congrats. It's nice to have your own. Kinda like a chair - nice not to have others fiddle with the settings.

I'm a four-thirds-er. Oly E510, and lusting after the E-3. In fact, every time I'm in a conservatory and the misters go off (like yesterday), I really wish for the e-3 weatherproofing. I'm doing the math: if I invest enough in glass, then it will be worth upgrading the body :P

I have found out that the glass is where the expense really is. I just bought a Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro. So look for some real close ups of orchids. I love the texture of the flowers it is amazing how they look when you get real close.

DH gave me the Canon Rebel Xti for Christmas. I'm having to learn about SLRs all over again. My other digital camera is also a Canon that allows some flexibility, but it's still more of a point & shoot.

What I need is a basic photography book to teach me about light and fstop and depth of field, etc, so that I can actually take a picture with it. The basic settings don't really work for most orchid work, and I can't get anything of value by using the advanced settings.

Anyone have any good books to recommend? I'm very technical, so i can use the features on the camera, so I don't need a how to on the camera, but I do need to learn about photography.

thanks,
Carolyn

This site may help you some. There are lots of books and DVD's out there check Amazon.

Here is a link that might be useful: Digital secrets

If you're comfortable with the buttons, then perhaps all you need to do is shoot a ton of pix. I read the link below for a quick overview of dof, and then I learned by looking at the EXIF data on my photos. I would take multiple shots of the same thing from the same place, first in Auto mode to get a general feel for aperture and shutter speed. Then in aperture mode (me setting the aperture, and the camera automatically doing everything else), and then in manual mode. Then back on the computer, I'd flip through the photos to see what setting combos worked well.

I also have a photography text book (forget the title) but it hasn't been very useful.

Here is a link that might be useful: ignore the oly details

Me - congratulations. That's gotta be fun. Post pictures, please.

I've got a Canon Power Shot A80. It's an upgrade from an earlier model because of the avi function, which is perfect for shooting the dogs and cats in action.

It has manual settings, but I've never explored them. For my purposes, orchid pictures are more for documentation than art. Whitecat8