One approach that works is to just sit around with your camera and play with it. Put it up to your eye, practice focusing (I sometimes do that while watching, focusing on the screen image), play with the controls, etc. You don't even have to go out of the house.
Going to the store? Take the camera. Waiting for your mom somewhere? Take the camera. Working at the computer? Keep the camera nearby or on your desk. It's not that we don't have time to practice, we don't think about it, or how we can practice or get familiar with our gear. One needn't be on a photo safari to pick up the camera and play with it. Since you're using a digi, you can see the results immediately. Try shooting around the house at different times of the day, adjusting exposure to see how different settings work with different types of light. Over expose, under expose, adjust focus and focal length. You don't even have to get up from your chair. Here's an idea: pick a piece of furniture in your living room and, over time, photograph it from many angles, in many different types of light, with different focal lengths, at different ISO's ... we all have time to make a few exposures a day, but we're not often motivated to do so because, perhaps, we think we have to be making serious pics, or be out somewhere to make a photo. Hell, I sometimes take a camera with me into the bathroom and shoot whatever's going on in the bedroom. Does all this make me a better photographer? I'd like to think so, but if nothing else I've got lots of snaps of toothpaste tubes, after shave lotion bottles, and my unmade bed <LOL> Shel Marnie mused: > OTOH, I don't have enough time to shoot very often. So I seriously doubt that > I am a serious photographer. :-) OTOH (since we usually have two hands), I > certainly need to shoot more and get more comfortable with my equipment and the > various things I can do with it.
