Going Off Auto

In my recent spare time, of which I have very little, I signed up for an online photo class.  I'm hoping to figure out all of the manual controls on my camera and learn to take better photos of both Lauren and the dogs.  I've made it a goal to get out of the full auto mode which is how I have taken all of my pictures to date.  Of course there are times when auto is good and I'm not giving it up entirely, but I've really been having fun with figuring out everything on my own.  I mostly stick to aperture and shutter priority modes and so far I'm definitely better with outdoor photos versus indoors due to the lighting.  I'm also manually selecting the white balance and ISO (I understand the overall concept of ISO, but I'm not always good at choosing the correct one the first time).

I'm still a work in progress on getting the correct exposures and I don't have nearly enough time to get out and practice as I would like, but here are some of my recent shots.  I also don't do any post-processing to edit any of my photos.  I'm sure I could work with them in photo editing software and maybe I'll get to that point one day, but aside from a simple crop here and there I just don't have the time or the ambition at the moment to go back and edit them so what you see is usually what you get.  As it is, I'm lucky I get as many pictures as I do and that I am able to keep up both Lauren's and the dogs blogs!

The fence is a little distracting here, but I love how tall, strong, and powerful Buford looks in this one - achieved by shooting just below eye level.

I've also learned some great tips about composition, like the rule of thirds, trying to eliminate distracting backgrounds, and to get down, get back, and zoom in. 

I usually mange to underexpose the indoor ones, so I did brighten this one up just a bit because I think Puddin looks very sweet here with her puppy.  The next one of Buford I was just playing around, but then when I downloaded it on the computer I loved it.  If you look closely, you can see the reflection of our house and backyard in his eye!  I also didn't notice that blade of grass in front of his eye until I downloaded pics, so that was kind of a bummer!  Too bad I don't know Photoshop! 

Update:  Thanks to Carrie at Tales and Tails, I now have a version without that stinkin' blade of grass in the way!  You're awesome!

Puddin says "ahhh...that feels better!"

I like knowing how to blur the background now.  Sometimes I got lucky before and my camera would do it on its own, but now I can take care of that myself :)

I was practicing with some natural window light and this was the best I could get that day.  I'll never know why greyhounds like to hang their heads down all the time, but it does make for more interesting pictures.

Lauren and Buford - or as she calls him "Boo Boo"!  Right after I took this one, I called Buford's name - he looked at me with his ears perked up.  Then I told Lauren to smile and she gave me one of those big beautiful smiles that I love...I pushed the button and...CARD FULL!  Oh, I was SO upset!  It would have been a perfect picture of the two of them!  I can't pose a greyhound and an 18-month old so I just have to hang out and wait for cute things to happen on their own and then hope that I am ready to capture them with my camera.  The last one is another good example of that! 

"Whatcha got?"

The last two pictures were taken moments apart, but unfortunately the clouds moved out in the last one so they are in direct sunlight and I lost some detail in Lauren's arm, but I still think it's sweet.  I have some other good ones, but these were my favorites.  I have plenty of screw ups too, but I'm having fun with it!  Hope you enjoyed them!