Recently my wife and I were blessed to be able to purchase a Cannon Eos 600D SLR camera (Rebel T3i for my American readers) lenses and tripod. While not considered to be a professional’s camera, its capabilities far outweigh the current photography skills of its owners. 
My skill set has improved through reading widely about the camera, photography in general and the final editing process. While I have editorial software on my computer my knowledge of how to use them is limited and therefore I use it mainly for cropping, sharpening and sometimes adding a coloured filter effect to the final picture. During the last few months I have been reflecting also how sermon preparation is very similar to that of taking photos with a new camera.
- A wide knowledge of how Scripture works / A wide knowledge of how your camera works.
- A general idea of passage your going to preach from / a general idea of what your going to photograph
- The ability to focus on the meaning of the text / the ability to focus on the subject of the photo.
- The ability to share the full meaning of the passage with others in a way that brings clarity, vision and meaning / the final editing process of the photo brings out the fullness of the picture in a deeper way.
Take this picture of my fish tank as an example of my second point. The sermon begins with a basic idea of what you want to preach.
How ever by then zooming in on your subject, you can clarify more deeply the subject matter of your sermon and making that clearer to your hearers.
Finally through an editorial process of cropping and adding the appropriate filters the sermon becomes the mechanism of life, much in the same way the filter system in a fish tank provides the source of life, providing much needed oxygen deep within the water. Likewise the well prepared and delivered sermon builds and instils life, deep within its hearers – often in ways that are not at first clearly seen.
Cool.