#8. New York, New York! And Cupcakes!!

Oh, happy day!

I got my camera on Saturday evening. It came with:

- XSi Body and the body lens cap

- Kit EF-S 18-55mm IS lens (No caps)

- EF 75-300mm (Rear & Front cap)

- Lowepro Camera Bag (No strap...)

- Silly "stylish" camera strap (now being used as the bag strap)

- Canon camera strap

While in NYC, I visited B & H, which is a GIGANTIC camera store. The people there were very helpful and I spent an hour there. They also had a used and refurbished section on the 2nd floor!

I bought:

- 1 Vivitar 58mm lens cap ($4.95. Love it. Works marvelously)

- 1 Cap keeper so I don't loose the lens cap. ($1.79. The glue was crap and it kept falling off the cap, but once I crazy glue it, it'll work nicely)

- 1 lens cleaning kit. Came with lens cloth, cleaning fluid, and air brush ($1.39. I really just wanted the cloth and brush. I was told not to use the fluid unless I absolutely had to.)

I got to take some photos in NYC and just played around with the XSi settings. I love this camera more than the XTi. It's quieter, the screen is larger, and it's faster. (IMHO)

Here are some photos from the CRUMBS cupcake shop on Broadway and 52nd St.

Cupcakes on display in the store. Take this and multiply it by 2. There were SO many! I didn't know which to pick.
ISO 200 ~ 20mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 1/25s

This is the Blackout cupcake. Chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache, and drizzled with chocolate.
ISO 1600 ~ 28mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 1/40s

Baba Booey cupcakes (named after Howard Stern's radio show producer.) "Chocolate cake filled with peanut butter cream cheese. Covered with 1/2 chocolate cream cheese and 1/2 peanut butter cream cheese (frosted like a B&W cookie). Surrounded by mini peanut butter chips.
ISO 1600 ~ 28mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 1/40s

This cupcake was DE-LI-CIOUS! All the flavors just worked together with the moist chocolate cupcake.
ISO 1600 ~ 28mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 1.25s

I'll post more non-cupcake photos from NYC tomorrow.

CT

#7. Christmas has been delayed

I just found out that my camera will not arrive until Friday (instead of Thursday). Boo.

In the mean time, I've been reading a ton of articles from the free Nikon DSLR app, and the DSLR for Dummies app on my iPhone. All the articles are pretty darn informative, although I will probably have to read through them and physically try them out before committing the information to memory.

All the shots in the previous posts were taken on the XTi in Manual mode. I never bothered to use the non "Creative" modes because I wanted more control. However, I think I'm going to try out each one of those modes when I get my XSi, just to see what I can achieve in Manual vs what the camera thinks is best.

Fridayfridayfridayfriday!
CT

#6. Accessories for my DSLR

There are a few things I would like to get for my XSi

Battery Grip, Remote, & Batteries Bundle ($79.95) - No harm in having extra batteries around. Plus, having a remote and battery grip will come in handy! The only con I saw in reviews is that it might short circuit, but there is a fix for that.

Delkin Snug It Skin ($29.99) - I am a klutz and will probably drop my camera... This might not protect the camera from shattering, but it will soften the impact (I hope)

UV lens kit ($25.95) - I plan to use the UV filter to protect my lenses. I will definitely use the CPL filter often. Here's an informative post about different filters and their purpose.

50mm f/1.8 ($99.95) on Amazon - Great for low light and portraits. I plan to shoot a lot of portraits, and I always find myself in low light situations. Research says that it's a must have. I don't need the f/1.4 or 1.2, so I'll stick to the 1.8 for now.
($80.00) on eBay

I'm not getting paid to advertise any of this. This is what I've been researching for the past few days, and these are the things I found.

Getting my camera in 2 days!

O & D!
CT

#5. T minus 3 days til my XSi arrives

I bought my Canon XSi on eBay 2 days ago, and it will be arriving on Thursday! I feel like a 5 year old on Christmas Eve. Is it Thursday yet?

Here's a shot I took on the way to the airport using my cousin's XTi. I really like it, but I don't know why. I tried to make the red stand out more, but Lightroom and I aren't on speaking terms at the moment.
My one fear of editing photos is not knowing when to stop. Right now I'm just playing around until I think the image looks good.

ISO 1600 ~ 55mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/4000s

O & D!

CT

#4. Nature - 1, Me - 0.

