Photogaphy Challenges

This is it, my first blog from my new site Clearwater Cabin Photograpy (a parent to http://www.clearwatercabinliving.com/.  I have been frustrated, I must say, because when I received my new digital SLR camera in the mail with the nifty two lenses and all the trimmings, I thought taking beautiful photographs would be a snap!  Boy, was I wrong about that.  After using a simple point and shoot digital camera for many years, I was lead to believe that the SLR version would be easy to use and would enable me to be a pro in just a few days.  Well, months later after hours and hours of reading, studying, surfing the web and pulling what is left of my hair out, I have finally found some peace of mind in my photography experiences and I will share them with you in this blog.  Along with my photos, I also will share with you my resources I found that have helped me become a better photographer. 

To begin with, here is a photograph I am extremely proud of that I took at a flower garden along the Snake River in Southern Idaho.

This is called a Cleome, Spider Flower

"The cleome, or spider flower, is an annual flower known for its long seedpods. They develop below the flowers to look spidery. Learn more about.. Cleome, or spider flower, is an annual known for its exceedingly long seedpods. They develop below the flowers as bloom progresses upward"

Not bad for a rookie..Huh?  I took this picture with my Olympus E-510 Digital SLR using the 40-150 lense that came with my original purchase.   I put the aperture as far down as possible to blur the background and (I must admit) enhanced this photo slightly through Photoshop Elements (I highly recommend Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 for the earlier photographer...this is much less expensive than the Adobe Photoshop version and will do just about everything you need to help you create better photos. 

Go here to check out Photoshop Elements:     Adobe Photoshop Elements 7  If you cannot afford an editor at this time, than there is a great free one available on the web called Gimp.  A strange name but a great product...take a look:  http://gimp.org/

Well, that is all for now but please keep checking back to my blog as I will be giving those tips and resources I talked about to help you create those photographs you have always dreamed about!

Mike Powers
Clearwater Cabin Photography
http://www.clearwatercabinliving.com/