Get More out of your Camera, You will be amazed at what it can do

I recently had a mishap and lost my trusty Kodak DX6490 digital camera.  It dropped to the floor and forever joined the dead electronics bin in the sky.  Looking at new cameras to buy,  I started to relive some of my favourite photos this camera took.

The Kodak DX6490 was no powerhouse, it was a 4MP, medium quality camera.  I've seen Digital cameras with lenses that would make the Hubble telescope feel jealous, but there is no substitution for a good eye.  In photography, that's the Golden ticket.  Chances are your camera is just as capable and you don't have to break the bank and buy that mega dollar version.

Here is a picture of Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, AZ in the States.  I just love this picture.  People watching the game intently, the fielders in the ready position, the grass stripes easily recognizable, the stands on the opposite side, the lighting, just brings it alive.

 And this one:

 I love the sense of scale this photo gives.  What most people don't know, is that your camera you bought just to point and click may have really cool features that you aren't even aware of.  Take the time, read through your manual completely and experiment, experiment and experiment.  Everything is Digital so snap away.

Here's a photo I took, the Kodak was set for "Up Close" shots.  I trick I learned with the camera is when the button to take the picture was pressed half way down, this locked the focal lens.  So, I learned, If I locked the focal lens to a nearby object, then pointed the camera to a distance object, that object would of course be out of focus, the lens was locked to a fixed focal length.  Now, I kept that close object in view of the picture, that returned a neat effect like this:

 This was great, since I didn't need to manually set the focal lens in the menu system, or waste time fumbling through menu's, once the focal lens was locked, the viewfinder was also locked, so basically it became a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get), and I could quickly take any picture.  It was easier to maneuver myself than the small controls on the camera.  Because of this experimentation, I was able to take a snapshot below on the spur of the moment, and this too has become one of my favourites !

I love how the person in the foreground is completely in focus, the brim of the hat, the whisp of the hair, and how the picture fades off and becomes blurry with the ocean in the background.  Contrasting the two.  Again, this picture was taken with a lowly stock Kodak DX6490 4MP camera, no where near top of the line.  I would never of achieved this shot if I needed to fumble around the camera's menu system.  But, with that trick I learned, I got it right away.

 So, go back to your camera's manual, read all the nuances, and try that Focal Lock trick a few times, I think you'll like how the result turns out.

You can always contact me here with questions

Happy Jalbuming!