My Photography Learning Curve

This is a long post.  My apologies in advance :)

I have been really busy creating two more new designs over the last 48 hours, however I haven't posted them onto my blog or even Etsy yet.  The reason being is because for a while now I have not been happy at all with the way the photos of my designs turn out.

I don't know whether you have the same problem, but whenever I take a photo of my designs, the picture never seems to do any justice to them.

So, last night after completing my second design for this week, I decided that it was about time I stopped procrastinating & put one of my goals into action and that is to learn how to take better photos.  I was determined not to put any more of my designs on my blog or Etsy until I had a better understanding of my camera & also how to take a better photo.

So my search began.  I just recently joined & have become a great fan of Pin Interest.  Finally I can stop worrying about cluttering up my pc with sites / blogs that interest me, colours or creations etc that inspire me.  I can now find it all in one easy place on any of my 'boards' that I have created in Pin Interest :)

I highly suggest checking it out, it's sooo easy :)  If you want to follow me on Pin Interest, you will find the button on the top right hand side of my blog.

Anyway, I had Pinned a few sites to one of my boards which have more info on taking photos etc.  I was reading for hours & snapping my camera taking shots of my designs but of course, the light was too dim and I was getting tired lol.  

I also found out with reading my camera manual that it doesn't have a 'shutter speed' nor 'aperture' options for adjustment!  (If you don't know what I mean by that...its ok because I am thinking of adding info on my blog about all this stuff & how to take a better photo..if you're interested in that sort of information that is?)  In the end I went to bed feeling as though I hadn't achieved much but I had 'at least' done some reading about the subject lol.

This afternoon however, I decided that I was going to take the bull by the horns and grabbed one of my designs and started clicking my camera :)  I did take my design outside, thinking it would be better light than inside even though it was a horrid overcast day with the threat of rain lol.

I also took a pen and notepad with me so I could write down what adjustments I had done to the camera.  The last thing I wanted was to take all of the photos, with different settings and find the 'close to perfect shot' and not remember the camera settings I had it on lol.

I was backwards & forwards (about 6 times) going to my laptop to upload the photos to my pc & looking at the different shots I had taken.  With that, I worked out which photo was the best one, looked at my notes, adjusted my camera back to the setting that it was when I took the photo & then went back out changing a few things on the camera each time I took more shots.

It took a while but at least I got some photos that I believe are better than the ones I took just last week.  It was well worth the hassle lol and at least now I know what camera settings to try next time its a cold dreary day :)  

Here are my results:

Before

After...

Before...

After...

MASSIVE difference..don't you agree?

I mean, its not perfect & very far away from being the 'perfect shot' but considering my camera doesn't have what the 'professionals' have on their camera, I am pretty happy with it :)  Amazing how much better it looks now than it did before.  

I now realise BIG time with how much one can learn with just a little bit of self motivation lol.

Another thing is that it would have been alot more FUN if I had friends clicking their camera's with me and learning how to take a better photo at the same time as I was :)  I had no-one to share my excitement nor my accomplishment with that 'totally got it' and understood what it meant to me to get a better picture of something that has taken me hours to create and design lol.

Soooo...I have been thinking and wondering whether YOU have had or still do have the same problems as I do with not knowing much about photography?  Do you find it frustrating when you create a gorgeous design & then the photo you take doesn't do it any justice at all?

I am interested to find out just how many of you understand what I mean and if you feel the same way?

I mean, I'm not a professional photographer or anything but if there are enough people out there that feel the same way, then I am thinking of posting more about how to rectify photographic problems & make this a place where WE can all get together & learn from eachother etc.  A place with not having just information but also challenges too that will get US motivated to learn more about our camera and how to take a better photo.

What do you think?  Are you interested?

If so, please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts :)

Hugs