got myself a tutor

Last Christmas Joe surprised me with a Canon Rebel xi. I had been drooling over the digital SLR cameras for months and months and months but never imagined he would get me one. And while the pictures I've taken since I received it are better than what I was getting out of my digital point and shoot, I knew I wasn't using the camera to it's fullest. Heck, I kept it on full automatic mode and was completely clueless as to what any of the other pictograms and letters on the dial meant. Any time I tried to use one of the other options the pictures were blurry or dark or just not what I was hoping, which wasn't much considering I had no idea what I was doing. I stumbled onto iHeartFaces blog through Andrea's blog. They are doing a tutorial for digital SLR cameras and I decided to follow along and give it a try. It may take some of the dauntingness (word?) away and I could end up with some better photos. I've only just begun playing around with the camera and these are some of the photos I got when I put it in the Av mode. It was tricky not to have everything all blurry but I practiced on still life and then got a couple of Kate when she was relatively still. I'm really pleased with the results. I know I won't be winning any prizes or having my own show or anything but still...not bad. So if you have a digital SLR and are stuck in auto mode, give these tutorials a try. You may be the next Ansel Adams once you figure out your camera...you never know. I am going to continue following the tutorial and practicing and look forward to demystifying my camera further still. Stay tuned for more of my new and improved (hopefully) pictures as I learn more.

The last two I turned off the flash and also adjusted the iso and aperture. Don't I already sound like I know what I'm talking about. I'm such a smug little know it all. (I won't even tell you that I only have the slimmest understanding of what that all means ;)