The year in reflection

[Overread]

Just realised that my camera is almost a full year old, so decided to take a look through some older shots and see what has changed. Then I found out that most of my earliest shots are deleted -- though that is nothing much sad for me since most were of the inside of my dorm room at uni as I tried to muddle and workout just what all these buttons did - what was aperture, shutters speed and ISO?
There are a few that survived though:

possibly the oldest surviving shot now - and me using the camera for a more functional use than just for entertainment (though in those days just shooting was a joy)

early experiments with sports mode - though older than the first shot be a few months (1-2ish) I was still very much in the auto modes

Hence I was saved with the dull shots - and harsh popup flash shots of those early days and was fastforwarded to when I started to properly shoot with the camera. In those early days it was much more shooting for the sake of shooting - I as not really framing the shots or being able to understand how to get different effect, though I experimented a lot. One think I can see now that was clear was that in those early days I would often be using the auto settings - landscape, macro, portrait - and would sometimes agonise over which of those modes was best to use to get a desired effect - especially hard when you don't really understand the numbers being shown.
It was not till I was back at uni again that I started to take walks and experiment with my camera ( my new sigma 70-300mm DG macro giving my new excitement to use my camera)

there was certainly a period when I was truly stumped for what and how to shoot

early wildlife attempts - I remember really liking the action I got in this shot - even though the range was pushing it for my sigma - even at full 300mm.

Mostly the wood was full of - well trees - and I did try my hand at getting some tree shots, though composing tree shots to look like something proved to be far harder than I thought

and the birds were still out of reach (partly due to restrictions on the land access - recent outbreak of footandmouth restricted access to the water.

All through this new lease of interest I kept posting on forums (my only contact with photography people) and I kept on developing - trying out new settings and experimenting with new modes. The feedback in those early days helping me move from stage to stage:

though there were still many times when I as still stumped

fastforward things a heck of a lot (because you are probably bored and the horrible photos are destroying your mind slowly (well this seems to happen to some people at least - plus I really don't want to write out a full assessment of the year) and now I am really starting to get shots that I am proud to have taken; ok I have always been proud, but there are degrees of pride - these shots I take now I can and want to print and hang on the wall. I now also have macro under my belt - both flower and insect and have spent far more on camera gear than most people think is sane - and still have far more that I wish to get

I think I have improved over the last year - heck I think I have moved on a lot from where I was before. I still have a ways to go yet, still got things to learn and techniques to polish.
And now you are wondering just what the heck this thread is about - well I was sitting here and realised something really basic that I still did not understand -- just what the heck does ISO mean? :mrgreen:

 

[bigtwinky]

Thanks for posting the thread.

As someone very new to photography, I often wonder if my snapshot looking pictures will one day start looking like hang on the wall pictures. Its great to see your progression and in some odd way, gives me hope for myself. Hehe.

 

[Rachelsne]

cool!!!!
BTW I love the giant bee shot next to the little fly

 

[Overread]

Thanks both
glad that this post can give some hope to those new to the game!
If your first year is anything like mine it will go in a flash!