RTFM

Three days into my Project 365 challenge, and I am learning already. It hasn’t been much, but I am picking up the odd thing here and there. And the camera I am using is one that BDH bought and learned to use well over a year ago, so he has been giving me tips and teaching me a few things as I go along. That’s been nice because reading the manual? Not my best thing.

(Yes, I was a writer of manuals in the past. And I complained that users never RTFM — “read the f—ing manual”. Yes, I see the irony. Shut up.)

So I have been tinkering and trying things. Some successes, and some epic fails. But it has been fun.

Here’s what I have learned so far.

• Holy hell, I am slow. I am going to have to get faster at getting the shot. I see things with my eyes, only I never have the camera in hand or if I do, I am too slow moving into position to get the shot, and by then it is gone. So I have to work on that.

• The shot I tend to like best is usually one of the very first shots I take, or occasionally one of the last. I don’t know what that says about me.

• I am learning about how NOT to use the flash, using faster shutter speeds and adjusting the aperture. (I just had to ask BDH what that means. See? Still a lot to learn. However, we’ve ordered a book to help us.) But I am also learning that sometimes, this just makes for dull photos, or photos in which nearby artificial light sources become intrusive. And I am learning that sometimes? It’s good to use a flash. One of the big things I want to sort out is how to choose what to do when.

It has been a good experience so far. I like taking pictures, although so far they’ve all been things in my immediate sphere of daily life. I know that one day I am going to have to branch out and try taking pictures Out There In The World.

But Out There In The World will have to wait until I am more confident. And when I don’t have Stinkerbelle on the loose. And also when it’s not so frigging cold out there.

I don’t mind staying in and taking pictures of the things around me. It’ll be a bit boring after a while, perhaps. But at least it will be warm.

And it will give me time to RTFM — read the f—ing manual.