First Shot

I like pictures. I am fond of taking pictures of my kids. When my first child was born, we had to pay hundreds of riyals to get his baby pictures printed. Then, I collect the free camera films that go with each batch of printing; just to have another set of pictures. Thanks to the inventor of digital point and shoot cameras, I saved some cash from printing my second child's baby pictures. But as they grow older and get more engaged in different activities, my desire to capture each moment intensifies.

So, I got myself a digital SLR, Canon EOS 550D. No, I don’t aim to be a professional photographer. Just to have something to use and take my kids’ pictures vividly. I would say I got a great deal from cam4sell shop in Al Arouba Street. $720 (SAR 2,700) with 18 megapixels, a free bag and an 8 GB memory card is not bad.

As a starter, I read the manual and googled some facts. RAW and JPEG got me confused. RAW eats a lot of space from the memory card and images can be edited; while it seems JPEG have nicer shots. Thanks to a friend, she explained things to me. I tried shooting RAW and JPEG shots. I transferred them to the PC. Tried to edit but RAW requires me to be a proficient Photoshop user which I am not – yet. JPEG has been friendly; somehow, it allowed me to take advantage of the automatic image editing.

And here is the first shot I took. It's my daughter's favorite juice.

Manual settings: ISO 6400, f4.5, 1/125