Well Im still a little woozey from last night, something to do with mixing painkillers and grasshopper ale I think. What a show! It was, in a word, super..fantabulistic..aler! Show starts at 10 though, what a joke! It would have been nice to hang out with everybody afterwords, but some of us have jobs and stuff, (NOTE: not me, ThatGenGirl ) It was so awesome to see everybody in the flesh, and I hope we can all hang out again real soon! One thing the internet is great equalizer for , I have to say, is height. Reagan, much taller in real life, as was misguided of course everybody can seem pretty tall when you hunched over with back pain, that I could've done without. Almost didn't make it yesterday.
I certainly enjoyed the some of the outfits last night, especially the ladies, makes me hardly able to wait to get my ink and stuff done. I have a felling that, if the wifey has her way, I won't have to wait to long to get my ears done. Of course, I'd like to see her get her 'monroe' she wants, soo hot!
I have to say though the highlight of my night, even after being squished into my backseat, with an actual SG Aya, was having my completely hot, awesome, super..fantabulistic..aler wife ThatGenGirl at my side!
Even if she was lusting after Shera, and not me! 
I certainly enjoyed the some of the outfits last night, especially the ladies, makes me hardly able to wait to get my ink and stuff done. I have a felling that, if the wifey has her way, I won't have to wait to long to get my ears done. Of course, I'd like to see her get her 'monroe' she wants, soo hot!
I have to say though the highlight of my night, even after being squished into my backseat, with an actual SG Aya, was having my completely hot, awesome, super..fantabulistic..aler wife ThatGenGirl at my side!
Even if she was lusting after Shera, and not me!
This button doesn't work in automatic modes, only manual.
Also, remember that different focal lengths bend and distort light in different ways. Long tele's will flatten things a lot - thats why portrait/glamour photographers tend to use incredibly long lenses (long enough that they often communicate with models over short distance radio.) Wide-Angle's will compress the edges of the photo while grossly enlarging the center.
The problem is that most people assume that zoom is the photographic equivalent of the cup-holder, a convenience feature for the fast-food-stuffing casual snapshotters that would rather not leave the pleasant solace of their car to photograph things.
This is a bad approach - zoom with your feet. Choose a focal length that will render the subject the way you envision it, then move your feet to a location so that you can capture the image.
Also, don't bother framing the shot through the viewfinder. Remember, you can blow things up later and crop later, so shoot large, crop when you're done.
Regarding the filters, the most impressive and remarkable change would be from a circular polarizer, it will make blue skys bluer. Its hard to describe, just try it. Note, for your camera, you must use a circular and not linear filter. I don't think they've sold linear polarizers in the past decade, but don't get tempted in the used-filter bin at your local photo store.
Just dink around with the filter, it has an element that rotates, which adjusts the angle of the polarization, you'll be able to see the effect through viewfinder, although, it tends to be more pronounced on film.
The biggest suggestion I can make is instead of going out to find something that "looks cool", "nifty" or such.. get inspired yourself. How do you feel right now. Are you happy, glad, angry, sad? Try to express your feeling through film.
An easier subject is people. A very rewarding thing to do is to find friends you know who are hanging out or interacting. Try to capture emotion - laughing, knowing smiles. Those tend to make great photos to keep on the wall to remind you of the times. Everyone standing up in file is inaccurate - its not a casual, candid picture. Candids can tell a story, Posed pictures document facial features.
Also, for neat patterns and such, Industrial construction sites and parts supply yards have a lot of interesting stuff, especially for black and white.
Oh, for the truck, go closer, drop to a knee so you're shooting up, and try for nearer to sunset, when the angle of the light is different. I think you may enjoy that.
Sorry if this is repeating things you already know, but I started making just a quick comment and it turned into a mental tide of photo-stuff.