Finishing the 31 Day Photo Challenge

I've finally finished the 31 day photo challenge, and it only took me 78 days! Ha! I blame camera troubles, but
after many trouble shooting attempts, I finally figured out why my camera’s autofocus wasn’t working….Because I had turned it off. I guess when I first started practicing in manual mode I had switched the focus to manual vs auto and I am just not near good enough to be shooting in that mode right now, especially when my main subject is a constantly moving target and there is simply not enough time to constantly shift the focus on my camera based on his permanently changing position. When I finally realized the simple fix to my problem, I was so glad I hadn't taken it to the shop to get fixed. That would have been mega-embarassing! I hope to be able to shoot in manual focus mode soon, and I've read that this will actually make my photos sharper ones I learn to do it accurately but for now I am just not at that level. Baby/Toddler steps.

Once my camera started doing the focusing-job for me, I started being able to get consistently sharp pictures once again. After that I sped through the remainder of the 31 day photo challenge on My 3 boybarians.  Y’all, this is the absolute best resource for starting photographers. It  was like ‘How to Use your DSLR for dummies’. The last few days focus mostly on photoshop/editing but one really helpful post for what I’m particularly struggling with was 12 steps to a sharper photo. 

There are various elements that go into how sharp a photo looks, from the lighting and shutter speed to how steady you’re holding the camera. Jonathan observed that I tend to slightly flinch when I snap a picture so I’ve been really focusing on holding my hands steady throughout the shooting process. I think it’s definitely been helping. 

I also always thought that the more open the aperature = the sharper the picture but now I know that this simply isn’t true. Each lens has its sweet spot when it comes to aperture so I’ve been trying to learn that. And also, there is a reason that my fixed lens (50 mm) always takes sharper photos than my adjustable lenses. Still, with a toddler sometimes it’s just better to trade a little sharpness for versatility in focal length. But when I’m taking his monthly photos or trying to capture a certain milestone, I will always try to shoot with my 50 mm because the pictures just blow my other lenses away. 

Anyhoos, I'm just super glad that I found this series. She also published a more in depth series called 31 days of photo tips that she describes as being more geared towards intermediate level photography. I plan on moving on to that shortly, but first will spend a good bit of time working on my editing skills and become better versed in photoshop. Here are a couple of my latest shots. 

For comparison, this is where I started from 31 76 days ago:

 Here are some of my favorite shots from the learning process:

A few of the more important things I've learned are: 
1) Take the picture. Bring your camera everywhere. Every picture you shoot won't be a winner but the more you shoot, the better you become and you just never know when the magic shot will happen. 

2) When shooting toddlers, a quick shutter speed is the most important thing so adjust your other settings accordingly. 

3) Forest looks really cute in red. 

The biggest things I need to work on are: 
1) Taking sharper photos. 
2)Learning to catch light. 
3) Manually focusing to better capture what I'm trying to convey. 
4) How to entice a toddler to stand still/face the camera.

The good news is that I feel like I finally do have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of photography. As I continue to improve those skills, I hope to maybe work on some more advanced (or at least intermediate) techniques. I hope that you can see an improvement in my photography!