So, as an early birthday gift I got a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. I've wanted a real camera for a while but have never pursued it because I didn't really have things I wanted to photograph back in Florida(or the time/freedom to do it). But since I started going to the zoo and really exploring San Diego, I decided I really want to take up photography and actually learn how to do it. I've been slowly reading about all of the technical information, playing with my settings(think I've already taken some 500 pictures testing things and playing with subjects) and the like because I don't really know the first thing about the finer details of photography. Or editing for that matter because none of these photos are edited and I haven't edited photos in a longggg time. So my goals are to pick up some kind of proficiency in all that, and then move on to different lenses(mostly a telephoto lens, because I like getting realllly close to things, that was the one good thing about my old camera).
Anyway, here's a couple of my favorites from the first batch of pictures. Bubbles on a hippo's whiskers, a bee on a Jimson Weed flower, a mountain lion chewing on a bone, and a flower I'm afraid I don't know the name of that I saw up in Del Mar.