Obsess Much?

Ever since my photography class last week I've been absolutely obsessing about having the proper equipment for our trip to New Mexico in June. Our teacher was telling us all the different types of lenses we should have, when to use them, and everything else that is a must for an aspiring photographer. I went home and immediately bought a few things that I could afford right away including a travel tripod called the Tiffen Voyager and a filter set for my main lens which includes an (UV) Filter, Circular Polarizer, and 812 Warming Filter with a Pouch. I have a nice tripod that a friend gave me which I use for photographing my knitting but I needed one that is lightweight and that I could carry with me. Mike said that I'm going overboard which is probably true but if we can afford it why not.

She also told me that I must have a telephoto lens which I am now searching frantically for something I can justify buying. I don't want to spend much more than $200 after just buying 2 lenses not too long ago as I discussed here. This means that I will have to buy a used lens which doesn't worry me too terribly much since my teacher says she buys used all the time and most people treat their lenses like their babies. I've been stalking e-bay to try and find one in in the 75-300mm range which should be fine for me right now. I'm well aware that I will probably be replacing it in a year when I can afford to buy one for $500-600, which I'm finding to be the price range of decent lenses.

I just hate waiting for an e-bay auction to draw to a close. There are a few of them that I've been obsessively stalking. One has 2 days left and the other 7. If I don't win one of those I'm afraid I will have to lower my expectations and either buy one without Image Stabilization or a smaller range.

I don't exactly know where this photography bug is leading but I feel the need to follow the passion wherever it takes me. One of the biggest advantages of being childless is that we have the time and some disposable income to spend on our flights of fancy. The pictures above were taken with my favorite little lens the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 last week at St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery.

Catching Up

I'm very happy with how the Spring Celebration went. We had a total of 232 entries into the big giveaway which surpassed even my very hopeful goal of 200. I've contacted the first place winner already so be sure to check your in-box. It's kind of weird to not have the Giveaway to be promoting. I spent a lot of my free time the past month promoting it via forums, blog posts, visiting other giveaway sites, etc. Perhaps now I can get some knitting done!

It is nice to be able to blog freely for the first time in awhile too. I really enjoyed showcasing the participants in the Celebration and because they had all been so generous with donating prizes I wanted to give them the longest exposure possible on the blog. But this meant I couldn't post any of my random thoughts or pictures I've been taking with the still new camera.

I started my digital photography class 3 weeks ago at the Creve Coeur Community Center. They are through the Photo Resource Center and are taught by K M O'Donnell. I have already learned so much and we are just getting started. I'm also taking the intermediate class which goes through June so I have a lot more to be learned which is exciting. I also plan on taking the PhotoShop class in the Fall. I just bought PS Elements for around $50 on Amazon with a $20 rebate. I'm still debating whether buying the whole package will be worth for me as an amateur photographer or not. My teacher said as a student you can go to St. Louis Community College and get the whole deal for $250 which is a huge discount from $600 retail. I will probably wait for the class to decide if there is enough of a difference that I will miss having the whole package.

My favorite part of the class is when we do critiques. Everyone brings in their best 4 shots of the week. We talk about the composition and the teacher shows us how she would make them better in Photoshop. From watching her doctor mine in class I have taught myself a few things in GIMP that I didn't know you could do. GIMP is a free download that allows you to do a lot of the same things you can do in PS but with more steps and less frills.
I've shared my favorite shot from each week here. I posted more in flickr if you care to check them out. The top one is from the Scottish Festival on Main Street in St. Charles. There were some adorable girls dressed in costume chasing chickens around the reenactment area. This is a nice portrait I caught of the girl completely unposed. I put this one in black and white in GIMP and I blurred the background which was distracting since there was a dude in a kilt sitting with his legs spread out directly behind her.

