Who am I to argue? I’ll still be snapping pictures of family and friends and moments of holiday cheer, but I won’t be posting any photography assignments until after the beginning of the new year.

I don’t think Santa will bringing me a DSLR …unless he can get me to make up my mind which one I want (or I win one for taking that online survey last week ). I drool over great photographs and convince myself that all I need is an SLR and I’ll be shooting with the same kind of artistry; but then I come back to reality when I see what can be accomplished with a phone camera.

Then there’s the fact that DSLRs don’t have much in the way of live preview. (The ones that have it are reported to be very slow when that feature is enabled.) They also have buttons and menus and functions and turn-y things that I would have to learn to use. And oh! Once you buy the camera, you need lenses, flashes, tripod, camera bag … and you have to learn how to use all of those too.

My Canon S3 is really very good for the money, and it takes great photographs. It’s auto setting is superb, and the manual settings let me do most of what I want to do. The one-button video function means that whenever I have my camera, I also have my camcorder, which produces good quality video and sound.

Still, maybe Santa should remain on standby. There might be a time when I really do need 1600 ISO, or 1.4 F-stop.

Lesson 4 includes two assignments with a film camera. I found a pretty neat old Canon point and shoot at Goodwill for $2.95 and toyed with the idea of buying it, but the thought of having to buy film, then actually drop it off for developing, then picking up the pictures, then scanning the results …

I put the camera back on the shelf. Someone else will appreciate it more, I’m sure.

But there’s one assignment in Lesson 4 I can still do with my digital camera. The results are likely to be boring, but I’ll do the assignment this week and post them next weekend.

But stay tuned. I have some neat pictures of a pumpkin to show off.

I’ve been waiting impatiently to show you these. I was pretty excited about the results. These were from three different days, but they were all taken at the same time of day. The reason some look like they were taken in the dark of night is that in many of the shots I had to adjust the aperture and shutter speed to let in less light. When I didn’t, I ended up with a big annoying circle of white. Except in one instance, when I set the camera to Auto and snapped away. (That’s the picture called “Moon In White.”)

Yes, it chaps my hide that the camera sometimes takes better pictures than I do. But heck, that’s why I bought it, I guess!

Note: You might think I posted a lot of these moon pictures, but guess what? I was holding back. There’s plenty more where these come from, and if you’re not nice to me I might just have to post MORE! Mwahahahaha.

It is almost Halloween; I could probably come up with some smoky, moody shots of the moon if I tried.

(Want some tips on getting great photos of the moon? Darrin Rowse’s Digital Photography School blog has a post about doing just that.)

…several hours, 2 unexpected guests, and 1 Internet connection problem later…

I experimented with slow shutter speeds this time, because I think those streaks of light just look really cool. Last time I did Lesson 2, I was more infatuated with catching a spray of water mid-splash — and I was doggone excited about it too, as you can see here.

As promised, here’s a link to the post at Digital Photography School about organizing photos. Natalie Norton describes her method in a nutshell, and it makes good sense. (Scroll down; it’s point #4 on the list.)

Very different from my previous Lesson 1 post. There’s more to the 1st assignment, so I’ll add to this post when I have it completed.

And here they are: more views of my hibiscus tree than you ever thought you wanted to see. I have to recommend this method, however. Every way you look at a flowering tree there is a new picture waiting to be snapped.

(The abstract pic attaches itself to the gallery, even though I don’t want it to. Oh well. I’ll chalk it up as a learning experience and move on.)

I’m calling this photo Arm’s Reach, because only a moment ago, I was carrying this girl around with me everywhere, hauling her up into shopping carts, lifting her in and out of the carseat, bearing her weight as her arms clung to my neck. She felt securely and permanently attached.

What do you think? Or am I just being entirely too sappy here? Sorry. I’m starting to accept it as another new part of my personality as a mommy.

Today’s the day! we’re starting Lesson 1 of the free photography course at Morguefile. When you’re all done taking pictures that make use of the Golden Mean and leading lines and such, leave a link to your blog here in the comments section. (I was going to put them in the post, but some of you tricky folks keep more than one blog, and I don’t know which ones to link to!)

Here are the blogs I know of so far:

Laura Lehman’s Crayon Virtuoso 

Charmian Christie’s Photo Project  (Charmian has a neat grid of some “Lucky Shots” she’s taken in the past. Pick one or all and tell her what you like about them!)

