Rookie ,,, and no time line

I pick up our Canon SLR camera from time to time although I do not know how to operate it to its fullest potential. My first action is to switch it to Auto Mode. I learned on our camping vacation that Auto does not mean it will Auto-matically Take Good Photos. Darn! The day my husband and children were out playing in the boat while I stayed on shore to chill and take photos, I learned that many pictures did not come out as I had thought they should have. In my opinion, an SRL is not a point and shoot camera, and that is exactly how I have been treating it.

Therefore, the next morning while my husband was running for a quick trip to the town for ice, I played with the camera at the campsite. I turned knobs and shot a photo. Then, I would turn the knob again to snap the same subject. I saw no difference. I tried to figure out what the ISO meant in comparison to the other numbers. I was lost and confused. To me, it all looked the same.

I dabbled in photography as a teen enrolled in a photography class; to the point where we were expected to develop our own film (canister and black bag, dark room and solutions; it was awesome). I remember getting an A+. I remember my dad and my instructor both explaining ISO and F-Stops to me. However, I really didn't get it, and perhaps never really said it at the time, but I just carried on and acted like I did, and at the time I received good results. But now, it is as if I learned nothing. I should have spoken up back then.

When my husband returned from his excursion, I showed him my photos in the view finder on the back of the camera and I finally admitted, "I don't get it and I don't see the difference". I know that many photographers (including my husband) will use enhancements to finish off their photos. I am not even going there. I am just trying to master the Canon SLR with out using Auto Mode.

My husband sat in the camping chair beside me and really tried to explain it to me again, but to no avail. I think my brain honestly does not work well with numbers and abstract concepts. To me, he might as well have been talking in a different dialect, because it sounded just like that.

And I'm not even gonna touch the essence of the art of photography; capturing emotion, texture, shapes, and colors. That, I think, is a gift ... or could come with a lot of hard work and practice.

I will not give up, but I will also not put a time line on when I will master the basic concepts. But for the record, our local small town paper used MY photos when they published an article about our neighborhoods National Night Out. (Okay, so I stole the camera from my hubby that night and he didn't get a chance, but fair is fair).

My photos:His photos: