Several years ago, I caught a mild case of the "Photography" bug. I went on a few photo shoots with some real photographers, started learning some things, and bought a new camera and a few lenses (Nikon D-40 and 3 different lenses). I learned a little bit about exposures, lighting, how to achieve different effects, and how to manually adjust the settings on my camera. I quickly learned how time consuming it is to be a good photographer. My buddies would go on photo shoots for many hours at a time, then go home to select and edit photos for many, many, more hours.
To be a good photog, you have to be dedicated. It didn't take long to figure out that I was not willing to devote that amount of time to becoming a substantially better photographer, although it was fun going on some of the photo shoots, and I learned to take better photos...
Jess near flowering tree by
Jetmugg, on Flickr
DSC_0093 cropped by
Jetmugg, on Flickr
Some of the images on my build thread were taken with my camera phone, which is obviously not the preferred method. Others were taken with my D-40, which allows for better images. I try to shoot using the available light whenever possible. When there are shadows surrounding the area of interest, I tend to use the flash to light up the darker areas.
Steve