RAWrrrr!

I tried shooting in RAW today. I told the camera to save each image in both RAW and JPG so I could compare.

1. the JPG image (the camera processes the raw image data itself):

2. The RAW image, no changes made with the conversion software (adobe camera raw):
3. The RAW image, with a couple of little adjustments made using the conversion software:
Conclusions from this little experiment (after walking outside to take another look at these flowers--what do they really look like, anyway?):

1. My camera doesn't process purple very well on it's own

2. I have A LOT to learn about processing images

3. If I'm going to shoot in RAW, I need a new and more spacious memory card (arriving Friday from Amazon), and then I'll need another more spacious hard drive, and another, and another...and I need to learn to delete bad pictures.

I also figured out what the different metering and auto-focus settings are on my camera, and how to use the auto-bracketing setting. Probably should have done that sooner, as this stuff would have come in handy many times, but before a big photo-op vacation is good.

Last night, after the family "football" game in the backyard, I also played with long exposures and kids that move. Maybe I'll post those next, as long as no one is afraid of ghosts.

Photography Class Can't Come Soon Enough!

We had a great thunderstorm last night--lots of lightning! I tried taking pictures, but was mostly unsuccessful. In the car, I had my cell phone camera, which captured a great picture, then told me the battery was too dead to use the camera and discarded the picture. Ack!

When we got home I grabbed "camera extraordinaire" and drove to where I had a clear view of the oncoming storm, only to discover that I have no idea how to set this camera to photograph lightning. I got lucky once and I'm happy about that, but the rest of the time the camera mostly refused to open the shutter at all. I think it couldn't understand why I wanted to take a photo in the dark, and I was not able to explain in the language of F-stops and shutter speeds that the camera could understand. I didn't think till now that maybe I could have checked the settings for this one successful photo, and set the camera that way again. I was too busy wondering why it wouldn't just do the same thing twice in a row. The learning curve for this camera is gigantic and I can't make my way up fast enough! Impatient! Impatient!! IMPATIENT!!!