Visual Impact

I am a visual learner. That means that I comprehend much more quickly when somebody shows me how to do something rather than me reading it out of a book. Eric used to be astounded that I wouldn't understand basic concepts of the computer that "everybody knew," and then, as soon as he would show me, I'd know how to do what it was that he was demonstrating almost before he was done with the demo. But that's just the way that my mind functions the best.


That explains why I can't figure out how to download music from Itunes (it's on my New Year's resolution list this year which I've almost halfway completed already, thank you!) but anticipate the day that Eric comes over to load my first music on my Ipod. By the way, Eric says that I.P.O.D. stands for "I paid over double."

So given my propensity for not understanding written directions well, it's been terribly frustrating to me not to take good pictures of my jewelry. I'd read lots of blogs on the subject. Lighting. Background. Tripod. Timer Button. Macro. The first three were easy for me. I could see how my pieces looked better in natural lighting, at certain times of the day, and even figured out the painful lesson not to shoot them against black backgrounds. But the timer button? The Macro? I read the instructions put out by Sony for my Cybershot camera. Maybe they're perfectly clear; maybe they're not. But I certainly wasn't gaining any level of comprehension by reviewing them.


Then came Eric & my trip to Cambria last weekend. (I will blog about that very soon; I promise!) If I am anything, I am a shutter bug. I love getting the candid shots, and the not so candid too. I took 182 photos in the course of 48 hours. And, as I spun the dial around on the back of my camera, the lightbulb (yes, it's a flash bulb) suddenly went off in my head. To get the Macro - which is the flower button on the back of my Cybershot by the way - I had to spin the dial on the back of the camera to the "P" marking! The timer button? That was the little clock. Push it once and it delayed the shot for 10 seconds. Push it twice and the time delay was only two. This revelation, by the way, came to me as I was shooting a spectacular series of sunset shots.


So come this afternoon, I finished a commission piece for a client. We're on a very tight deadline, so I did not wait until morning when the lighting would be optimal to take and send approval photos. I shot this afternoon and just kept my fingers crossed.



The pictures? Supurb. Professional. At least in my humble opinion. And the best thing about finally learning how to get the money shot? Once you know something... really know it, you can't unknow it again.