Five Things

Here are five things that I would LOVE to have right now for my photography stuff.

1. External Hard Drive.
The one I want has 1 TB of memory. [That's 1024 GB!!!!] Having one of these with a lot of memory will allow me to go ahead and shoot in RAW and not worry so much about how much memory gets used per photo.


2. A Lowepro back pack.
I need a back pack for my camera, lenses, lens filters, memory cards, etc. because the bag I have now is just a dinky little thing, with all of my things jammed in there.


3. Tripod.
I really want to get a tripod, and soon, because it'll allow me to take pictures with longer shutter speeds and not have to worry about whether I'm shaking my camera at all or not. Plus, it's a bit more professional to have one - at least I think so.


4. Wide-Angle Zoom Lens.
If you've ever seen photos taken with a wide-angle zoom lens, then you know how awesome those photos are!! Absolutely amazing, and I want one!!


5. G-Series Telephoto Zoom Lens.
I've already mentioned this lens before, so it should come as no surprise that it's on this list. It's amazing!!

Two photos I love.

At the beginning of the month, we went to the Family Day thing for the MEU at Camp Lejeune. I had an okay time. I took lots of pictures while we were there, but with all of the people around, I just didn't get any good shots of all the aircraft and whatnot alone. Oh well. I guess I'll just stick to the fly-by shots when they're flying over our house. HA.

One shot I got that I really like was on our way back to the car. Mark was pushing the boys in the jogging stroller, and I was behind them by 2-3 steps because, of course, I was photographing a bunch of stuff while we were walking to the car. So here's the picture:

That blue thing is Michael's balloon fishing rod that the clown there made for him. It was such a cute little thing, and Michael loved it!! But there's just something about this photo that I really love, and I can't really put my finger on it. I just love it!! I guess that's something I like about photography though, you love a picture but can't always figure out why.

Another shot I got that day was while we were at home. I was messing around with the shutter speed on my camera while Mark and I were outside with the boys, and just taking photos while Mark and the boys played. At one point, the boys were just sitting down, and Mark was bouncing Michael's Spiderman ball, so I started taking photos. I got your usual photos with the ball up in the air, but I got this one, as well:

If you enlarge it, you'll get to see the ball a lot better. The ball just looks so funny and weird!! HA. I love it! It's almost flattened - kind of!! HA. I guess I was just quick with the camera.

I love using shutter speeds!! It took me so long to understand it and what ISO sensitivity had to do with it. While I'm no mastermind still, I can honestly say that I am pretty good with it. I now love shooting in S mode, and I use 95% of the time. I still shoot in AUTO once in a while, but I'm just trying to get away from using it and learning and focusing on other modes to shoot in. The next two modes I really want to focus on are M [manual] and A [aperture priority]. I think I could benefit greatly from those two modes. I'm also thinking about buying an external hard drive with a lot of memory so I can just go ahead and shoot in RAW. I've shot photos in RAW before and was very pleased with how the photos turned out, I just wasn't thrilled with how much memory is used when shooting in RAW. So I figure if I have an external hard drive with lots of memory, I won't be too worried about how much memory gets used.

Question: Do you shoot in RAW?

So I've been wondering, for those of you that read my blog, do you shoot in JPEG, Fine, Standard, or RAW?! I ask this because I have been reading it's best to shoot in RAW, and then I read that at AiP you have to shoot in RAW.

Now, I have never used RAW before. The main reason [and probably the only reason] is because of how much memory space it uses. I am very stubborn and whatnot, and I like to get the most for the memory I have. I like being able to get over 1,000 pictures with my 4GB card, versus only getting 180-190 if I shot using RAW. To me, not getting 200 pictures on a 4GB card is ridiculous!! I mean, yeah I transfer pictures over to a flash drive, and then onto a disc at the end of the month, but I just hate not being able to get a lot of photos on my freakin' card!!

I know the benefits of shooting in RAW, versus the other formats available, but I think it comes down to me being stubborn and wanting "more bang for the buck". HA.

I think I'll give RAW a chance tomorrow at the Family Day shindig for the MEU. Maybe I'll fall in love with it and look passed the fact that it uses up so much memory space.

So what do you shoot in - JPEG, Standard, Fine, or RAW?!