For the last few months I've been reading the Canon reviews on this
website, read the forums here and had written down a wish list of
things I wanted but would never afford...


Well, I guess the question in subject line was purely rhetorical because I did. A rich "uncle" took his time to give me some money and when I did receive the dough it included a lot of back pay, then I got on EBAY and went Nuckin Futz Crazy.


Cut to the chase, I bought: A Canon 7d, EF-S 10-22m, EF-S 17-55mm IS, EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS, EF 100-400mm L IS, Canon Extender 1.4x II, Battery grip, spare battery, Manfrotto 694 Carbon fiber Monopod, Manfrotto 190CX3 Carbon Fiber tripod, Manfrotto 488RC2 Ball Head, Sandisk 32gb extreme III CF card, A Gary Fong Lightsphere kit, Tamrac Expedition 6x backpack, Tamrac Velocity 9 Slingpack, La Cross BC-700 battery charger & 8 eneloops, and Hoya HMC UV, Cir-Polarizer, ND 2,4,8 filters.


I would have gotten a flash, but I already have a 580 EX II.


I probably went a little over kill.


After I graduate from CAL next year I plan on taking a many months long Major cities/ National Parks road/backpacking trip circling the US. I'm 26, single, no kids, relatively young and don't think I'll ever have this opportunity again. I'm pretty good at composing pictures but I've never dived into any of the technical aspects of photography. Usually, or closer to almost always, I would set my 30D to one of the presets and shoot my photos.


A question for the experienced, pro, or knowledgeable: what would be the best way to learn the technical aspects of photography? What are the rules of thumb that you use for specific instances? I plan on doing landscape, city scape, candids, portraits, whatever, so don't hesitate. Was there a particular source that you learned a lot from? A book, magazine, video of some sort, or etc?


I included a couple of pics of Half Dome in Yosemite I took this past August to show my skill level but my problem is, well, if photography was like a shooting game, I'm a run and gunner who is trying to learn how to snipe. I want to be prepared because I've never taken any photography courses and don't want to lose any once in a lifetime shots when I go on my road trip due to ignorance. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks! And sorry for the long post.