR (HMMMM can't remember which one right now). No more little tiny digital for me. Oh no I looked sharp with my big camera and it did take good pictures. GOOD not great. But why was that?

HMMMM could it be that I was stuck on Auto mode on my camera? I gave up trying to figure out all the settings a nice Canon offered when my kids were little and I thought it was much easier to just leave it on Auto and continue the SNAP, CLICK and DONE way of shooting pics that I was used to. But now, ALL these years later I decided to relearn what I knew back in the 80's. How to think about the settings on my camera and change them up to get the BEST pictures possible.

Since my original post, I did go out and get myself the Canon 3ti and I LOVE it. I rarely put it on auto, and intead use the M (manual) setting most of the time. I have taken some GREAT shots and then some NOT SO GREAT shots. But that is where my newest obsession comes in. Photoshop. I LOVE IT. When I don't quite get the settings right on my camera, I upload them to Photoshop and do a little creative editing.

Is Photoshop cheating? Doctoring up the original shot to fake it being a GREAT right out of the camera shot?  I don't think so, but then I was really lousy at figuring it out and wasn't doing much changing anyway. So I once again turned to the guys at ShootFlyShoot for some help. They have a great Photoshop Elements 10 class that starts with the very basic functions and takes you through some pretty amazing tutorials on creating wonderful photos. I am having such fun turning my so-so pictures into something I am proud to share with others. The classes are quick and easy to understand and if a 'not so tech savvy' gal like me can do it so can you.

I will be sharing some of my before and afters on here soon, but in the meantime, if you want to know more about how to shoot great pictures or how to clean them up a little, just click on the button to the right to find out more. I think you will be amazed at what you can learn in just a few short lessons.

If you pop on over and take the ShootFlyShoot classes, let me know what you think.

Until next time....keep on creating.