More camera than this Mom can handle!

I’ve been talking about getting a DSLR camera since… pretty much forever. We almost did two years ago, but I got nervous at the price, and  all the features. So we went with the still-pricey regular digital camera that proceeded to take terrible pictures and fail on us like crazy. Bad move.

I finally broke down and ordered a new camera. Last Friday, it arrived. A Canon EOS Rebel T3i. What was I thinking? It’s way more camera than this Mommy can handle! But at least #1 on my Stars & Wishes list is accomplished! And I finally get to take one of these my-camera-is-so-cool-I-will-take-a-picture-of-myself-taking-a-picture pictures. Always wanted to do this:

I was so nervous to take this camera out of the box. (I LOVE technology and gadgets, but I hate the initial startup and learning curve. It makes me about as twitchy as assembling Legos or furniture. I often leave items in the box for WEEKS before daring to use them. Just ask hubby how many MONTHS it took me to use the sewing machine he bought for my birthday years ago!).

But… I had the Touch-A-Truck event the next day, so I had to give in and charge the battery. I think my pictures from that event turned out well, but outdoor/natural lighting generally produces better photos.

I really have not played around with the camera settings yet – it’s been on automatic since I started using it. Honestly, I have no clue what I am doing. I couldn’t figure out how to get the shutter to open… then I realized the lens cap was still on. Yeah, I’m THAT kind of newbie.

And today? Biggest camera fail of ALL TIME! I took my son strawberry picking… must have taken, oh, maybe a hundred shots of his cuteness in the berry patch. I’m sure each photo was amazing… but we’ll never know, because… I forgot to replace the memory card after downloading the last batch of photos. So… NO photos from our berry picking expedition.

How stubborn am I? We are going berry picking AGAIN tomorrow so I can get some shots! LOL! I will not be defeated by this camera! I will prevail!

…clearly I have a long way to go towards accomplishing #2 from my Stars & Wishes list!

Anybody have any tips for me? I’d love recommendations for: 

• Camera accessories (lenses, bags, straps, cleaners, whatever)
• Photo editing software
• Photo organizing software (like where you can rank/star photos to sort them by your favorites? or where you can automatically rename a whole batch of photos at once?)
• Online photography classes so I can not be such a camera dummy
• ANYTHING!

{help me!}