RTFM

In about a week from now,my Fujifilm X-T1 camera will be two years old.It was a present from my friend and I received it on 12th March,2014.About two moths earlier,my Canon 400D went dead due to old age.I bought my first DSLR Canon in December,2006.

Just like a kid who got his new bicycle,I just browsed through The Manual and went out shooting like I did with my old Canon.I tried to read The Manual but only understood less than 50% and it is dead boring.So,I told myself to shoot first and learn more about the camera later.

The "later" took one year and four months.I did try to attend the Tutorial Class organised by Fujifilm Malaysia, but only managed to get a seat on 12th July,2015-fully booked most of the time.During the class,I took the above and the below photos.By then,I learnt more about the basic of my camera but still struggling with  some features.

To imporove my knowledge on taking photos,I attended  three talks and bought three books in the last two years.During these two years of exploring the world of photography via Fujifilm X-T1,I have taken at least 1000 photos but only managed to sell one at Getty Images.

Photography is not my profession but just my hobby.However,it is very serious hobby-just like my cycling.

Old habit dies hard.My bad attitude has not changed until end of 2015.I could not be bothered to learn all the features in my new camera.I just muddled through it-just like my old Canon DSLR and Lumix LX5.My firmware version was at 1.1 two weeks ago.Now,it is updated to 4.30.That was how caring I was to the many good and useful applications with the updated firmwares!Blimey!

Beginning this year 2016,I decided to throw away my old bad habit and began to learn more about my camera and improve my shots.I tried to shoot RAW and explore B&W photography.And I shoot more in Manual Mode than the Auto Mode and also played around with special effects like the one below.

One of my favourite subjects is flower.Here is my ordinary shot but I like the colour and the texture captured.

Comparing to my age,I am quite a fast learner of new way or technique to take photos.However,to acquire the skill of the masters,it  will take some time.Looking back,it took me more then five years and at least 10,000 photos to improve my skill on composition.It was hard work but it is worth my while.My friends and me are now quite happy to see my composition but I need to improve more on my technical skills with the camera.Below is one example of my photos with shallow depth of field taken in a Mamak Restaurant.

Reading the camera manual is bloody boring ,but there are a few lessons that I can learn to impove my skill to fully use my RM5,000 bundle of joy.When I asked my friend to teach me on the technical,he sent a cryptic message via whatsapps-RTFM.I googled and got the answer.I have no choice but to Read The F#$%& Manual.