Omake

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Digital Photography

Sat 09/19/2009 13:05 CST | Omake | comments (4) | 1,471 Views

Photography has always been something I have been interested in since I was a wee lad.  My first camera was a Pentax K1000 that my father got from someone.  A simple single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, not really impressive even by the standards of that time; but probably a good camera to give a kid to play around with.

It was my mother that the basics about how to use it and how to do different effects using lens filters (pre-Photoshop days folks or camera enthusiasts know what filters are).  I really like using the different filters do different effects to the image.  A lot of people use Photoshop these days to do a lot of the same effects, but I still like using filters even today.  My mother eventually gave me possession of her Olympus OM10 camera, for safe keeping.  I consider it part of my imaging armory, along with its filters and lenses  ^^

I loved taking photos, and would do so whenever I could get film.  I used to take photos of all kinds of stuff, including trying to do “screen captures” of video games by photographing the television.   I even recall during middle school taking it to the local waterpark to photograph all the cute girls in their swimsuits ^^;  Getting that film roll developed was certainly awkward for me.

I will say that while I enjoyed taking pictures, I wasn’t really attached to my camera at the time.  It was something I did whenever I felt the urge to use it.  For starters, I had to buy my own film and develop it; which when on an allowance was hard.  Plus kids have short attention spans…lol.  So it was like an on again / off again relationship.

In high school I had other activities that kept me busy, so I didn’t really have much time for it then either.  It wasn’t until I was in college that my interest in photography really started to spark again.  I decided I would take Photography I as a means of getting out of 3 credit hours of art classes I was required to take.  The bad news was that it was 3 hours of art history, so the photography class didn’t save me from it.  The good news was Photography I taught me a lot.  It was more than worth it for the introductory dark room experience.  We did not learn to develop our film, had to have that done commercially; but we did make our own prints.  So overall I enjoyed the experience.

I wanted to get a digital camera for a long time.  It also about this time I was getting back into my figurine collecting and wanted to try doing some figure photography.  My Pentax served me well, but I knew it was time to upgrade to a digital SLR.  So I decided to see what was on the market, and decided on the Canon EOS 40D because the specs seemed good and it was within my budget.

I have been using it pretty regularly since I got it, but still learning a lot about it.  Mainly doing test shoots with various figures to learn about all the things the camera can do.  Its certainly different than my old Pentax simply by the number of options available.   One of the features I like the most is the remote shooting mode, which allows me to hook the camera into my computer and transmit the files directly onto my computer.  LiveView is also nice, as it makes the LCD into your viewfinder.  But I still like using the actual viewfinder…lol ^^;

Also invested in a macro lens for it.  Comes in real handy when photographing figurines.

Earlier this year I got another digital camera, as you may have read in my CyberShot DSC-W290 article.  I wanted a camera I could carry with me wherever I go, in case there was something that I just wanted to capture.  Plus I can’t complain because the camera with a 4GB memory card cost me $30 US.  I have to say that the camera isn’t too bad, quality seems to be nice in my opinion.  All the photos in this article were taken on it, so I guess you can tell me.

I have used it a couple of times in public though people seem to give me weird looks when I do.  Cannot really pull it out in stores, as I recall an incident I had with some rent-a-cops at the local mall once when I was in there with my camera.  Seems that some places have rules against that sort of thing.

While I do like the CyberShot, my next goal is to actually get an Olympus E-P1.  I came across this camera one day on the Olympus website when looking up some information about the old Olympus I got.  I like that its compact, but also has interchangeable lenses system.  It was also briefly mentioned at Danny Choo, which made me even more interested in the camera.

I think what I like about photography is every shot freezes that moment in time.  Every shot shows other people the photographer’s perspective.  Been thinking more about the photos I have been taking, and would like to show more of my world.  I know that people that follow my flickr are probably tired of the dollfie photos.  Just had a lot of reasons to photograph them recently, and they are such good models ^o^;

But I do have a few places / events that I plan on being at to take more photos, which I will certainly share with everyone when they are up.  I know there is going to be a big one in October, and I certainly hoping for perfect weather.

Also plan on finishing my setup for my figure photography so I can share my figures with all of you.  I think I will post more about that another time.  And of course there will always be more dollfie photos ^^