The next one is from the Busch Wildlife area about 20 minutes from my house. I got some cute shots of Ani by the water but no wildlife at the reserve. There was an old cemetery right across the highway so I pulled in there as we left and low and behold I caught a stray goose. Ani scared him when she got out of the car but I managed to get some cool shots of him flying away so I had to thank her. This one was my favorite because I liked how you could see the horizon and the goose so clearly. It got lots of "oohs" and "aahs" in class last week. There was a white house showing directly below the goose which I found distracting. So I cloned the green of the trees and colored it in. I don't think I did a perfect job but no one has commented on it yet so I guess it worked.
The last one I just took this Saturday. It was a very rainy weekend and I was worried about what I was going to do about my pictures. I had planned to go to the farm but that fell through and it was so yucky that I decided not to got to the Earth Day festival either. So after a nice dinner out with Mike I drove myself down to the riverfront and caught not only a partial rainbow over the water but also a pretty nice sunset. My favorite rainbow shot was not as interesting as this one. I like the old bridge legs sticking out and the clouds look pretty interesting. I actually flipped it in GIMP which put the focal point on the right side which is my teacher's preferred composition. I don't really know if it matters but it was cool to play with to see how different it can look from the different perspective.

Thanks again to all who participated in the Spring Celebration!

Photo Fever

I am so itching to get out there and start taking pictures again. Being confined to my couch for 5 weeks so soon after getting my new DSLR Canon Rebel XSi was such terrible timing. I had to postpone the photography class I had booked for January/February and have barely taken it out of the case all year long. I had just bought the camera strap from Lucky Straps and it came a week before the fall so it's still waiting to be put to use.

Last night I discovered that I have never processed my check from the last craft show I did. I didn't get it until January and it has sat there all this time. That is actually a good thing because it probably would have been frittered away by now if Mike had deposited it when it came. I've decided to put it towards a new lens or glass as the pros call it for the camera. They say the quality of your lenses is more important than your camera in terms of picture quality.

Right now I have my kit lens and a few attachments I had from before, including a wide angle and a telephoto no name brand. I have over $400 to spend which sounds like a lot to anyone but camera geeks. Lenses can be so expensive and I've been torn about what to put my money towards as I want it to grow with me. I think I need to take the step up from my kit lens and get a good all around lens that will be appropriate for most situations. I don't see myself carrying tons of lenses with me everywhere and changing them out for each environment.

I've read really good things about Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens.
It is actually the kit lens on some of the professional cameras Canon makes and can be used on film as well as digital SLRs. The biggest complaint I read about it is that it's heavy. This concerns me enough to think about the Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens which is lightweight because it's made especially for the Rebel cameras. The reviews for this one are not as good and there are concerns with it's wide angle and low light capabilities. They both have a good zoom and Image Stabilization which means I won't have to carry a tripod around everywhere.

If I get the refurbished by Canon lens for either of the above I could also get the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II which is only $90 and is considered the best deal in a Canon lens out there. It is perfect for Portraiture and low light settings which should lesson the problem of the second lens from above. Adorama has refurbished lenses which have been inspected by Canon and have a full year warranty on them for around $100 less than the new lens. Most people have had fine experiences buying refurbished from Canon but there is a slight hesitation for me as I've never done it before.

I know there are some photography freaks out there who check in here. If you have any advice for this glass buying novice please share. I'm wanting to stick with the Canon brand as I trust their quality. I'm really hoping to get out there soon and figure out what my camera and I am capable of.

Because I'm Worth It!

I just ordered myself the DSLR camera that I told myself that I would get in a few years today. Why, because I'm worth it. Because I have been taking lots of pictures and want to have the best equipment I can. Because my primary hobby of knitting is completely self sufficient and the money I made at this craft show was basically money in the bank. Because we will have all debt besides Mike's car and the house paid off by early next year. Because we don't have kids and can afford to treat ourselves to toys that we want but don't necessarily need. Basically because I really wanted it.

I chose the Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. I seriously compared my options over the past few days. At first I thought about going with the entry level Rebel XS but I decided for just $100 more it just didn't make sense to not get the next one up. I couldn't really justify the T1 with my current skills as it is really a low end professional in my opinion. I think that the XSi will grow with me. It has live view which was important to me and all the bells and whistles I could ask for. I went to an electronics store last night and held them to make sure it felt right in my hands. The XS felt cheaper made to me while the XSi just felt right.

