First DSLR Shot

Sony A200 ■ f/6.3 ■ 1/60 ■ ISO 100

I have been shooting with a point-and-shoot camera, but this was my first time shooting with a DSLR and doing an edit using Lightroom.

In 2008, I saw a high school friend's online post and became interested. I bought myself a kit, a Sony DSLR A-200. I did not know much about focal length, ISO, shutter speed, and much much more.

I taught myself by watching videos, following online content creators about the craft, and immersing myself in the information they shared. I realized that learning was just half the battle. I need to go and take photos.

After taking a photo in RAW, I never looked back. It gives you a great latitude when processing. Later, I learned that regardless of whether it's RAW, you can only push it so much. I need to get better exposure and better composition. This way, processing the photos later will not take longer.

I found myself locked in MANUAL mode most of the time if not all. It has an upside and a downside. Upside, you control everything: aperture; shutter speed, and ISO. The downside is if you are not proficient in how to get close to your exposure then there will be so much adjustment on the dials to get the desired exposure. The good thing is that you are not wasting film.

This was one of the few test shots I took of my daughter. I believe I have this in MANUAL, I may have just done some post-process much later when I bought Lightroom and after watching tutorials online.

I don't want to get ahead of myself but little that I know that this was the beginning of my GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). More about this later.