Photo Realism

You can imagine that winning a big prize to spend on practically whatever you want might lead to some bucket list accomplishments. Such as:


#12 Learn to take great photos and get a “real” camera

I can only claim to be 1/2 way there on this one, but hopefully the great photos will fall in line soon! That's right, prizes # 4 & 5 are my very own DSLR camera and a huge zoom lens!

I already had a very nice point & shoot, which has served me well and will continue to be my "go-to" for daily use (it's so convenient, and fits in my pocket) but as I get more involved in digital scrapbooking, travel, and making photo gifts, I realllllllllly wanted a "real" camera. It was hard to choose, but I read a lot of reviews, got suggestions from friends, and finally settled on a Nikon D3000. It seemed to get a lot of kudos as far as being easy to use, but still having a lot of functionality, which is important since I'll definitely have to "grow into" this camera! I also ended up ordering a big memory card, so that's prize #6 I guess :) Of course as soon as it arrived I had to put it together and start shooting! Norm wasn't the most willing subject (and he licked the lens right off the bat) but I think I got some pretty great shots of him! Here were my first few attempts with the new toy: