Point...and shoot!

On Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a photography workshop (her first ever) put on by Elise Marie Photography (if you remember the photos I've had taken of the family, as well as Dalton's senior pics) and I learned a lot about taking pictures and why a digital SLR camera is truly the bomb! I of course have had this one on my 'wish' list for some time now ;0)...some day!

You know, taking photos really is an art! It became extremely evident that you either have a 'creative bone' or you don't. This one 'might' be able to be learned/cultivated, but the ones who have this flowing through their veins naturally...Elise...don't just "TAKE" pictures, they create stories through visual effects! Elise's eye for the UN-obvious is amazing. Though taking pictures as a business is not my goal...I would LOVE to be able to photograph as good as she does. We also learned that taking good photographs is a big part of the process, but editing the photos is equally as important. A lot of the 'magic' you see happens once the image is in the computer and manipulated with photo editing programs. With a 'high-quality' camera, comes less editing too.

So, I took along with me 2 cameras. My 'old' little itty-bitty digital point and shoot and Brian's old school 35mm 'film' camera that he bought 25+ years ago in high school. I realized at this class that my 'old' little itty-bitty digital point and shoot (can you tell how un-fond of this camera I am) actually had the capacity to do more than I used it for. Okay, lets not get ahead of ourselves...it doesn't do laundry, dishes or diapers! BUT...it can, believe it or not, take some pretty darn good pictures (well, at least I think so) by changing some of the options to take the photos more manually instead of just putting it on its usual "auto" setting an thus, pointing and shooting.

Though I don't have the 'film' developed yet from the old school one, here are a few pics with my point and shoot.

The first half of the day was 'classroom instruction' and the second part was 2 different photo shoot opportunities that Elise set up for us.

Because of the number of students I situated myself on the right side of these young girls and the result...I got the truck trailer in the background of the photo - oh well, I was just experimenting with my camera at this point.

I took the opportunity to take this shot of K, the older cousin, adjusting her younger cousins hair

These were just a few of the 'props' that Elise brought along to use - I just loved how they looked by themselves.

Yet another shot of T adjusting the hat for our young model. Wishing the 'toxic' triangle on the building behind wasn't there - yet, a simple photoshop action and it could be gone.

Realizing now that I should have been a lot closer to my subjects to get a better shot/angle.

Once I figured out that I could manually adjust some of the settings (ISO, aperature, shutter speed, exposure, etc) on my camera (or rather once I realized what those settings actually did)...I did a little experimenting on my own while Brian and I took Princess for a walk yesterday. Poor hubby, thought we were going for a nice stroll through the woods ~ didn't realize he and Abigail were my subjects.

And for all of my fabulous friends who already have their wonderful SLR cameras taking amazing photos...bear with me...I'm a work in progress!