The Nikons were nice but the Canons had the nobs and buttons in the same place as my Powershot and felt more familiar to me. I'm definitely a creature of habit and didn't want to have to learn a whole new software package and system along with learning my new camera. The Rebels seem to have a very loyal and devoted following so I think I will be very happy with my purchase.

I will probably want to get a better lens before too long but the kit lens will get me started just fine. I'm going to ask for a Rebel case from Mom for Christmas with a filter and spare battery pack. I also bought the The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Companion in paperback which should help me get more comfortable. I should have it in 2 days since I signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. I'm looking into some photography classes for the new year that could help me improve my skills. I just had to share my exciting news since Mike has been completely uninterested in my endless comparisons of cameras.

Cameras for Everyone!

I really regret that I didn't start taking pictures until the last year. There are so many events of my past that I really wish I could go back and photograph now. I'm hoping to keep that regret from happening to my nieces and nephews.


I let the girls take my cheap camera and explore the yard while they were here this week. They call my back yard a jungle with all of the overgrown trees and bushes. The picture quality isn't great but I like the above shot I got of the two of them. Jessica's shots were all of inside something else. She kept saying I wonder what it looks like inside this bush or behind this fence, etc. This was my favorite of her shots.

Kate is like my little clone and she too was obsessed with getting up close and personal. I turned the camera on macro and let her go at it. I particularly like this shot of one of my Buddha statues eyes.

So I've decided that they should all get a camera to record their lives. I've already talked about the nice camera we got Kai for his birthday this year. Well I found some pretty good deals on cameras on Amazon this week for kids that I thought I would share.

First the most expensive, (Olympus FE-46 with 12MP Digital Camera Pink Crayola Kit with 5x Optical Zoom and 2.7 inch LCD and Silver Case, 64 pack of Crayons and Storage Box) which is going to go to Ani now. I got it on Monday on a deep discount of $89 with the intention that Jess and Kate could share it. The more I thought about it I realized those two sharing anything right now is a really bad idea so I went back and got each of them an Argus Bean 5MP Dg Cam, one in Pink and one in blue. They appear very rugged and easy to use but are not specifically for kids which I thought would be better for them than a "kid camera". The Olympus is more camera than I would have originally gotten Ani but because she is here I can help her with it unlike the girls all the way in Texas.

I just picked out a great kid camera for my 4 year old nephew, the Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera. I looked at all the kid cameras and this is really the only one that got consistently good reviews.

I can't wait to see the pictures they take. I think it will be a good way for the girls and I to stay in touch better. They can e-mail me their pictures and share their adventures that way. Hopefully at least a few of them will show some inclination towards photography but if nothing else they can have some pictures to remember this time in their lives.

Too much camera to handle

When we got our pointless stimulus check earlier in the year, looks like it did a bang up job stimulating this economy, I went out and bought myself a new camera. I had an old Canon Powershot that I sometimes had to bang on the table to get it to work, so it was definitely time. I went a little crazy and ended up with way more camera than I think I need or can handle at this point.

I bought a Canon PowerShot A650IS with 12.1MP and 6x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom. Being the sucker for a deal that I am I was also talked into buying 2 different lenses that can be attached. I have tentatively used it on a number of occasions and even got out the book to try to figure out how to use all the different settings. I have been essentially using it as a point and shoot when there is so much more I could be doing.

This weekend I plan on getting as many pictures taken of my inventory as possible so I can start listing new items on Etsy again. I know I should be excited to work with such a cool instrument but I feel nervous for some reason. I know there is no right or wrong way to take my pictures, as long as I'm happy with how they come out, but a part of me wants to use the old one with all of its quirks and limitations. Hopefully I will get into it and have fun playing with all the new bells and whistles. I just wish there was someone to show me what the best setting to use for each shot would be. I'm such a novice I really don't know what all the terms and settings mean. Unfortunately there is not a scarf shot setting on it to tell me know what to do.