Peeps! I am so excited!  I’ve been saving for quite some time and it’s all paid off – I finally got to order my new (ahem, to me) camera  (a Canon Rebel T1I, for those of you who like details.)    Be prepared for the stunningness of the amazing photos I am about to blow your mind with hehehe…

In all seriousness, I’m still figuring things out, although I’ve been used to shooting in manual mode for quite some time on my beloved Canon G10.  I chose to upgrade because I want more flexibility with lenses, etc., and now I’m saving up for a sweet lens I’ve got my eye on.  The kit lens is, well, underwhelming to say the least, which I knew it would be.

I get a lot of questions on photos. How do your photos turn out the way they do? First and foremost, I never shoot with a flash. I mean practically never ever ever.  Secondly, I mercilessly edit photos. I might shoot 100 photos to get 10 really good ones.  Thirdly, I invested in Aperture, my personal favorite photo-editing program.  Some people like Photoshop; I am not really one of them.  I shoot in natural light, slightly over-expose my photos, and I always amp up the color a little bit because that’s the way I like it.  Finally, learn how to use the manual settings on your camera.  No, it is not easy at first. Yes, it’s hard to figure out the balance of everything. Yes, it’s time consuming in the beginning and the moment may have already passed that you wanted to capture. But it eventually becomes like a second nature to just flip around the settings.

I am definitely keeping my Canon G10 as my toss-in-my-bag-and-go camera. It’s a great camera, and a good starter if you want to learn about manual settings w/o the intimidation and price point factors of a DSLR.  Even if you prefer to shoot in auto, it takes a gorgeous shot. I highly recommend it.