Jen Nipps will be posting her first shots on her blog, Creatif. (I think)

And Faten Abdullah will be posting her photos to Global Arts. Faten is also doing the 365 Challenge, so she should have new photos every day!

The Writing Mother, Heather Cook, started Lesson 1 back in July, and she has an awesome picture of — well, I won’t tell you what they are. Scroll down the page to see her colorful picture, and try to guess what it is.

Who else wants to join the fun? It isn’t too late!

The photo of carrots is a tip of the hat to Charmian. Her picture is better, though.

Back in July, I announced my participation in Jodie Coston’s Online Photography Course at Morguefile. A few other people expressed an interest, but some couldn’t start right away and others (including me) began posting our assignments, but had to put them on hold when we got busy with other things.

Which is fine, because it’s a completely self-paced course. I was thinking about starting again from Lesson 1 anyway, because I have learned a lot about my camera, its limitations, and some hacks I can use to work around those limitations.

Beginning October 1st, I’m starting the photography course again. I’ll be posting the results of each assignment here at the blog, and as my schedule allows, other nifty things I’ve tried from tutorials around the Web. The idea is to improve, so feel free to give feedback in the comments (“Eh,” “Ooh,” or “Bleh” are entirely appropriate.)

Food and travel writer Charmian Christie is going to join me this go-around. She’s set up a separate blog for this endeavor. And if you’d like to join us, you’re more than welcome. Let me know where you’ll be posting your photos, and I’ll add a link to the Photography Project blogroll.

I’ve found a smorgasbord of resources on the Internet for budding shutterbugs like me. Most of the sites are also frequented by pros and experienced hobbyists as well, so there’s a lot to learn. In no particular order, here are the links to my favorites so far. (Please comment if you know of a great photography site I’ve missed.)

Jodie Coston’s Free Online Digital Photography Course at Morguefile

Flickr (The forums here have a wealth of information. You can find groups that focus on your particular camera model, geographic area, photography niches, whatever. Join one or all of them.)

Photo Bliss (the 365 Challenge)

Better Photo (Has some free content and some for-pay services. I haven’t spent any money here, so this isn’t an endorsement of anything they offer for a fee; however, plenty of pros seem to gather there.)

Digital Camera Resource (Excellent, painstakingly-detailed, unbiased reviews of zillions of digital cameras. My favorite. Even if you’re not shopping for a camera, you may learn something you didn’t know about the one who have.)

Phew. That’s a lot of linking for one day. Now I better go put some fresh batteries in my camera, because October 1st is Wednesday! Did I say we are starting on October 1st?

BetterPhoto.com offers courses (for a fee), an online community, and loads and loads of user-submitted pictures at which you can gaze with longing, wishing yours were as good to learn from and be inspired by. (They also offer website packages with photo galleries, but these are not cheap.) The photos are worth a look; especially the Editor’s Picks.

Then there’s Darren Rowse’s (yes, you’ve heard of him! He’s ProBlogger.com) other site, Digital Photography School. Geared toward beginners, but full of interesting techniques and tidbits – and a forum too! I feel like I have not even yet begun to explore his site. I got sidetracked with 13 Lessons to Teach Your Children About Digital Photography (and learned a few things for myself). Next, on my TBR list is a short article answering the question, What Digital Camera Should I Buy My Child? (We have a birthday coming up in my house.)

Now, here’s something I think is kind of noteworthy: I found both of these sites through social networking. Not Google.

One of my Linked In contacts is an awesome photographer, and I noticed she belonged to a Linked In group called BetterPhoto, which led me to the corresponding website. SCORE!

I follow Darren Rowse on Twitter (like all the cool kids do), and he just happened to mention his Digital Photography School in a Tweet recently.

I’m a pretty good Googler, but entering a search string and holding your nose whilst clicking through the list does not even compare to finding sites like these through connections you know and trust.

Interesting. Last week, I posted a question about how social media was paying off for people in terms of money. I think I’m getting part of y answer. I haven’t laid down any cash at BetterPhoto yet, but I’m sure my clicks added some small amount of revenue to Darren Rowse’s site.

And it’s a pretty nice way to find good things on the Internet, whether you’re wearing your marketing hat or not.

 Wide Angle

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