Learning to Shoot

I know how to take pictures in that I have a good eye for shots. Up until now, I’ve used a standard point-and-shoot digital camera with decent, but limited, results. What I don’t know (yet!) is how to fully control the taking of those shots when you can change as much or as little of the settings on your camera as you want. So I’ve been trying to read up on some tips, tutorials and other helpful how-to articles.

And, while this is nothing fancy, this is one of the things that’s so exciting about having a DSLR. I could never capture intentional motion blur before on my point and shoot. For example, you can’t get a waterfall flowing, you can only get it frozen. So when we were at Disney last Saturday for my birthday, I took two pics of the same fountain at Epcot to show the difference.

Here’s what the fountain would look like if you took it on a point-and-shoot. You “freeze” the water. Which is fine but it’s all you can do:

Whereas, this is what it looks like when you can tinker with f/stop and get a longer exposure:

Neat, right? (I think so!)

Of course, being able to “freeze” action can be cool too. And being able to adjust your camera for REALLY quick shots can lead to catching the drops of water as they fall in the sink. (I was experimenting in my kitchen sink the other day.) Something neat like this:

I’m still learning but I’m having a lot of fun doing it! 😀