32 Before 33: Learn Photography & Valentine's Day Recap (Sort of)

I've never been the type of girl that was overly excited about Valentine's Day. Even when I was younger I thought it was silly for girls to walk around school with all that crap. I mean, what do you do with a teddy bear that has "Valentine's Day 2002" sewn into the foot years after the fact?

Or even in 2003? Do you throw it away? Where does little teddy end up? So I was never a teddy bear or candy girl but I have always loved beautiful red roses. I also really love the inexpensive carnation daisy bouquets you can get at Walmart and the grocery store. They really make my one hundred year old military base housing kitchen look so much better.

Because my husband was sweet enough to buy me a camera for my birthday last week and roses this week for Valentine's Day I thought I'd put the two together. I was initially shooting in auto then I fumbled my way to a menu that allowed you to select some advanced auto options. For these photos I used the "bright photo" setting in my camera and I altered the setting just a tad. (I do realize that photographers will want to know all the numbers behind my pics - I'll start jotting them down to get some feedback from you all.)

I took these pictures in my somewhat dark but bright at the same time kitchen. For the background I used two white poster boards that were positioned in an "L" shape.

I also played around with another setting that allowed the camera to blur the background. The shot below ended up being one of my favorites.

The rest of these pictures have what I assume photogs refer to as noise? (Cause that was a question...) I can't remember what setting these were done on or what I may have done differently but they came out like they had been filtered.

Over the weekend I picked up a tripod. I'm still on the hunt for a wireless shutter. They have been sold out every where that I'm willing to drive to. I may have to break down and order it one on Amazon but I kinda want it right now so I'll try one or two more places before Amazon gets me for $35. 

My ultimate goal is to be shooting in manual mode so I'm trying to ease my way into that from the beginning. I actually took pics of the Valentine's Day dinner I made but I wasn't happy with how they turned out. I made garlic butter salmon, steak and salad. It looked delicious in real life but not in my pics. Any tips for me? 

32 Before 33: Learn Photography

Today was so busy. I chaperoned a field trip for Savannah's class. It was our first field trip. I think she had a blast. We both did.

After the field trip was over I came home to pump, eat lunch and take a break before school pick up. During my break I decided to research cameras. Something about having another baby made me feel like it was time to invest in a grown up camera. I also want to be able to create pretty pictures for this blog.

I took a photography class my senior year of high school. The only thing I remember from that class was struggling to develop film in the dark room. We did some pretty cool lessons in that class though. We once made a camera out of a box. I recall being impressed.

After going back and forth between Nikon and Canon I decided to go with Nikon. My budget for a camera was pretty modest. Like with anything else I wanted to get the most for my money so I decided to get a bundle that included the camera, a bag and two lenses. (As I'm writing this I realize that Best Buy didn't give me my free Shutterfly 8x8 book. They will see me tomorrow.)

At my price point I feel that this was a great choice for a beginner. 

The camera also came with access to the Nikon School and image editing software. I plan to get a tripod and a shutter remote soon. One of my goals for 2016 is to send out Christmas cards so I need to perfect the whole tripod, distance and remote use thing. 

It took me some time to get the courage to spend this much money on myself. I'm looking forward to learning a new hobby. Hopefully the images will get a lot prettier around here.

Have you invested in yourself lately? Know of any photography groups I should look into?