Some people get all the good stuff!!

I have been pretty bad about reading other blogs lately. I'm trying to make time to surf around and catch up as much as I can, and today I found myself at Dooce. I've been there before of course, but I think I get scared off every now and then by how enormous that place is.

One thing I love about that website though are her Flickr photos. They always look really good. Is it because of
a) her photography skills
b) her camera
c) the way Flickr presents the photos or
d) her child is freakin' gorgeous.

After my recent Outer Banks vacation I posted the photos on Flickr so that I could easily send them to everyone. They look good, but I think I'll have to rule out c); I can't give Flickr all the credit.

I've had my new camera since Christmas, and I still haven't read the "Advanced Manual" yet. I'm hoping that will give me some better pointers on how to really capture depth and color. In my last year of college, my apartment-mate and I took a photography class. We learned how to develop photos and use a darkroom, but we learned absolutely nothing about using our fancy cameras! I couldn't believe it. It was interesting learning how to develop our photos, but let's face it, after that year when were any of us going to have access to a darkroom? Learning how to use the camera and what to do when taking the photos would have been the useful, lifelong skill.

I thought that Dooce uses a digital camera, so how does she do this? I would love to be able to take rich looking photos like that. But, would it mean I'd have to understand all that crazy data that Flickr posts about your photos and your camera?! Like this:

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/5.5
Focal Length: 23.2 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: 88

Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution: 180 dpi
Y-Resolution: 180 dpi
Date and Time: 2007:04:22 08:58:28
YCbCr Positioning: Centered
Date and Time (Original): 2007:04:22 08:58:28
Date and Time (Digitized): 2007:04:22 08:58:28
Compressed Bits per Pixel: 3 bits
Shutter Speed: 277/32
Maximum Lens Aperture: 157/32
Metering Mode: Pattern
Color Space: sRGB
Focal Plane X-Resolution: 12515.556 dpi
Focal Plane Y-Resolution: 12497.041 dpi
Sensing Method: One-chip colour area sensor
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Digital Zoom Ratio: 2816/2816
Compression: JPEG
Image Type: IMG:PowerShot A540 JPEG
Image Number: 1000369
Model ID: 26607616
Tag::Canon::0x0013: 0, 0, 0, 0
Tag::Canon::0x0018: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
Tag::Canon::0x001D: 32, 1, 0, 2, 2, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 39, 0, 0, 0, 0
Tag::Canon::0x001E: 16777728
Tag::Canon::0x001F: 138, 1, 0, 4, 8, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
Tag::Canon::0x0022: 416, 0, 0, 16, 8, 1, 1, 640, 480, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 8, 384, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
Image Width: 2816 pixels
Image Height: 2112 pixels
Macro Mode: Normal
Image Quality: Fine
Canon Flash Mode: Red-eye reduction (Auto)
Continuous Drive: Single
Focus Mode: Single
Canon Image Size: Large
Easy Mode: Beach
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Camera ISO: Auto
Metering Mode: Evaluative
Focus Range: Auto
AF Point: Auto AF point selection
Canon Exposure Mode: Easy
Lens: 6 - 23mm
Max Aperture: 157
Min Aperture: 192
AE Setting: Normal AE
Display Aperture: 5.5
Zoom Source Width: 2816
Zoom Target Width: 2816
Focal Type: Zoom
Scaled Focal Length: 23200
Focal Plane Size: 230 x 173
ISO: 100
Measured LV: 327
Target Aperture: 5.6568542494924
Target Exposure Time: 0.0024786151507651
Focus Distance Upper: 4.23
F Number: 5.7
Camera Type: Compact
Auto Rotate: None
Exposure Time: 32
Scaled Focal Length: 27
AF Points Used: Center
Image Width: 2816
Image Height: 2112
Image Width (As shot): 1408
Image Height (As shot): 264