Photography: Playing with the AV Settings

For months now, I have been meaning to get a new camera strap, and I finally bought one. It arrived on Tuesday morning, so I figured I should test it out. My knee(s) still haven't been feeling well since we got back from skiing, so I have only been able to jog one time since. My one mile walks to/from the grocery store everyday are not enough, so taking a walk around Wimbledon with the camera across my body seemed like a good idea. 

Confession: I don't know how to use the camera. 

Confession #2: Luke doesn't know how to use the camera. 

Yes, we have this expensive camera and neither of us knows how to properly use it! It is very very sad. We both know we should learn, we just haven't. Well, I usually use the iPhone camera because Luke starts whining when I get a hold of the Canon during our travels. He has a pretty good eye, so I don't mind. Imagine his good eye with proper knowledge! Anyway, I looked up a beginner guide on using the AV settings to get an idea of what to play with. With a backpack full of walking necessities, I set out in the sun to imitate a tourist. Note: There are two of almost every picture to show the differences.

Within ten minutes, it started raining on me! No joke. It went off and on though during my two hour exploration. Half of the sky was sunny and half of it was cloudy, very annoying, but it was actually great for playing with the aperature value.

 I played with the F-numbers a bit to make the foreground focus and the background blur. I need more practice on this fo sho.

You can kinda see the different at the end of the fence on the right side of the picture.

I struggled with this set of homes though. It just wouldn't drastically lighten or darken.

My main focus wasn't to take "good" pictures, which is a good thing because I realized when I got home that a group of pictures had a big rain drop on the lens. Sigh.

I was also trying not to fall in the mud. I don't think the mud made my knees feel better.

I even came across two homes with the blue plaques. Have I told you about the blue plaques? I'm going to tell you anyway... London does a really great job of preserving its history. All over the city you can find blue plaques on buildings that mark special locations. The house below is located in Wimbledon Common and was the home of Ernst Chain, the developer of Penicillin.

I thought I would be adventurous at the end of my journey with moving train photos. I was not ready for that one yet!

Although, I do kinda like this last picture...

You know, people make fun of tourists who always have a camera around their neck, but what's wrong with it? I had fun. In fact, I might try to make this a weekly adventure!

I really like the Photography for Beginners website because it breaks down each aspect into different sections and actually explains it. I have read so many tutorials on photography, but they never explain it in a way that a true beginner can understand.