Photography: Better than Yeseterday

On the 25th of March I purchased a Canon T3i (this isn't the same kit I brought but it's an option). It was a gigantic step up from my first camera which was a Sony Cyber-shot that I got during my freshman year of high school. I brought my T3i since I was thinking about changing my major to Video Arts and Technology. But, I mainly purchased this camera to feed my love for taking pictures and because I want to start making videos to upload to YouTube.

My first camera ever!

My Canon is my first digital SLR and I had almost no idea how to use it correctly. I watched a ton of videos with words I didn't understand. I even tried reading the extremely boring manual it came with. But I just couldn't comprehend any of the information I was trying to take in. I was shooting in auto-mode without even thinking about switching to manual mode until a few weeks ago. I had decided that I wouldn't be getting my money's worth (which was a hefty penny I might add) until I learned to shoot in manual mode. So as I do whenever I have a problem, I went to Pinterest to figure out how to use it. I found a bunch of great pins discussing filters, lens, and bokeh. Some blogs went as far to suggest taking a photography course. But, after some intense scrolling and pinning I found a few pins that helped me and gave me the confidence to transition to manual mode. I'll list them down below.
A Quick Guide to Understanding Your DSLR Camera
Shutter Speeds: Shooting fast vs. Shooting Slow
How to Shoot in Manual Mode-The Basics
Taking Great Photos for Your Blog
I discovered that I like to change my shutter speed instead of my ISO and aperture, because that's what works for me since I have only practiced taking pictures f my dog. I keep the aperture as low as possible and since I have a 18-55mm kit lens the lowest the aperture can go is 4.5. I haven't taken any pictures at night yet so I haven't had a reason to make my ISO higher than 100.
Here are a few pictures of my dog.

Watching my uncle get ready for work.

Waiting for his food.

Mothers Day weekend in the Poconos.

Friday Night
When we first arrived in the Poconos we were lost while trying to find the check in because we arrived at night it was a bit harder to recognize all the places and markings that let us know we're headed in the right direction. It was creepy driving around disoriented looking for the check-in. While we were driving there was five boys standing completely still on the side of the road. We weren't sure if they were actual people or not. When we circled back because we thought we missed it we saw them walking and realized it was a joke.When we got to the villa we were occupying for the weekend we put all our bags in the house and shortly after went to sleep.

All the cars in the driveway.

Saturday
I went to the pool with my little cousins. We stayed there for about two hours then we headed back to the villa and changed to get ready for our Mothers Day barbeque at my cousins uncle house. There was a lot of people and food there when we arrived. I went upstairs and went to sleep because I was still tired from the pool. When I woke up I went downstairs with my camera and started to take pictures of the family. (I didn't ask permission for the release of their pictures so I won't post them here.) After I took a bunch of pics I ate some food and then we went back to the villa. I watched Thor then I went to sleep.

Trees outside of my cousin's uncle house.

Sunday
We woke up at 8 in the morning to pack our bags back into the car for our drive back home. We had to be out of the villa by 2 O' clock. So when the time came we were already packed so we didn't have to rush. We went to return the room keys to the check in and then we went across the street to use our food vouchers since they were going to expire. We all got variations of chicken(ex; chicken tenders, chicken breast, and I had a chicken sandwich). Before we went to my cousin's uncle house we stop for ice cream at Dairy Queen. When we got to the house we watched Mission impossible 4.

Taken before we left. Bunny on the fireplace.