For me the act of taking photos is very rewarding. The camera is a tool of the wallflower and I do consider myself in pro league wallflower. When i bought my D60 I knew very little about photography. I put it on manual and used the light meter and thought I was doing something important. For people that have never used an SLR this is impressive because you can take multiple photos of the same things, but different shades. You can’t do this with a $98 point and shoot.

I like to think that I have a natural eye. After time my eye became more sophisticated than my camera. I normally envision a photo in my mind and the look down at my camera and realize that I have no idea how to make that photo happen.

Jen, my very intelligent friend who must speak quickly because there is so much to say, thought me about shutter speeds one night in her kitchen. This 1 hour lesson, given while she was baking, has been the most valuable photo lesson I have received. Since this night I have not used my light meter once. It was also perfect timing because I was beginning to become annoyed with the rate at which I was learning about my tool. This is not an ailment I need to worry about any longer……

BECAUSE….
I figured it out. I understand f-stops. Not completely, obviously. Does anyone? But I understand that the larger the number the more you can see in the photo. That’s all I needed. The bigger the number the bigger the depth of field, more you can see. The smaller the number the smaller the depth, the less you can see.

I promptly went outside and took a photo for each stop in my camera. The following are the biggest jumps.

F-5
F-5

F-13
F-13

F-22
F-22

F-36
F-36

Next – understanding the relationship between aperture and shutter speed. Getting past Photo 101.