Beginnings

Back in November, my boyfriend J fulfilled my deep-seated desire for a "real" camera by buying me this bad boy: the Sony a57. I had images of myself spending the next few weeks taking pictures of my cat, Ender, with slight differences in the settings each time, until I had learned everything there was to know about my camera.

But then I got it, took a look at the handbook, and realized that was the stupidest idea I ever had. (Plus, while he his frighteningly adorable, I don't need thousands of pictures of Ender with slight variations in color, light, and focus). 

Now, almost four months in, I feel fairly comfortable with my new friend. Comfortable enough that I'm ready to start openly critiquing my own "work" and figuring out why some of my photos look amazing (to me) and why some look like dog poop. Yes, yes I may have gotten the idea from several photo books and J's dad to keep track of my settings and my favorite photos, but the idea of doing it in blog form is ALL ME. 

So here goes. 

Top five photos from the early days of my camera adventures:

f/4.5, 1/60th,  ISO 800, 25mm
My beautiful tiger lady Valentine. Yes, I have two cats. I think what I love most is the expression on her face, which I really can't take credit for at all. What I can take credit for is putting it in an area of the screen that makes you drawn to her head immediately. Unintentionally, I did the "right thing" by not looking down on her with the camera but being more interesting and looking up at her. Blame my laziness and desire to be lying in bed while taking pictures. With a different lens, I could've blurred the background better. And it might look better without one of her ears being cut out. 

f/5, 1/1000th, ISO 100, 18mm
J and my little brother, looking at colleges. For a candid shot, I was really pleased with the results. I was mostly drawn to the shadows. It still sounds douchey in my head when I say things like that.

f/4, 1/60th, ISO 1250, 22mm
Christmas Eve, 2012, with my little sisters. I only had to pose them a little for this, and had minimal cropping to do. I did this picture with mostly automatic exposure settings so I can't take a ton of credit ... but then again, I pressed the shutter button so I will :)

f/4.5, 1/125th, ISO 1600, 20mm
I probably didn't need the ISO that high, it may have been an accident. I do love the light playing on Francesca's leg. 

f/22, 1/2500th, ISO 400, -3 step Exposure bias,  18mm
I had a little bit of a love affair with this gazebo. I had just read about the +/- exposure setting on my camera, so I decided to try underexposing it for just this affect. Look, it worked! I think if I knew more about photoshopping (one of my next learning experiences), I would remove the sun in this picture. I think it's a little distracting.