Clickinmoms?

[SoonerTexan]

Oh...and get a lens hood if you will be shooting in sunny areas--takes care of a lot of the glare. I still haven't gotten one myself but there are loads of situations I wished I had one!

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Oh...and get a lens hood if you will be shooting in sunny areas--takes care of a lot of the glare. I still haven't gotten one myself but there are loads of situations I wished I had one!

Word of caution: if you are shooting wide angle, the lens hood will cause some vignetting. Learned that the hard way!

[SoonerTexan]

I've heard that...apparently there are some especially made to avoid that?

Thanks for all the info! I appreciate it so much.

Coming back to say that I went for the Rebel T2 deal at Costco. Should arrive Monday. I'm so excited! Now to figure out how to use the thing. . . I've been strictly point-and-shoot until now

[Ladybug]

Take a class. The RYC 101 class has been totally worth it. So far we've covered metering, spot metering and white balance. I'll probably take the 201 class next month too from the same photographer. Congrats on your new camera! I'm learning on a 50mm f/1.8 lens too. I'll echo investing and starting with that. Too bad Erica isn't around here anymore. She is an awesome photographer too who recently started her own photography business.

I think she still lurks, and she's on FB. I've emailed/messaged w/her a lot about photography. I'm sure you could ask her a question if you want to.

Yeah, I'm planning to take a few classes. There's a local camera store here that does a series of 3 classes for DSLR cameras, so I'm signed up for the first and plan to take the series. The local community college has some courses on digital photography and photography editing that I'd like to take too, if I can swing it with DHs schedule.

[BonBon]

The local community college has some courses on digital photography and photography editing that I'd like to take too, if I can swing it with DHs schedule.

Yeah, here is the key. I wish you luck. I bought a T2i for Dummies book. Haven't really read it yet though.

[Amiens]

I am on Clickinmoms, but mostly have been lurking as of late. I highly recommend RYC 101 and 201 with Lynne Rigby. She is awesome. If and when I get the time I would love to take her Lightroom class some time, or the Natural Light one. For me the online classes through Clickinmoms.com worked great, because I could work around dh's call schedule with my assignments.

Oh, thanks, I'll look into that. How do I register for RYC 101? I see it's listed as an ongoing class, but I can't figure out where to sign up for it.

Does anyone else find the format at CM difficult to wade through? I'm wondering if need to change a setting or something. Love the info there, but wow I hate the way it's set up.

[Ladybug]

It's harder to navigate on my iPad than on my PC. It's certainly more visual confusing than this forum, but I'm learning to tune out the noise. I am off manual, and that's a first. Check out my rockstar leprechaun. She's all diva! I'll probably use this in a st. Patty's e-card.

Well, shortly after I posted that, I stumbled on an old thread there about the site not rendering correctly. I followed the instructions and it looks like a normal forum!

Cute pic! My camera arrived today and I'm playing with it, but 10:30 p.m. in my living room isn't the best place, LOL. Hoping for sun tomorrow so I can chase the kids around the yard with it.

[Ladybug]

Fun! Enjoy your new camera. I would play with it for a while, study your manual and when you feel comfortable with all that then take a class. I'm going to do the RYC 201 class next month. I'll be ready for the good light whenever it decides to make an appearance in the NE again.

[MissCrabette]

This is probably old news to the pros here, but I thought I'd mention this to the newbies.

If you have an external flash, get yourself a $10 flash diffuser. I'd know about them for YEARS, but I always thought that they didn't help all that much. Well, I had been really struggling with indoor shots because we have very high ceilings, and I was ready to toss my flash out the window. As a last resort, I decided to see what a friend of mine used to take her stunning photos (she's gone pro). Imagine my surprise to see that she used the same flash as mine (cheapest out there), but that she also recommended this little plastic doodad. I gave it a try today, and I'm shocked that I went without one for so long. I could go on and on, but I'll spare you the details of how giddy I am. Go get yourself one. You won't regret it.