I've officially accepted the fact that I am not a natural photographer and am now seeking help in that arena. I can never remember what all the little buttons are for, what ISO stands for and I swear I have a genius talent for finding the shade. I've checked books from the library, read magazines and blogs, joined Flickr groups and the only thing that's really gotten better is I can now set up a better photo.
So, I've found an adult education class that is four weeks long and starts in November. Here's hoping someone can manage to bang into my brain how to take a decent photo.
Digital cameras saved my bacon. Now I can just take a bazillion photos and know that at least one will be decent. You would be astounded to see how many photos I can take of one item to get one useable photo. I once went to the zoo and took a picture of my friend and an elephant. Totally missed the elephant. Yeah, it's a special kind of talent....
I've been studying photos and I noticed that I see the colors and I see the shapes, but I don't really notice the composition and the light. I don't separate the light from the color, so that makes it difficult for me to analyze a picture.
Here is the fruit bowl from my desk. I like the randomness of the arrangement and didn't try to alter it too much other than removing a white tag from one of the pears.
While I notice that it is blurry (sorry! Couldnt' get stabilized!) I can't see the shadowing until I really, really look. Maybe it is just a matter of training yourself, but it makes me wonder if I have some sort of two-dimensional cartoon sight or something.
What hits me about this photo is the common color of green. There is a bit of green in each fruit/veg and that is what makes the photo interesting to me. I can't tell how to improve it. I can't tell you what's wrong with the lighting. I am not seeing the subtleties. My solution would be to take a couple dozen more photos and pick the one I like best of all from the bunch.
So here's hoping photography class sharpens my eye and boosts my creativity, eh?