Nancy, Angel and Nicole all asked:

How do you take such great pictures? Seriously, is it because you have the eyes of an artist, practice, classes? All of the above. I have a digital camera and it just doesn’t do what I want it to do. ANd, I don’t have the instruction book that went w. it.

Angel added: I second Nancy’s questions……I love taking pictures, but I would love to be able to improve what I do.

Nicole added: I third Nancy and Angel. Tell us all your secrets. LOL Are there any books you would suggest to help us get started?

First, let me just start by saying thank you. I’m flattered, quite honestly, that you guys enjoy the view through my eyes. A couple of years ago I would never have dared called myself a photographer. Now, though, there’s little hesitation when I add it to my list of “things I do”. I’ll probably even add it to my business cards once I learn my camera and what I can really do with it!

What changed? Hm. My camera. I bought a cheap, refurbished Nikon Coolpix 4300 on the recommendation of my friend (and fellow awesome photographer who will. have. a website. soon. Clara). I used it primarily for macro shots, at least those were the shots I loved to take and loved to paint from. Photographs like this viola and this dwarf iris came from that camera. If you search the archives of my photography and digital keepsakes here on my blog – anything before March, 2005 was taken with that camera.

When Mark returned from Iraq, we had plans. We were taking our first vacation ever, and there was no way I was going to be able to fit all of the photographs I knew I was going to take on the memory card for that camera. The battery didn’t last long enough, it was just time to upgrade. I called the same place that I purchased my Nikon from, Broadway photo, and the guy and I chatted for a while about what I wanted to do. I told him I shoot macros, and I also wanted something that I could get a better optical zoom with, since the photographs I take at zoo’s are intended for painting reference. I needed something that was going to teach me how to be a pro, but not cost as much. He recommended the Panasonic Lumix FZ20, and I bought the semi-pro package that included miscellaneous lenses, I bought two long-life batteries, I bought what I knew I was going to need for a 2 week vacation in Florida. Wildlife, birds, Disney, family, I knew where I was going was beautiful and I wanted to capture it for keeps.

When it arrived, the first photograph I took made my jaw drop. Not just because the subject is handsome as hell, but the quality of the image was amazing. I was in love with my new camera, and I couldn’t put it down.

So, I wanted to learn what all the stuff meant. In all honestly, I still don’t know what it means. Shutter speeds still have me confused. I need to take a class on it, seriously.

How does it happen for me? It’s magical, talent, I don’t know. It just does. I look at everything differently, with an artists eye. I hear new bird calls in the backyard, my camera is around my neck and I’m outside in a matter of 15 seconds. I go to the grocery store, I grab my camera just in case that hawk is out hunting again. When I see something, I see it as a composition, something I want to paint, like fingerpainting. I want to get all sloppy in it and make the colors brighter and prettier and I want every single detail to be pronounced.

It doesn’t happen in just one click of the shutter, either. Let me give you an example. I took this Chickadee photograph the other day. In order to get this one photograph, this is how many photographs I weeded out, for just that one.

I was lucky on this one, but I’ve also been waiting for that Chickadee to sit still for a few weeks. Someone told me once that even Ansel Adams takes a hundred or more photographs to get just one great one. So when I have to put all of those Chickadee photographs in the recycle bin because every single one of them stink, I don’t give up. I go sit by the window and I wait, and I try again.

Out of 200+ shots, and sitting for hours in front of my front window, after washing fingerprints off the window a dozen times, crouching perfectly still out of view while my legs were cramping up, I got this shot:

 

So, it’s really hard for me to give instruction on how to take a good photograph. I can only make these recommendations:

• Buy a good camera
• Get extra batteries
• Get a big memory card
• Don’t give up, have patience, delete the bad shots and try again.

If you really want to learn the in’s and out’s of photography, register for a class that explains shutter speeds, when you need what kind of lighting, what kind of lens. These are things I haven’t even learned yet. I’m sortof an “on the job training” kind of girl, and I should really take a class. But me, being who I am, all I want is another great zoom lens, and I’ll give myself another year to play with it.

I know, I’m a lot of help, aren’t I?