Light

Do you know what is different about today's post? Are you paying attention to the day -Tuesday. Do you read my blog enough to know what Tuesdays are? Normally, they are 100 Strangers two-faced Tuesdays.Today is not .. I'm sorry. I am sure you're cursing me in your head now but I do have a good excuse! I was going to take a photo of a stranger on the beach this afternoon when WHAM! We got hit with a lot of rain, forcing me to run home. Before leaving, however, I did manage to get a shot of the stranger but they were far away in their rain gear (clearly better prepared than me!) walking on the sand. I'm sorry I have failed this challenge so early in. Although I also promise TWO photos next Tuesday so it sort of builds the anticipation, right?!

Since I failed miserably on that front, I decided I needed to do something productive with my camera. So I read up on slow sync flash ..just in time to realize yet another reason to upgrade my camera. Rebel XS does not have the ability for a slow sync flash :( Okay so mental note: read the difference between 1st& 2nd curtain flash and figure out if there is anything cool / worthwhile learning about it. So I moved on to the next topic (have you figured out yet that today was not my day?) which is- LIGHT! Off I went to my room with a flashlight to play around. I officially cannot wait until this evening so I can play with light outside in the dark. Assuming the rain holds off this time! At first I wasn't sure what to do with the light. I mention this a lot around here but I'm really not that creative. So then I did what everyone with no ideas does -I wrote!

So original but this was my very first attempt ever so you have to cut me at least a little slack, right? At least it's readable! After writing some words, I quickly got bored with that and moved on. I realized I could spotlight things. Which is kind of cool and will work super well near Halloween! Graveyards in the dark with flashlights for ghostly images?! I. am. in. Since I don't have anything spook in my bedroom ..I just sort of shone the light on random things. I settled on my crazy giraffe! He just sits there wearing a boa I stole from someone one night in a bar on St. Pats. He is awesome!

Yeah ..so I'm not going to win any awards anytime soon but this was my first attempt. I'm trying to learn about everything my camera can do (and in the process really learning how much it CAN'T do) and make at least one attempt. So here is my first attempt at 'light painting' but you can guarantee there will be lots more photos where this came from because I actually really enjoyed it :)

Have you ever painted with light? What is your favorite camera 'trick'? Anything I need to try? Fill me in ..I'm super curious what else I can do with this thing!
Also does anyone else have a Canon Rebel XS and find yourself being disappointed as you move along in the photography world at what it lacks? Oh well.. live& learn. I had no idea what I was buying when I made my first dSLR purchase. Now I know a lot more.