What kind of camera do you have?

I'm often asked this question.

So I thought I'd explain what I do have and what I carry with me most every time I step out of the door.

I have a plastic Sanyo P&S camera that I picked up at a Big Box store because I needed a carry along that I could stick in my pocket and it would not be a big deal to lose it...not much $ to replace it.

I have an old Pentax Optio W60, which is one of my favorites.  You can take it out on rainy days, freezing temps, drop it in the creek, drop it off a mule...and it won't bust up.  I have sent it in once for repairs.  This little gem takes fantastic macro shots.  Think fungi!  It also fits in the breast pocket of a shirt or cargo pants pocket.

Yes.
I have DSLR's.  I have a nice Olypmus E420 that I picked up for a steal as Olympus was discontinuing that model.  I find it nice and lightweight compared to the Nikon D40 or my newer Nikon 3100.

These cameras don't go with me unless I am really out hunting photos.  And even then I carry a pocket camera and generally my FujiFinePix HS30EXR.
This camera can go from ultra zoon to a 1cm macro in no time.  No lens changing in the field!  
It isn't THE best camera of its kind, but it suits my purpose.  I think some other brands would take 'better' photos, but this one had the super macro feature which is something I really wanted.

 

I can go from this shot of the acorn above to this shot of a mule below in just a few seconds.

 

 

Sometimes the photos are a bit 'noisy' and sometimes the colors may be a bit off.  But any camera will do that to you.

I've had the Fuji for just about a year now and I've taken 4,700 photos with it.
Not all were fantastic, not all were winners.
But compared to my other cameras, this one goes with me everywhere as it is the most useful to me.

It doesn't do well in low light though, thought I'd add that.
But you can compensate with a light tripod and a lower ISO.

Well off to run some errands and then if the rain lets up, I think I'll take out my camera bag and see what goodies I can find.

 

Art through photos

At first I thought it would be a piece of cake.
Sure, take the photo and then drop it into any processing program and viola......ART!
Here is the original:

 

That was pretty boring right?

So I dropped it into Elements 5 by Adobe and decided to run it through Topaz Adjust 5.

Dang.

Still not very exciting.

 Then I though perhaps if I added some 'far' out textures and colors it I may come up with something interesting.

I added a painted texture and another 'painted' texture.  I used overlay for the layer blending and adjusted how much would show through.

Now I wasn't sure I really 'loved' it, but this photo was beginning to grow on me.

This photo taken with a point and shoot Pentax Optio...don't ever underestimate a pocket camera or what you can do with it.

Next thing I did was grab a so-so photo and run it through Corel Essentials 4, free when you buy a Wacom Tablet [which I did a year ago].  I painted it in 2 different layers and then blended them together.

Here is the original:

Here is the painted version:

I ended up liking the painted version enough to put it in my 'calendar' shots for this coming year.

This shot was taken with my FujiFilm Finepix HS 30 EXR.

My conclusion, do NOT underestimate what you can create with a non-DSLR camera!