The buying process was agonizing as I wanted to make the perfect choice especially since I was using my own money and it would cost at least $500. I bothered Ivan, a fellow UIS member a lot about which camera I should get, whether I should buy used or new, Nikon or Cannon, and a whole lot of other questions. He was even nice enough to take some time out of his sleepless day to take a look at the used D80 I decided to buy off craigslist. I managed to score the D80 for $425 but that was just a body and that same day I ordered a 18-55mm lens for $130 which according to Ivan is cheap.
While waiting for my lens to arrive, I borrowed my RA's lenses who apparently had been taking a photography class for the whole quarter. He also gave me a quick lesson in optics and showed me what all the numbers and letters mean on my camera. Armed with that little knowledge, I began shooting everything that was in my room. This of course meant that most of my pictures were of my roommate Kevin, much to his annoyance.
When I went back home, my dad gave me his old lenses from back in the 70's and wow are they amazing. The two lenses I got from my dad put the lens that I bought to shame, but the only downside is that everything on the lenses are manual. In addition, my camera cannot communicate with the lens and therefore I cannot meter, meaning I have to guess whether or not the shot I am taking is over or underexposed. Also while playing with manual focus, I realized that I really suck at it.
Now wherever I go, my D80 is on my shoulder or in my hands ready to take that perfect shot. Initially I shot most inanimate objects, but that got boring pretty fast. Being an anthropologist, I wanted to take pictures of people! Except, I was always too embarrassed and awkwarded out to point my camera at strangers out of fear that they would notice and give me weird looks. Little by little, day by day, I worked myself over this fear and today I sat myself down in front of the social sciences building and just took pictures of people walking by.
At the end of the day, I upload all of the photos from my camera onto my laptop and comb through them. I keep the ones that I like and archive them in dated folders so I can see the progress I am making.
Here are some pictures:
You can see the progression I am making.
Theres my practice for all the photos I am going to be shooting in Shanghai.
-muffinman
3 COMMENTS:
Are you sticking on manual only? sometimes, you're on the go and don't have time to focus and all that jazz,, did you get your dad's lens?
I am on my dad's lens thats why I am in full manual.
- muffinman
heheeh creeper shots!
Post a Comment