Olympus - E410

Christmas 08, I actually spent some money on myself for once and brought a digital SLR camera. It was an impulse buy really but I knew that I wanted an SLR I just didn't know which one, and to be quite frank I didn't know that I had to be concerned with finding the right brand camera.

I purchased my Olympus E410 at Harvey Norman - they were having a sale and the sales rep showed me two brands:

A canon with 12 mega pixels and two lenses
An Olympus with one basic lens and only 10 meg pixels

Don't ask me why I cam away with the Olympus E410 - lest just say the advise given to be is that it had a better quality lens - and after all the lest is what takes the photo.

So since Xmas I have been playing around with my camera trying to figure out how it works. What I have had a ply with is using a low aperture setting - between 3.5 - 5f and taking pictures close up in a natural portrait technique. This gives me clear crisp focus on a close up object - usually my daughter and a soft blurred background. I am concentrating on this technique at the moment because I am learning the sensitivity of exposure -over and under, I am learning how to use the camera and its settings and im practicing composition and building up an image.

Because I am a trained artist, though not practicing , I have been using the manual setting - because I want to get to know aperture and speed (I haven't even looked at white balance yet). Two weeks ago I spoke to a camera expert at Stallard's (I want to buy a new lens) and he said that the other setting on the camera e.g A, P and the programed options would be much better for me to play with. I guess he advises that for the best possible technique to get a good photo - however I want those abstracted types of shots, plus I just want to know all there is to know about the theory of photography.

Anyway I played around with the Speed program and set portraiture options and he was right, I didn't have to think much to get a perfectly exposed and focused shot - but where is the fun in that! Good for when your at a wild life park and wanting some happy snaps of your family because quite frankly you just don't have the time to think about the shot and set it up. However I want to get arty farty so as much as the programed areas are good - I want to get to know my camera as an art medium.