"Auto" Setting No More

It all began innocently enough. I was minding my own business when out of the blue a good friend asked me to photograph her family so she could give copies to family/friends as Christmas gifts. She had seen photos I've taken, including some of her children and liked them.

That was all it took. I have been absent from my blog and a few other things (life) because I've been obsessed, as my husband would say.

Ahem.

He knows me well. :)

I freely admit it, I'm in love with my camera. :) It, and the rest of my kit, are my most prized possessions. I love taking photos and am known to carry my camera to many events, or places where I think I may get a few good shots. I've been very lucky. Over the years I have taken a number of shots that are pretty decent. I even have a few fans which I think is fun. :)

I say I've been lucky because until a few weeks ago my Sony DSLR never left the "auto" setting ... at least not on purpose. I had been more concerned with composition and such things. I decided that if I was going to take photos for my friend I had really better become more familiar with my camera's settings in order to do the best job possible on such short notice. ~Gulp!~ I was commissioned to turn out a usable product. So I set to studying up. It was a crash course, but I found out many great things about my camera. You see- I've had the camera for just over 2 years, however having never used a SLR or a DSLR before...I was a bit intimidated by anything other than "auto". No more. :)

The shoot went fine. It was a lot of fun! I am happy to say that as a result of the studying up I did I am certain I came away with many more usable shots than I would have otherwise. The edited photos are still in Lightroom, awaiting conversion from RAW to JPEG format. I might be tempted to share one if they were already converted, but they are not. And besides, my friend D should probably see them first. ;) I have been teaching myself Lightroom 3 as I edit these photos. It has been a steep curve, I tell you, to get here but it has been fun!

There is a minutiae of details that have surfaced during this project and while I'm not out of the woods just yet with this project, but I'm close!

I have discovered in this process that there is much I did not know, and still don't. One such concern is to produce printed photos that actually resemble the ones on my screen in both color and exposure. To achieve this I must first calibrate my screen to the process of the printing lab I have chosen...after researching. I just received the needed software to accomplish this yesterday and I look forward to getting it set up, however, I must wait until my husband's laptop is available for me to use, for it is the only computer we have that is capable of running Lightroom and Photoshop. ~Drat!~ Admittedly, this vexes me a tad as R does much work on the computer. But it is what it is. He's been very gracious so I shall not complain. :)

So this project I thought would be fairly simple has been anything but. But learning and stretching myself in a new area has been great fun.

I think I have some shots D and her family will really like and I'm anxious to have them printed already! But first to practice patience and eagerly await use of the laptop.

Dang it.