We don’t get too many telemarketers calling our household, and when we do they’re usually diverted because we’re habitual answering-machine screeners (family members haved learned to just say “Pick up. It’s me.”). But in case you do get trapped by the guy trying to sell you chimney sweep services (honestly, it just happened the other day), here’s a great counterscript that should make the call a little more entertaining. Or, if you’re my brother, you just repeat the word “pancakes” into the phone in a monotonous voice until the telemarketer gives up!

This week Roger and I attended the Digital SLR 1 class, provided free by National Camera and Video after the purchase of our Nikon D50. Here are the top 10 tips we took away from the class:

1. Always wear the camera strap around your neck. It’s too easy to get bumped from the side or behind and get the camera knocked out of your hands. When it drops to the ground, you’re toast.
2. When shooting in cold weather (as will happen often in Minnesota!), carry a spare battery since the batteries start to slow down — and eventually give up — when they’re cold. And, shoot without a hat or gloves. When you’re cold and you’re ready to go inside, that means your camera probably is too.
3. Don’t use the “delete all” feature in your camera’s menu system. Your pictures aren’t really erased — they’re just not viewable on the camera anymore. New data gets written on top of the old and your card gets fragmented much like a hard drive. Instead, use the “format card” option to erase your card (once you’ve downloaded the pics onto your computer, of course!).
4. Use a UV or polarzing filter for two reasons: 1) to protect your lens (your filter will break first) and 2) to get true color. A polarizing filter will make all the difference, even when shooting on what you think is a cloudy day.
5. Beware of the “GBD” — the “green box of death.” (That’s the green “auto” setting on our camera that we’ve been using since day one — oops!) Instead, use the “P” (program) setting. Also, instead of using pre-programmed settings for landscape, portraits, sports, kids and close-ups, use the S (shutter) and A (aperture) settings instead (the pre-programmed settings won’t give you any better results). This may take some practice.
6. Re-set the camera’s focus zone in the center (so that only the middle focus lights up) and use the “focus lock” technique when taking photos of subjects that are off-center (put them in the center, push down and hold the auto focus, recompose the photo, and shoot). With most cameras you can’t do this with the GBD on, so that’s another reason not to use it.
7. Looking for that soft background (otherwise known as “portrait” mode)? The higher your aperture, the more sharp your background. The lower your aperture, the softer the background.
8. Know that your built-in flash only works at about 12 feet max.  Your living room is probably longer than 12 feet.
9. Use a tripod. Follow the golden rule of thirds. Get down to your subject’s level.
10. Takes lots of photos and never delete on camera — use your computer (or TV if you’re in a hotel room — great hint!) to make judgments about what photos to keep or trash rather than choosing photos through your tiny LCD screen.

Great hints from a two-and-a-half hour class packed full of information. Digital SLR 2 is in a few weeks so we’ll post what we learned here!