Last week I finally had the chance to spend some serious time playing around with my DSLR camera, something I had wanted to do ever since I got it.
I never found a good reason to actually “go out” just to take photos of random stuff, but a) my sister told me she wanted to upgrade from her point-and-shoot and b) we were on a cruise around the mediterranean with nothing else to do…
So I decided to move the dial back to Manual mode (from video mode, of course) and hand her the camera.
After the initial seven minutes explaining the basics (shutter speed, aperture, ISO…) and how to operate the buttons on the canon 550d (canon t2i) we thought she was ready to start shooting.
I’m just as noob photographer as her (only with a bit more experience with the camera) but in this short time experimenting “in the field” we both learned and improved our photography skills.
Here are seven interesting things I discovered in this trip:
1- My interest in photography suddenly increased due to the fact that I had to share what I knew with someone else. I even found myself “fighting” to get the camera back from her sometimes :P
Teaching is the best way of learning.
2- Once she got the technical aspects down (aka how to get the “right” exposure on every shot) I told her to switch back to AV mode (easier) and focus on the composition, lights and colors.
I took out my iPhone 4 loaded with Camera+ and Instagram and didn’t have to ask for the 550d until we got back to the ship. It was more than enough.
3- My fast, expensive lenses are capable of creating amazing photos with very shallow depth of field (blurry background) but so does Instagram with its tilt-shift feature.
iPhoneography is a great way to get started in photography as it requires very little equipment and will force you to pay attention to what really matters.
4- Shoulder strap > neck strap. Hands down. Get one now.
5- If there is nothing interesting to shoot, ask your brother to do some planking. It will -hopefully- spark some creative photography in you.
Planking = fun.
6- Shoot RAW only if you plan to do post-production in photoshop or lightroom or whatever. Otherwise go with good ol’ JPG. You’ll save space in your sd card and it will be faster to transfer/upload to the internets.
You ain’t a pro yet, are you? Me neither.
7- After three days carrying the Canon 550d + Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens on my shoulder with the battery grip (6 to 7 hours each day), I decided to leave it in the ship and carry a couple extra batteries in my pockets.
Best decision ever.
If you are going to bear the weight of the camera (as well as other random tech in your backpack) for more than 4-5 hours in a row, I suggest you sacrifice “ergonomics” and “looking like a pro”.
Your shoulders and back will thank me, just as much as Mr. Neck when he read #4 in this post.
Now, be as cool as Mr. Neck and retweet, +1, like and share this post with your peeps or leave a comment below and convince me to start shooting RAW.
I need a new DSLR camera, ASAP. I gave my Canon 550d to my sister a week ago and I’m already suffering withdrawal. 
