“I want a better camera!” or do I?

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• I’ve been getting very frustrated with my limited camera equipment of late.  About a week ago, I spotted this beauty as I was passing through my local churchyard.   I whipped out my phone and snapped it.

  

  It perfectly captured how the red/golden leaves sung out against the darker greens.  All I did was add some boost in post production.  The blue hue is due to the phone colours.  & I added it to my cherry blossom tree set.

  Yesterday, with the sun cheering us up after the rain, I thought I’d shoot it again using my compact digital camera.  Surely I would get a better shot with a more sophisticated one.  I mostly shoot with this in auto mode because the manual setting doesn’t allow for any control over aperture or shutter speeds, as an SLR does. So that is what I did.

  

  But it doesn’t work.  Once again I’m frustrated because the camera hasn’t recorded what my eye has seen.  Yes the sunlight is brighter than last time but it didn’t look so different.  I’ve had to fiddle a lot in post production to lift the tree from the background.   And I’m very disappointed.  “I want a better camera!”

  Help!  I sound just like my favourite teenage nephew, always wanting something.  And then the phrase, “I want, doesn’t get.” comes to mind. And I wonder, “would a better camera really get me a better shot?”  I would have played with depth of field I guess, to highlight the tree.  But I know at the moment, I’m stuck with the gear I have.

  With sun shining invitingly again this morning, I get out the camera manual to discover just what the manual mode does do.  It allows you to vary the light exposures, an area I’ve never really grasped.  But it seems simple enough and advises this for use in tricky light conditions.  So I decide to give it a go.  And this is the result.

  

  This picture is exactly how the camera exposed it. (As is the cover photo) I haven’t tweaked anything.  I don’t think I’ve ever had such good result with light exposures before.  I still miss playing with depths of fields, and would like a better camera.   But for now I’ve got a new lease of life from this one.  Only problem is the mode button is getting unreliable and keeps wanting me to video everything.  Fingers crossed there is still more life in it yet.