We were looking through some pictures on the camera, when we came across a few that neither Deborah nor I remember taking. Looks like Risanna is getting an early start on photography!
Welcome, my dear, to a fascinating, maddening hobby. My your frames be free of camera straps, and your grip be steady and true. It gets better from here.
We gather here on this august occasion (but it's still June!) to mourn the passing of Canon Powershot A95. A95 lived a good long life as far as cheap digital cameras go, taking tens of thousands of pictures, yet succumbed to congestive CCD failure in the end, just like its elder brother, A70. Bought used at the beginning of 2008, A95 served faithfully up until the very end, when it started consistently producing images like this one:
My cute stripedy little girls...
A95 was preceded in death by A70 and a nameless $20 camera from Radio Shack. It is survived, oddly enough, by just about every film camera I've ever owned.
* * *
So I'm camera shopping again.
During the outage, I reached, once again, for my 25-year-old Pentax SLR. I keep forgetting how much I really like this camera — I'd gotten so used to the almost infinite depth of field provided by ultra-short focal length digitals, and have been pleasantly surprised to discover selective blurring and soft focus once again. There's even something to be said for the stumpy little 50mm lens — if you want to zoom out, start running. If you want to get closer, get closer. It's hard to argue with the quality of the photos it takes:
...and yet, in just three days, I spent a quarter of the cost of a new camera on processing alone. That's not including the film! It's just not a sustainable habit for me. I take too many pictures.
Deborah has been agitating for me to get a new camera sooner than later, so I finally caved and got her what she wanted: a Nikon L22, very similar to the L20 I gave Paul for Christmas. (She wanted hers in lime green, though. 'Twasn't an option.) And, I made an interesting distinction: This was to be her camera. I'll use it in the meantime, too (even though the lack of manual overrides drives me crazy) but it's a stopgap until I get something that suits me and my abilities.
I was late again this morning. Had to go back for the camera. (One of these days, I ought to invest in a camera I can have with me all the time...)
It took a while to get this photo to come out as I actually saw it, but it was well worth the effort. Don't you just want to sit down here with someone in silence and listen to the falling leaves together?
Sometimes you're just in the right place, at the right time, in the right light, and you happen to have two cute kids, and they happen to have an apple, and you happen to have a camera.
Admittedly, this was inspired by Twilight.
This is how I picture Aiden. So earnest. So amazed.
I swear I didn't pose this one. All I did was hold the camera and press the shutter. No cropping, no color correction, nothing — this is as it was shot. The kids did the rest.
Before taking pictures of Deborah's belly (and the rest of her) I had to get my mini-studio set up. So, the night before, I hung a sheet, turned on some lights, and brought in a stool to take some shots and see what I'd need to do to make things work.
It was only after I took a bunch of pictures and made notes that I went back and realized that some of the "junk" pictures I'd taken were actually fairly good shots.
I'd barely put the stool down when my first test subject jumped up, found his mark, and looked into the camera.
I swear, I did not pose the cat. I'm not sure how you would, anyway...
Photographer's Notes: 1. Incandescent lighting makes subject look orange.
2. Gotta iron that sheet.
Deborah shooed that cat off, and sat for a few shots to see if this would work for subjects larger than a cat.
I liked this picture of Deborah just as much as some of the ones I'd been planning on taking. The sweater suits her.
Photographer's Notes: 1. Good. The sheet is big enough that we can get the subject full frame.
It was late, and I wanted to shoot in natural light anyway, so we left the rest of the setup until morning. In the morning, I ironed the sheet (Rumor has it some people do this regularly — a claim I find incredible, given the amount of time required) and set things up again. The kids were unusually eager test subjects.
A boy and his car.
Photographer's Notes: Whoops. Natural light in the side window also means natural light in the front window. Add something behind the sheet, to minimize show-through.
Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeze!
Aiden will stand there grinning and saying "Cheese" until you tell him to stop. And sometimes not even then...
Photographer's Notes: Adding a woven blanket helps cut down the light... as long as you don't add a blanket with stripes.
Once I got the lighting issues worked out, it was time to try a few portraits. Fiona hopped up and grinned, and was a great subject, which is totally unusual for her. I normally get one good shot of her out of thirty, but with the studio setup, she shone for the camera.
Fiona? Sitting still? And looking into the camera? And smiling? Who are you, and what have you done with Fiona?
Photographer's Notes: Shadows too harsh. Wait an hour for better light or add reflectors to balance out lighting.
Aww.
Photographer's Notes: Hire new hairstylist.
Yeah. That'll work.
Photographer's Notes: Yeah. That'll work.
Deborah has been saying for some time now that she wanted to get some pictures taken of her with her pregnant belly, partly for the beauty of it, partly to celebrate the last (?) time she'd be pregnant. With less than a week to go, we figured it was time. Since it was cold and rainy outside, and Deborah wanted to pose in her impressive shawl collection, I set up a photo studio in the living room. (Living Room Studios. Wouldn't that make a nice name for something?)
I took well over a hundred shots... but these are our favorites.
Isn't she beautiful?
I won the auction by 83 cents. It was my closest win since my bidding war with QueenOfLeadFeet for an old Chagall Guevara CD. (I suffer from obscure musical tastes.) A week and a few e-mails later, a package arrived on my desk. Yay!
It is the sad duty of old cameras to photograph their replacements.
The nitty-gritty, for you detail oriented folk: It's a Canon A95, 5 megapixel, 3X optical zoom (and a digital zoom that can be turned OFF!) and came with a free 1GB CompactFlash card. State of the art? Not really. Best digital camera to date? Oh yeah!
I'd say it takes pretty good pictures. Wouldn't you?
The upshot of all this, dear reader, is more and better pictures for you!
