This button does what???? Well, I never knew that!

Before the advent of mobile phones with cameras that have millions of pixels I had a little point and press digital camera. It was a good one and served me well for many years, until it was accidentally knocked out of my hand by a very excitable grandchild. While the camera still worked fine, the battery cover was broken and in order to keep it all together I have it taped up and an elastic band secured around the battery compartment, It loses charge frequently and the constant taping up made it all very sticky. But it was small and therefore easy to pop in my bag or pocket on trips out and so, despite tape and short battery life it continues to be used to this day.

At the time of the accident, Neil decided he would buy me a new camera, with lots of buttons. A proper camera, a posh camera, one to take REAL photos on not just quick point and press snaps. 


No, he bought me the real McCoy!

I read the manual, I looked at the buttons and I spent the next 5 years with it firmly set in Auto mode while F-stops, depth of field, focal lengths etc continued to make as much sense to me as my favourite book would have if written in Chinese.


It took reasonably good photos in Auto mode but I knew it could do so much more and, due to its size, I would often find myself taking my point & press held together with tape in preference. If I'm being totally honest with myself, I also felt embarrassed to be seen out with it as people thought I was a much better photographer than, in reality, I was.


Then, a few months ago a work colleague bought the new version of the same camera and she too struggled with all the buttons and how to set it on anything other than Auto mode.


It spurred us to finally take a course on how to use the camera properly. A day course was being run at a local country park where we would have a classroom session in the morning and a chance to get out and about practicing what we had learned in the afternoon.


Or that was the theory!


As it happened, even though we went in late April, we hit on one of the wettest days of the year so it limited our outdoor use a little but we did learn what all the buttons did and how to use them.


One of my interests, as far as photography is concened, is flowers. I love taking close-ups but I could never replicate the magazine shots where the flowers stands out against a blurred background. By the end of the day I knew the technique, I just needed to get out there and try it.

The following day dawned dry and sunny so, before setting off for work, I went into the garden to practice and took this shot of one of my tulips. The flower set against the blurred background is deliberate. The raindrop was an unexpected added bonus.

I doubt National Geographic will buy it but it is all my own work, no more auto mode! Now, I'm firmly an 'Aperture Priority' girl and no longer feel the need to be embarassed when out and about with my big, grown-up camera!