I decided to try shooting the stars again tonight. I prepped my telephoto lens, mounted my camera on the tripod, and went outside thinking "ISO 100, 30s shutter, this'll be decent!". I set my tripod down smack dab in the middle of my backyard, aimed it at the sky, and set up my shot. Not 2 seconds later, I feel something pricking my foot, and then another, and another. I clicked the shutter and ran like hell to the concrete patio and proceeded to slap the shniz out of my foot and calves to get whatever was biting me off.

I had stepped in an ant hill. Go me. Worst photoshoot ever.

Well, anyway, here's the crappy photo I got out of it. I brightened it up a little in Lightroom. There were a lot more stars in the shot than I could see with my naked eye! I'm going to try this again sometime, hopefully where there are no anthills...

ISO 100 ~ 80mm ~ f/4.0 ~ 30s

Yes. 80mm. I wasn't even able to zoom in before the little buggers attacked.

Tip of the day:
- Try not to stand on an ant hill while shooting ever.

O & D!
CT

#3. Fstop? ISO? Shutter what?

I decided to do a photo shoot this morning of Pip, the Sippersaurus. It was an indoor shoot with natural light from the windows. A lot of the terminology I'm using might be wrong. Like I said, this is all through the eyes of a n00b.

Things (I think) I learned:

- Slower shutter speed = more light, but you'll probably need a tripod so it won't shake.

- Lower F.Stop = Less depth of field, aka less in focus. When I raised the f.stop, I slowed down the shutter speed and/or raised the ISO to compensate for the light.

- Lower ISO = Less light and less noise (fuzz/pixelation)

When I shot indoors, I kept my ISO at 100 and f.stop at 5.6. I would change the shutter speed when I moved locations because the light was different. It was all trial and error. I shot it all in RAW just because I'd never done it before. Yep.

Meet Pip, the little Sippersaurus! ISO 100 ~ 55mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/15s

Today's Links:

• Great shutter speed and f.stop (aperture) online simulator.
• Helpful page for DSLR terminology.

O & D!

CT

#2. Step 1: Finding a DSLR. Step 3: Profit! (Or not...)

As a newb, I'm looking for entry level cameras, not the latest and greatest. So far, I've researched the Sony A100 and the Canon XTi. If you're looking for in-depth reviews, DP Review goes beyond in depth. I've gotten a ton of information from their site.

Instead of just buying a camera on eBay or Amazon based on reviews, I wanted to actually hold one and test it out. I got my hands on my cousin's Canon XTi today and took lots of shots around the house with the 18-55mm and the 75-300mm.
As I stumbled across the house with the camera in tow, I realized I knew as much about the Manual setting on the DSLR as Palin knows about politics. Aka, nothing. I played around with the ISO, shutter speed, and f stops until I got something decent. 50 shots later...

ISO 800 ~ 38mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/30s

Nothing professional or amazing. Just another newb with a DSLR.

Later that evening, I went to take a look at a Sony Alpha 100. It had good reviews on Amazon and DP review, but the camera just did not feel right in my hands. I made up my mind that I will be purchasing either the Canon XTi or XSi.

Tonight, I found an old sturdy tripod, and took the XTi & 75-300mm outdoors to shoot some stars. Well, living in suburbia, I found that big neighborhoods with little boxes made of ticky tacky love their street lamps and theft prevention flood lamps. I decided to shoot the moon and the fountain instead. Following the DPfD (Digital Photography for Dummies) "Settings Finder", I got some pretty cool results.

ISO 100 ~ 300mm ~ f/11 ~ 1/125s

ISO 200 ~ 125mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 4s

There was a settings guide for waterfalls, but I had to adjust it because it's night. I set the shutter speed at 4s to get more light and to get the flow of water, although I think 3 or 2 might have been better... I also managed to get in some headlights.

Anyway, that's it for today.

O & D!

CT

#1. The beginning of a newbie's adventure.

Welcome! I wanted to start a blog about a newbie's journey with a Digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera. Hopefully other newbies can relate and help each other out!

This will be a huge learning opportunity for me, as I've never owned a DSLR before. I have done some film work before, so I have a basic knowledge of depth-of-field, aperture, and exposure, but it's still not enough.

I created this blog so that I will actually use and explore everything my DSLR can offer, instead of treating it like a shiny new toy for a month and then leaving it in a corner to rot and make friends my guitar, softball glove, and my tape deck.

Each week-month, I will try out a new feature on my camera and get familiarized with it. I will be using the "Digital SLR Photography Toolkit for Dummies" iPhone app as a guide. Once I purchase my DSLR (which is a whole nother adventure in itself), I will buy a guide book to aide in my journey.

Onward and DSLRward! (deselarward?)
CT