Just some thoughts on photography

I am an avid amateur photographer. I've just got a couple of point and shoot cameras. A Canon A530 and a Sony DSC-S85. I really enjoy trying to capture good shots. It is amazing how well a decent point and shoot will do, though. Above are a couple of shots I took while in Springfield, Illinois. When I was in school, I took an awesome photography course at OSU. I had some really wonderful professors. They really opened my eyes, and showed me alot about the process behind photography. I ended up leaving the course with three first place photos. One of the subjects we covered was shooting with slide film. It was a bit more difficult to get that elusive "great shot," but the resulting photos were so well colored. Typically, the photos were much more vivid, and deeper in color. I was pleased to find that one of the modes on my little A530 attempted to replicate that style of film. I'm not big on scene modes, but I thought I'd give it a try. I happy to announce that this little Canon does a fine job. Neither of the shots above were retouched. The one on the left was taken in "Auto," the one on the right was taken in "Positive." As you can see, it really made the sky pop out. It also seemed to add a bit more depth to the overall picture. I will definitely be using this mode more often.

However, I think the reason these colors come out so well, brings me to my next point. I photography, light is very important. Most real photographers have reflectors and lights to help illuminate their subjects and eliminate shadows. As always, I'm a little too thrifty for a couple of hundred dollars worth of this equipment. What I normally do is take most of my shots in the late afternoon/dusk light and without a flash. Two things result from this. First, very little shadow. The light is bouncing off the atmosphere, houses, typically everything, except the subject. So you don't have people squinting, a harsh black outline around them (from the shadow the cast with your flash), or overexposed whites. The other added bonus, is that the light in the evening adds a wonderful warm tone to everything. Again, look at the pictures above, notice how warm the colors are? The warm building, against the cool blue sky? To me, it just adds a little richness. By the way, I forgot my tripod at home, please forgive some of the camera shake. Like I said, these are just my thoughts. If you have any tips or tricks, please leave a comment, I'm always looking to improve.