ZONE FOCUSING

I've had my D50 for less than a year and I still have a lot of learning to do. Now that I'm in Manila I hardly ever have time to go out and take photographs which is why I try to find things around the house to practice my shots on (still photography). I've been meaning to take a stroll around the neighborhood and just photograph whatever comes my way but unfortunately, it's been raining for the past days and I never got the chance. So maybe one of these days I'll be able to find the time and opportunity. Anyway, despite having my cam for several months now, I have yet to master all those photographic terms such as f-stop, ISO, shutter lag, depth of field, etc. It's not easy to remember such things especially since I'm not very technical. But as always, I find that constant practice, research and study help me to remember what to do at certain situations. Well, sometimes anyway. I try to read and find helpful photography tips from time to time and I found this article on zone focusing very helpful. My constant frustration when taking photos is blurriness. My hands are a bit shaky and without a tripod it is difficult getting sharp photos especially in low light. The article says to use a fast shutter speed and to pick the smallest f-stop to maximize depth of field. Frankly, when I take photos, I just point and shoot and then check the LCD and then tweak my settings accordingly. I'm not savvy in manipulating the settings yet but hopefully with tips like this I'll figure it out eventually. Anyway, the article further says that using this type of zone focusing is great for taking photos of crowds of people (like get-togethers). I would want to practice doing that but I'll have to go to either Makati or somewhere really crowded to try that out and I'm not very comfortable going around public places here in the Philippines with a DSLR in tow. Maybe I could do that in Japan because I feel a lot safer lugging my camera around there. Here, not too much. It's just risky especially since I'm female and I'm not very aggressive. So maybe I'll try the zone focusing next time. But for now, I'm quite happy with all the tips I'm getting and learning. I even have my tiny notebook to bring with me at all times where I could check and verify my settings and such. It's quite handy. Hopefully I'll be able to find more helpful tips online.