The Lazy Photographer - Did I Break It?

I’ve made this substantial (substantial for my budget) investment in a Canon EOS 80D DSLR. I purchased it based on the recommendation of my cousin and with the approval of my son who also owns an expensive camera.

First of all, I had no idea that the learning curve to use this camera was so steep. Sure, I wanted more control over my pictures and I wanted to get better quality photos. I even expected to re-learn basic photography skills since it’s been a long time since I used and operated a 35 mm camera manually.

I am a part of the digital revolution now. I have been taking pretty good pictures with my newish IPhone, editing them if I need to add a frame or box or text with a couple of free apps, posting my blog, and going on with my day.

I want to travel, dance, read, crochet, knit and cook. The photography upgrade was to enhance my other passions in life. Well, . . . Nobody told me that I had to go back to school to learn how to operate and utilize the technology in this “digital camera with its accompanying software”.

I am not the most patient person in the world and I don’t really like “talking heads” (video instruction). I’m more of a DIY learner/ discoverer. Guess what? You can’t just skim through the 500+ page manual, watch a couple of videos, and take off.

I learned that this morning after I successfully downloaded my pictures from the camera to my computer via a USB cable, ignored the prompts asking if I wanted to use other software ( that came with the camera) and oohed and awed at the quality, size and potential of my pics.

Ready, set go! I thought that I knew enough to take a few pictures, download them and write a fantastic blog for using the #photography tag.

Why won’t the shutter work? Why is my flash acting like a strobe light? What does ISP sim mean? Why am I getting a WIFI notification? I didn’t read about WIFI transfers yet. Arrrrrgh!!!

Pixabay

Coffee break. Calm your nerves. Go to Google and then back to the manual. Lesson learned? Don’t go pushing buttons and changing settings that you don’t know the function of on a camera that you just bought.

Nothing to see here people. Stop gawking. Mild breakdown occurring. It will be better tomorrow.