Photography 101 Wrap Up

I sooo enjoyed my six-week photography class! Now I've really gotta focus on making time to practice all of the new skills I learned so I don't get rusty and forget. For our final assignment, we submitted our favorite photos (taken before or during class). Here are a few of mine:

Breena on Ruby Beach, WA

On the Verde Canyon Railroad in Arizona

Dad after climbing the Kilkenny Round Tower in Ireland

Sunset on Rialto Beach, WA

Photography 101: Week 4

Field Trip!!! In the fourth week of our photography class we went on a field trip to the Historic Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta. We were instructed to use the basic rules of composition (balance, leading lines, framing, patterning, and texture) while shooting in black and white. Our assignment was to choose our favorite 4 photos, but I couldn't choose! Here are a few of my shots, click them to enlarge:

Photography 101: Week 2

This week we went further into the camera modes, and we were given two assignments. The first assignment dealt with depth of field controlled not by the focus of the camera, but with the aperture settings. Here's how mine came out:

The second assignment was all about shutter speed and capturing motion. We took three photographs of the same subject, one frozen, one blurred, and one in between. This was my favorite of my three shots:

At the beginning of the course Ryan (our instructor) told us that our photos would get worse before they got better—he couldn't have been more right! As I learn more and more about my DSLR I'm getting a bit overwhelmed, but I know it will all come together and make me a better photographer in the long run.

Photography 101: Week 1

So, last night was our first session of a six week photography class and I learned so much! We started off with the basics (memory, transferring files from the camera to the computer, and filing/backup systems) before moving on to the four basic shooting modes: Program, Shutter, Aperture, and Manual. We talked a bit about ISO and which settings are best for indoor versus outdoor shooting and then moved on to the main lesson: white balance. We learned that the camera is not sophisticated enough for the "Auto" setting to work correctly in every situation. I so wish I had known about white balance before I went on that trip to Washington last May—I think my photos would have been so much better. In addition to the "Auto" setting, my camera has the following white balance settings:



Our homework for the Week 1 is to go outside and find a good subject. We are meant to shoot the subject with the white balance setting that we think is correct, and then at least three more times with the incorrect settings so that we have a series of the same photograph like the image below:



Then, we are to go inside and do the same thing with no natural light (only tungsten or fluorescent) and no flash. When I've completed the assignment I'll post it here for you to see.

UPDATE: For the assignment, I ended up taking pictures of some graffiti by my house. It's interesting to see all of the different tones produced by changing a simple setting. Here's the series:

I ♥ Photography

I have always loved photography. Although I'm not formally trained, my father taught my about composition and framing from a very young age, and I've always loved taking pretty pictures.

As a part of my Thirty before 30, I decided that I'd like to take a photography class. This is something I've wanted to do for a while, but had never taken the time to look into, and had never previously had the money to invest in.

To make a long story short, I found a local class that I was interested in, but learned from the website that a DSLR camera was required. The class is not available to students with "regular" point and shoot cameras. I knew immediately that I was willing to make the investment into the camera, so the research began. I picked the brains of a few photographers that I knew, and along with my friend Kara (who is also interested in photography), researched and decided upon the Nikon D5000.

I've had the camera for about two weeks and have really enjoyed experimenting with it. My friend Andrea (pictured below) and I have spent the past two Sundays playing with our cameras, and also experimenting with HDR (which stands for High Dynamic Range). To do HDR, you take a series of three photographs at varying exposures, then combine them in Photoshop to create a final image with greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image. The first photo is the true image, followed by a couple of variances. Click them to enlarge: