Last Christmas, my husband and I got a nice new [tag]camera[/tag]. My dream camera I should add- we had a few nice cameras before, but I really dreamed of a Nikon. So, having a Nikon D40x for the first time in my hands, I decided- now or never. Let’s finally start taking a pictures like a pro.
A little bit of history now. My first contact with [tag]photography[/tag] was when my father was taking out his gear- all his cameras I don’t even remember the brands, lenses, filters… It was overwhelming, but ultimately leading to weekends spent in dark room which small bathroom in my parents flat was becoming. Developing the photos was magic, and preparing the solutions- fun. It was my first contact with chemistry laboratory as well. It all resulted in me becoming a chemist rather then photographer, though.
Anyway, my take on every new hobby or interest is to get about every book they have in local library and read it. After two months, I am at my sixth book and feel that I am getting a handle on things. Let’s see, few basic rules I already figured out:
1. Shooting like a pro? You just need to remember to set 4 things before pressing the shutter- ISO, shutter speed, aperture and white balance. And do it in less than few seconds? Yeah, my record is about 7 min, just because my accompanying husbands gets irritated by then…
2. Pro photography requires a tripod and most of all- time. When you go with friends for vacation, you end up taking snap shots anyway. On P mode, to make you feel like a pro.
3. If already everybody knows (and does) shoot flowers from their level, it is not original and fresh anymore.
4. OK, maybe “RAW is a format, not a religion” (I cannot find in which book this was) but I think that pro-amateurs may in fact appreciate more shooting RAW than JPEG. I can correct easily few basic mistakes in software when I have RAW- like wrong white balance or a bit of over or under- exposure.
Let me get on reading now 
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