My favourite photo from our Japan trip

Japanese Maple Leaf

f4.5, 1/50 sec, 97mm
Canon 400D with 28-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS
Saturation increased via Microsoft Office Picture Manager 2003

Editing Photos via Picasa2

Picasa2 is a very good picture edited created by Google. Though it's only in it's second edition I look forward to seeing what extra features will appear in future. Plus the program is free to download, so with that consideration it's a pretty good program!

Whilst at J&J's house warming I took a number of photos. Below (on the left) is one photo I took which I altered slightly (result on right). If you've ever wondered why some people take really good photos it's probably because they've altered the shot afterwards. It's not cheating as such - composition in the original photo is still important. But as you can see below, there is a world of difference after some tweaking ;)

My new weapon of mass production

I've been waiting for this for a long time. Ever since I purchased my little Sony DSC-W5 18-months ago I've been wanting to upgrade to a DSLR to further expand on this new hobby.

So without further ado, here is my newest camera - the Canon EOS 400D




Given that photography itself can be a relatively expensive hobby I've decided to limit myself in the add-ons that I could obtain. The primary purpose of these add-ons will be to improve the immediate photography experience - so I ask any brothers or sisters out there to keep me accountable in this regard!

The main additions I wish to include at this stage are:

• A new lens - I've been investigating the Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM Lens. It seems to be a relatively affordable and useful general purpose lens for my needs.
• A medium sized tripod
• A flash with diffuser

Outside of this is relatively unnecessary for my current needs. Please keep reminding me of this in case I start looking for macro lenses and what not :P