Photographer Tips

…from a “non-photographer.”

In other words, don’t listen to me -I don’t know what I’m talking about.

I like to take pictures. But… as my favorite quote goes “Owning a Nikon doesn’t make you a photographer; it makes you a Nikon owner.” You can substitute your camera brand of choice for Nikon, but you get the general idea.

I love to take pictures, and on occasion, I will take a nice picture that makes my head grow twenty times its size. It’s occasions like these, that I will class myself as a bit of a photographer, and maybe even make myself a nifty name logo to stick on the bottom of said photos.

When in reality though, I’m really nothing but an idiot with a camera.

Ahem.

The truth is, I don’t know much about my camera. Ok. I don’t know anything about my camera. I just can’t get my mind wrapped around all the names, and techniques. I need someone to tell me, “This does that” not “The F/20 means pi squared plus three” -whatever that means. I don’t know.

I like my camera, but he doesn’t like me. I like taking pictures, and sometimes my camera will take a decent shot, but other times I’m left looking through the lens at the perfect shot, wondering why I can’t capture it. And don’t even get me started on attitude. From both my camera, and myself.

Mostly myself.

But we wont talk about that.

Just the other day, we were at the beach. I took my camera, and as Parker played in the sand, I thought “Hey perfect photo opportunity right here!” He was wearing red, playing with a yellow truck, by the water with the sun setting.

Awwwwww cute, right?

Except that it wasn’t, and instead of a “professional photographer” I probably got classed as some kind of pervert, because I was laying in the sand snapping pictures of random kids playing in the water.

But still, cute, right? The picture that is -not my photography skills.

While taking the beach pictures, I remembered the other thing that gets me; the horizon.

It gets me. Every time. Without fail.

I never noticed this, until one day I was reading on a photo forum. (probably trying to figure out that pi squared thing) I read that slanted horizons, especially with water, or ocean, don’t look like you took it that way on purpose, instead they just look like you “weren’t paying attention.” I thought to myself “Ha, I never do that” but then I looked through my pictures, and to my great horror, every single horizon was slanted!

SEE???

The crooked-horizon pictures seriously made me want to roll right off the side of the world with them. In short, this could be called: the amateurs guide, to taking pictures: Photoshop.

I wanted to delete them all, except that they are somewhat cute. So I figure we can all just over look the slight mistakes…or order some expensive photo shopping program that will slant that horizon back to how it should be. Except that will probably distort the image and it would look like Parker is dancing off the side of the world, while the world goes off on its merry way. But at least it wont look like I wasn’t paying attention, we can’t have that!

Sometimes though, regret isn’t needed. Despite what the guides may cause you to think! Sure, I took these pictures, and yeah, there might be some foreign item in the background drawing your eye to the wrong place, (is that a yellow truck?) but deep sense of guilt and loss are needed anywhere but here. I’d rather feel guilt over a blurred sunset (or slanted horizon), then guilt over missing those moments spent with someone I love. Sometimes I can’t care about the competing focal points and distance ranges. And if you find me with my camera, and I’m not setting up the tripod properly, well….its either because I forgot to pack it, or because I‘m too caught up in the moment…and that horizon line can just fade of into the background, because sometimes you have to snap fast to catch that smile!