point and shoot: a beginner's entry

to preface this sub-blog, i am a beginning photographer who spent way too much time on photo shop while not actually trying to enhance pictures and then realized that a good camera is a lot of fun to play with. using my first d-slr, i will be going through my experiences and favorite pictures with the ART STAR family. the camera being used unless otherwise stated is a Sony alpha-200 with either a 18-70mm lens or a 75-300mm lens (if you really care... harumphh you will probably be a bit too snobby for my pictures anyways).

appropriately, the first picture is my actual first picture with my camera and i think it shows one of the finer things in my life, good ol' cj. a sweet dog with a bit of a crazy side. do you see it in his eyes? so here, i'm obviously oblivious to what is actually in the viewfinder (i.e. my knee/ toe and my mom sneaking around in the back) but it reminds me of a joke. so cj walks into a bar and the bartender looks at him and says, "why the long face?" true story. but as you will see throughout these posts dogs are incredible things to practice your photography with; unlike humans they never get tired of flashes or the attention from getting their picture taken. just behind dogs, little kids at camp are pretty fun and rarely get flustered by too many pictures (that sounds creepy, but it comes with the territory at camps).

lesson 2: apparently in pitch black, you can pick up cool pictures with long exposures. again, people out there are snickering, but this was pretty sweet to mr. photonoobie. this was taken from a porch at 11:30pm with a quarter moon and clear skies. a good ol' childhood story behind our lovely steam plant, i was convinced that it was actually a fairy castle and some sweet characters like peter pan chilled there on their weeks off from being at their disney world estate. a kid can dream right? i really enjoyed the light on the water and the nearer trees on the right obstructing the view.

lesson 3: filters= cool. i've got some blue pictures that just look creepy but there's nothing like a statue girl with a broken bonnet to photograph during a sunset. my dad later fixed the bonnet after he realized that it had been broken for almost six months.

ladies and gentlemen, that would be 3 of my first 500 or so pictures that i felt like sharing. next week i feel some forests, kids, and possibly some more dog pictures in the forecast. until then keep clickin'.