Welcome to my April 2016 Blogging A to Z Challenge!

Finally I’ve decided on a theme.  A theme designed not only to get me blogging every day about something more substantial than avoiding the Daily Post, but also to help me finally learn how to use my new-old Canon DSLR!  Now, bear in mind, I have not prepared anything in advance.  I am, per usual, participating in the challenge on the fly.  And also, I have no idea what I am doing or talking about when it comes to things about cameras.  I am going to be learning (hopefully) as I go.

So, let’s get started!

If you’re going to start learning more about your big camera, as well as about photography in general, there is probably no better place to start than Aperture.  Well, I guess turning on the camera would be a better starting point, but I’ve got that!

Anyway, Aperture.  Everyone knows what this is already.  Probably.  But let’s not take anything for granted.  According to the Internet’s greatest reference (you know the one) “an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels.”  Well, that’s probably the definition found anywhere.  I don’t think Wikipedia owns it.  But let’s see if I get this right…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:16_minolta_50mm.jpg

The wider the hole, the more light gets in. Right?  And I know there is something called the F number where the lower the F number, the larger the opening and the more light that gets let in.  And I also know now that the smaller the F number, the “faster” the shooting speed.  So, what I read is that if you want to, for example, focus on one thing and make the background blurry, choose a low number.  When you want to see everything clearly, choose a higher number.

Now what I’m going to try is some pictures, some with a low number, and some with a high number to see what happens.

On my camera (a Canon EOS Rebel XS, and old model), the lowest F number appears to be 3.5.  The highest, 36.  It appears to depend on the level of zoom.  Ok.  I’m just making that up, but it does appear to change depending on where I move the lens to.  I get the lowest number when I’m zoomed all the way out, and the highest number when I’m zoomed all the way in.  Don’t know what that means yet.  Z is for Zoom, so I’ll know more in a month 🙂

Note that I did not crop or edit these images.  They are as I took them.

So this first one was zoomed in, and at F35

This next one was slightly less zoomed in (that’s the technical term, you know), and at F5.0.  Notice I am finally getting the focus a bit better now.  I notice a blurry background – I think that’s what I am supposed to notice!

This one is zoomed out and an F3.0

And finally, this one is the same zoom as above, but an F22.  A much clearer background.  I think I’m getting it!

Ok, even though I still have no idea what any of this really means yet, I think using the DSLR is really cool!!!  Oh, and it’s also fun to see the lavender already blooming.

Tomorrow, B will be for…well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.