Photography

I have come to somehow frown upon my own abilities as a photographer.  I think it's the camera.  Not that the camera cannot do most of what I want to do.  It's about my experience actually taking the photos.  I see the shot, I take it, and then I review it.  The LCD on the camera never does the photo justice, so I often think I need to take another.  This leads to great frustration and I have to remind myself it's probably much better than it looks on the LCD.  Then I get things home and I'm often pleasantly surprised, but by then, I've already subtly thought to myself that I have no idea what I'm doing.  So then I start believing that, even when I see shots that are otherwise very very good.  I find myself going, "Wow, that camera takes beautiful people shots" instead of "Wow, I can't believe I can make the camera do that."  I feel like my abilities are nothing compared to what the camera's are, and I'm somehow doing things wrong constantly and the camera is the one doing the good stuff.  Let alone that I'm the one that frames things, which is a very large portion of making something look good.  Timing is mine, too, and often, so is the exposure, aperture, and shutter speed.  I control ISO tightly, too, because otherwise the camera thinks less light means higher ISO, and for me, that usually makes the process suck worse than a slight blur or having to hold still longer.  No matter, I /do/ know that while I have an extremely good portraiture lens, it is simply NOT made to take detailed macro shots and that right there drives me insane even though I know better.  I need to find myself a macro lens that is OK with taking general shots as well as macros.  I miss that aspect of my photography greatly.  Eventually I should look into lighting, too, but I rather like the lack of planning I usually experience during snapshots on the road and the like.  And lighting is not as portable.  I like a light load.  One reason I miss Obsidian.  That little PowerShot may have had some power issues like the rest of the line, but the quality was stunning.  I knew that camera inside and out, knew its limits, knew how to get around most of them, knew my own limits with it, and had many filters to play with.  I miss all that sometimes.  Dale assures me, however, that if I were to take pictures with Obsidian again, I'd likely find the limitations frustrating in no time.  I guess the truth is, I'm never satisfied with technology because not one single piece of tech can possibly meet all of my whims.  At least, not yet!

~w