Comments

Rod , your picture of John Lenon - piece of art , seen and commented earlier .

Stephen - in answer to your question . I think that now more obvious is that the picture shows the flowers as the main theme. Thanks for advice .

Rod , Edward , John thanks for kind comments . I am amateur photographer and I'm always open on sugestion . I hope you enjoy the rest of my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them .

Realy enjoyed reading the post here gents, a lot of sense being spoke. Unfortunately I have got a lot on at the moment so not on POE as much as I should be. But this certainly shows what can be achieved with a good topic for conversation. Some very good points been put over politely and constructively with similar responses. We could do with more like this plus of course more folk joining in. But alas I fear the forums are only populated by a few regulars..... Big shame for a site of this quality

I'm just starting to learn to switch off the auto button which I have been happily using for years. Even though my new camera is still a P&S, it has a Program setting, an AV and TV setting,  Manual along with all the usual scene selections. I've used scene settings and macro before, but Program, AV, TV and Manual are new to me. As well as working my was through a 227 page user guide I've also joined and online course and bought myself a Digital Photographers Handbook. I've had some weird results, but hopefully things will improve.

If in doubt at the moment whilst I'm experimenting with various settings I always take the same shot in Auto.

I'm open to suggestions on all my pictures, that's how I learn.

 

Edited by: rustyruth at:15th March 2014 22:17

I wouldnt worry about your pics Ruth--all ok

You are very kind James, but I do have some disasters that you never get to see 

The older photographers such as myself didn't have the luxury of auto-exposure or auto-focus when we started out. Going back 40 - 50 years, the best you could get on a camera for exposure reading was a meter needle in the viewfinder which showed the approximate light level (either average or spot). Photographers would often use a hand-held light meter as well, to get reliable readings. A little later, auto-exposure started to appear. Auto-focus was unknown. You even had to advance the film manually, unless you fitted a motor-drive. Even today, starting out with a fully manual film SLR is good practice, and I think photography courses still like their students to follow this route.

Towards the end of the film era, technology advanced sufficiently for auto-focus and auto-exposure to be introduced. My Canon EOS 3 film camera has both, plus eye tracking auto-focus, a feature which I haven't seen on a digital camera.  

Even though the EOS 3 film SLR and similar cameras are satisfying to use, I have to admit that the convenience and quality of digital technology has won me over. However,  I am grateful for the discipline of using a manual film camera which has taught me much about photography.  

Edited by: Edward Lever at:16th March 2014 10:21

I'm younger, but my adventure with photography started early at the age of 13 years . My first camera ( Smena 8m ) was  totally manually operated. Even winding of film is separated from shutter cocking . Zenit 12 xp was my first SLR camera . The camera has only manual shooting mode (with a TTL-meter and a needle indicator of the proper exposition in the viewfinder) . Now in the majority situations I shoting in priority aperture mode , and just  ``play`` with exposure compensation .

I love to take pictures by using old manual lenses ,  but I think this is good topic for new thread .