I graduated from full auto to adjusting the settings all on my own. I make a lot of wrong choices, but it's all part of the learning process. I'm constantly spinning dials and turning knobs, and am always aware of my surroundings. Is it cloudy? Sunny? Indoors? In the shadows? It all makes a difference, and I'm still learning the very best settings for each type of lighting. More buttons and settings. More spinning and turning of dials and knobs. More room for more mistakes...
And then there are lenses. I upgraded my lens to one that does better in low lighting, and the trade-off was that it's a fixed 50mm zoom. This is okay 99.9999% of the time since neither Micah nor puppies allow me all up in their grill for a close-up, and the teens/tween don't have to put up with me in their mug either. I can stand back and still get the shots I want. But it's that teensy percentage of the time that my zoom is a little too up close and personal, and that's when I regret the fact that I can't adjust the lens.
In order to get this picture, I had to open a door and step outside.
And still, I could have been further away since Woody didn't even get the top half of his head in the frame.
And this photo was a fun one as the photo pass lady had to lean backwards across a bush to get us all in.
If I was asked once, I was asked a dozen times, "how do you adjust the zoom on this camera?" Sadly, my answer was always the same. "You can't. You just have to keep backing up." I know that the next big event our family takes part in, I'll own a lens that isn't fixed to zoom in so far. Backing up a country mile isn't always easy. Especially at Disney, where there are four and a half dozen people walking between you and your photographical interest because there's that much space to do it.
But I realized something else about my photography last week. Not only do I need a new lens, and need to improve my knowledge of my camera, but I also need to learn how to use a basic point and shoot. You have no idea how embarrassing it is to be carrying around a fancy schmancy big camera, then be handed a point and shoot and not be able to use it.
Oh, the shame.
I know the lovely Indian couple is still laughing about the idiot they handed their camera to to get a picture of them in front of the castle. I tried three - count them, THREE - times to find a hole to look through before I realized there's no viewfinder, but an entire screen on the back of the camera to see what your subject is doing.
Yes, I did.
And after asking if they wanted the entire castle in the photo or not (they did), I proceeded to back halfway across the park to get it all in. By the time I figured out how to use the viewing screen, I realized that I needed to hike back toward the patient couple who were pretty sure I was trying to run off with their camera at one point. Theirs didn't have a fixed 50mm lens. I proved that I was the biggest imbecile in all of Disney.
The worst part is that this happened twice. TWO TIMES I proved that I am very incompetent with cameras. After that, I'm pretty sure word got around the parks that one should never hand me their camera. Instead, just ask a 2 year old. They could probably do better at taking a simple picture than I do.
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