March 11: Meeting of the Mariposa Photo Club.
During the February Photo Share presentation, two of the photographs I took last month of Historic Mariposa County were shown alongside photographs from several professionals. I felt excited, but quite inferior. My images looked okay when viewed on a computer monitor, but they did not transfer well to the big screen: the cropping was wrong and the images themselves weren’t as sharp as I hoped they’d be.
After the meeting I spoke with club member Rose (not her real name), a professional photographer. During our conversation I think she realized how inexperienced I am.
She taught me a little about my point-and-click camera. “It’s shoot, point-and-shoot,” she corrected me. “Oh!” I replied, a little embarrassed. “There’s a setting–a flower icon–that I think means use when photographing flowers,” I said excitedly since April’s photo assignment is wildflowers. “I use my flower setting a lot while hiking,” I mentioned.
Rose cringed and taught me that the flower icon is a universal symbol meaning the camera is in macro mode. It is used for photographing subjects with magnified results—such as close ups of flowers.
Rose talked quickly about other things. I tried to take notes: optical zoom versus digital zoom, megapixels, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and Canon versus Nikon. My head was swimming and I felt overwhelmed.
Not to mention during the meeting I volunteered to be the club’s webmaster. Something else to learn! Here’s a link to the website.
I will be happy if I can learn one thing per month about photography or my camera.
If I can take two good photographs per month I will be really happy.
You’ve been viewing some of the wildflowers I’ve photographed using the flower setting the macro mode on my point-and–click shoot camera. They’re still not as sharp as I’d like, so maybe it’s time for a camera upgrade.
Very nice photos, Janet! The colors are beautiful!! I don’t think I’d be too far off by saying professional photographers like to shoot their pictures in the “RAW” format to get those crisp photos and “process” them using software like Adobe Lightroom. Anyway, I’ll check out your website! Excited for you and your new adventures!!
LikeLike
Thanks, Anna. I think you’re right about Photoshop. I was told by one of the club members that Photoshop was more important to have than a good camera. I have a lot to learn still.
LikeLike
Your pictures are great. Still had trouble finding this comment box, though. I had to open an existing comment first.
LikeLike
The photos look great to me. Glad you’re enjoying yourself.
LikeLike