My little camera experiment.

I noticed my point and shoot camera (Canon Powershot) sitting on the shelf, collecting dust, and looking pretty lonely. Ever since the dSLR (Nikon D60) showed up, it hasn't gotten very much love at all, except occasionally as a video camera. So I decided that we'd spend a whole day together - just to see what would happen.

A few things to note about my experiment:

1) I am - really - just a newbie trying to learn to take better pictures. Nothing more, and I don't pretend to be in a place where I know what I'm talking about, so keep that disclaimer in mind.

2) I do not know my Powershot as well as the D60. I never read the Powershot manual, and I have no idea where it is now. If I still had the manual, and if I practiced with my Powershot more, I think some of my issues could be resolved.

3) I don't know how to focus the Powershot. All I see is a big rectangle in the middle, and I think that's supposed to be my focus selector? It's huge, for one thing, and there's only one of it, smack in the middle. I used that to focus, but I fully admit that my focus issues were most likely operator error. But frankly, I have focus issues with the dslr, too. (It's a lot harder than you'd think.)

4) Most of these photos are really grainy, which is partly the camera's fault and partly my fault. I underexposed some at ISO 100, so they could've been better by increasing my ISO, but the ISO tops out at 400 and it's grainy at 400. So, kinda the camera's fault. But, it's easier and faster to change ISO settings on the Powershot than my D60. WTF, Nikon?

5) Most of these photos have gone through the same post processing steps that I do with all of my photos.

So Lily and I went to the park, Powershot in hand. This camera is so light and easy to carry. Love that.

As usual, we were at the swings for a good long time. And there I found my first big problem with the Powershot. SLOOOWW to snap the picture. Pretty sure that's the reason it got put on the shelf in the first place.
And that slowness resulted in the worst.composition.ever!

Sorry Lily, NOT the shot I was going for here.

Some limb chop, though I'm guilty of that all the time and can't blame the camera.

So generally, the photos were blurry and the Powershot can't quite keep up with the swing. Not all bad, though.

But I really wish this one wasn't blurry.

After the swings, we sat down to have our lunch. See?

To get Lily to look at the camera, I told her there was a bunny inside it, and when I pushed the button he pops out just for a second. She is looking for him.

The trick worked, though. I'm going to have to try that one again some time.

Wish this one wasn't blurry.

Back home on the patio, I wanted to try a couple of close ups; I'd really love to learn macro photography one day.

I don't know what the problem was, but it seemed like the camera wanted to focus on everything except where I had the little focus box.

Now that I'm looking at them, I think the camera might've been too close to the subject. Maybe I'll try again.
Here's the last time Lily was still for the rest of the day. After this, she was at her water table. When she's at her water table, I can't get her attention for anything, so I just let her play, and kept amusing myself with my camera.
I decided to compare auto mode to manual mode. Yes, the composition sucks on all of them.

Set 1: Auto

Set 1: Manual, f3.2, 1/200, ISO 400

Set 2: Auto
Set 2: Manual, f3.5, 1/100, ISO 400
Set 3: Auto
Set 3: Manual, f3.2, 1/200, ISO 400
I have no idea why I didn't use a faster shutter speed on the manual shots. I think I could have with such a high ISO. Either way, they were better than the auto photos, in my opinion.

And with that, my experiment was over. The sun was going down and I just can't force myself to use a pop-up flash, so no indoorsy stuff. By the end of the day, I think I found a little more love in my heart for the Powershot. It has its flaws, but I think most of them could be fixed with the manual and some practice.

This was my favorite picture from the whole day, though, of Kitty. I love the colors of her eyes with the colors of the background, even if the shot is straight up her nose.