Practicing Photography Spontaneously

I have read many times that if you're learning photography you should always bring a camera with you, an opportunity to shoot comes along and you don't have a camera then it will be gone forever.

But bringing a DSLR wherever you go, specially going to work, does not seem to be a good idea. A DSLR is not like a cellular phone that you can put in your office drawer while you work. You take care of your DSLR more than you do your phone (at least that's my case, my Nikon is way more expensive than my phone which came bundled with my service subscription).

And so one evening after office, my wife and I decided to take our son to a local fast food, and because we were going out to eat, I still did not bring my camera - I don't like to spill any drink on it. But as my wife placed the tray with food on our table, the colors seemed to call for a photograph.

This is what I got with a 1.3 megapixel camera and indoor fluorescent light fixed on the ceiling. I turned "Night Mode" on and white balance to "Fluorescent". Upon arriving home, I did a few adjustments using GIMP.

These are the other shots I took, but did not come out as the picture above, with the light above our heads there was no way to get good exposure and my phone does not have a flash.

I know that these photos are not even close to what they would have looked like if they were taken with a "real camera" but as I have said before, I am still learning. With these pictures I had a chance to practice a few lessons I've read. It may not be good composition but at least I got to practice spontaneously.

So, if you can't always bring your DSLR bring your point-and-shoot or just make sure your phone has a camera. It's not always the specifications of the camera that is needed to practice your photography most of the time its the knowledge you have learned and trying to master.