So I'm actually attempting to learn something about photography and the dslr I'm using instead of just using auto functions and pretending the pictures I take with those camera-presets are amazing. Or trying to fake a good photo by using Photoshop. Whichever. So I had to drive up to Dallas for a couple days to go to a funeral and while I was there we stopped at a Borders that was closing. I got a digital SLR photography book for dummies for $32 dollars (holy crap) but it was amazing buy. Along with that I finally looked up my camera's manual online to coincide with the book's explanation of previously-unclear-to-me words like aperture, exposure, f stops and words that I never knew existed like metering, bracketing, and ISO, etc. All in all I know a whole lot more about the mechanics of at least decent photography and lighting that I had almost no clue of before.

You have no idea how happy I was when I finally realized I could figure out how to not under or over expose a subject without just messing blindly with knobs and switches.  I mean, I even took the camera off aperture/shutter/auto priority and put it on manual, tested my knowledge out a little bit in a couple different lighting situations and was fairly successful! Happy days are coming, happy days indeed.

- Samantha.