Last Photography Class

This morning, in our final 20 minutes, we showed our three favorite shots of the week to the rest of the class, this time on a giant screen via flash drive and a laptop.  I had no idea what I was doing so I just randomly picked a jpeg file and clicked on it.  These are the first two shots that came up.  Only mild reviews...good color, etc...

...and then I clicked on the arrow and showed them this one...

...and the class literally erupted in applause.  Really!  I'm not sure who started it, but I turned around and the whole class was cheering for this picture.  How exciting is that?!  And I was so happy they liked it because other than the Sonic cup picture that I accidentally took on my first day, this is the best one I've taken in the last six weeks.  Spell Girl wants it enlarged and hung in her room...maybe one of those canvas prints?

I have totally loved taking this class.  I'm not an expert yet, but I know how to get there faster than I did 6 weeks ago.  I feel more confident using my camera and I'm taking better pictures...and not just by accident!  

But the thing I've loved the most about this class is the part where I've gotten to meet such nice people, and we've all helped each other get better.  It was so fun to see all of their pictures and to see their confidence levels grow, too.  I'm going to miss all my photography friends.  I'm sure they would HATE these pictures being anywhere on the internet, so I'll leave their identities anonymous, but it was fun to "shoot" each other when we practiced things like depth of field and white balance in the classroom.  And now I have them forever preserved!  

Thanks, everyone, for an amazing 6 weeks!  

Oh, and just in case you missed this shot a few weeks ago...here's the best picture I've ever taken in my life...it might have to become a canvas print, too.

Ode to a Sonic Cup

Photography Class Day 5

Well, I'm down to the next to the last class and I'm getting pretty comfortable with this photography thing.  I ventured outside for my homework this week...

Depth of Field and Metering


Vernetta LOVED this one...

...but hated this one...she said it was too blue and the blurry was distracting.  I keep looking at it to try to decide if I like it or not.  I kinda do.  

This was the alternative tree limb shot that I didn't use...what do you think?

This one was by far the class favorite...and apparently by taking this shot, I volunteered myself to make these for the whole class next week.   See what happens when you try to be amazing??

Photography Class Day 4

I wandered around taking pictures of  shooting random stuff this week, trying to find a shot that "rocked it" for my homework.  Everything I shot looked too stuffy, too posed, too "not me."  I pretty much gave up until Thursday night when I started feeling my internal homework clock ticking loudly!  

After an already super-full day, nothing looked very interesting at 10:39 on a Thursday night. I walked up and down the stairs and through the entire house looking for something...anything to take a picture of, and became increasingly irritated at the little pile of Mack's belongings that I kept tripping over.  

And then I wandered into his room and heard him peacefully snoring in his bed and thought that there won't be many more years of tripping over his stuff.  (Actually, the reality is probably that there will be a handful of years in the immediate future where the stuff I trip over will be bigger than this little pile...but eventually there won't be stuff to trip over in my house.) And eventually all these little people who get bigger everyday, and more mature everyday, and move closer everyday toward lives OUT of this house, will actually BE out of this house, and so will all their little piles of stuff.  

SO, for a few quiet moments on Thursday night, I decided to embrace the pile on the floor and capture it.  So that someday when my floors are uncluttered and my home is quiet, I can look at these and remember how much I loved the activity and commotion of a busy family.

I don't have a tripod, so I stacked a pile of books on the floor, and got down at eye level to take these.  I set the white balance at INCANDESCENT and then COOL WHITE FLUORESCENT (both of which were still a little off) and set the ISO at 100, which meant that I needed a WIDE aperture (4.2) and a slow shutter speed (I think these were at 1" and 2")

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having playing around with this camera?  I still can only shoot things that don't move.  There isn't time to go through all those settings with people who are in motion.  But I LOVE that I feel like I'm actually using the abilities this camera came with.  I'm totally enjoying this photography class!

Photography Class Day 3

Last week, our homework was to shoot a still thing, in low light, using three aperture/shutter speed settings (one underexposed, one overexposed, and one using the camera's suggested balance.)

Here's what I turned in today...

(underexposed)

(overexposed)

(perfect...according to the camera)

The purpose of the homework, though, was to prove that the camera doesn't always pick the right settings.  We each posted our three pictures up on the white board and the class voted on which one they liked the best.  Fairly often, it was the overexposed shot that was the most popular even though, according to the camera, it wasn't "perfect."  "Perfect" is a subjective thing, isn't it?

I wasn't quite the rockstar that I was last week.  This week Hector "rocked it." (meh...)  My shots fell somewhere in the middle of the class - not the best, but definitely not the worst.  But I still loved being in there today.  I know more people's names, and a few of them know mine.  I said stuff.  I asked questions.  I contributed, even though I'm not an expert.  It's so much fun to do something completely different than what I do in a typical week.  

This week we practiced using white balance and ISO.  Our homework for next week is to take ONE SHOT using all four things we've learned: aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and ISO.  In Vernetta's words, "I want this shot to KILL IT."  Sheesh...No pressure...

So, for the next 7 days, I will be dragging my camera around trying to find something amazing that "Kills It!" for next Saturday's class.  Wish me luck...


P.S.  

Photography Class Day 2

My photography class today was so awesome!  I had kinda been dreading going back because I felt SO out of my league last week.  But I got up this morning and decided I was going to just walk in there with what I knew, contribute where I could, and hopefully walk out with more than I started with.  And guess what!  It totally worked.  

There's a cute little guy in this class who has elected himself my official helper.  He's an engineer...you know those types who just know so much stuff, they can't help but impart their knowledge on the rest of the world?  Well, I decided not to be annoyed by him today and just let him teach me stuff.  We had to be in small groups for part of our class to work on... 

Aperture and Shutter Speed (impressive, huh?)

...and, of course, Hector immediately made a beeline for me and assigned me to his group.  I must still look like I felt last week.  

But, it turns out, Hector was pretty helpful.  After scolding me about not doing my homework very well last week and not reading the manual like I was supposed to, he showed me how to adjust the aperture on my camera.  

Our group had to take pictures in the classroom in a low light setting.  Since I didn't have a tripod, Hector suggested that I just set my camera on the table and shoot something at that level.  You have to have a tripod to shoot with a slow shutter speed because your hands are too shaky to hold the camera still for as long as the lens takes to get the picture.  

Here's the whole exercise play by play...

The funky, artsy, amazing teacher (her name is Vernetta) turned off the lights in the classroom and closed the blinds.  It wasn't completely dark, but it was definitely too dark to shoot anything on AUTO like I have only ever done in the past.

Here's my first shot with the shutter speed at 1/160 and the lens fully opened to 4.

...totally dark, huh?  But it gives you a good idea of what the classroom actually looked like.

Then...I slowed the shutter speed to 1/100 and it looked like this...

...better, but still too dark.

I experimented with about 10 other shutter speeds (I'll spare you the progression) until I found the perfect one which gave me the perfect shot...

it really is perfect...

are you ready?

don't ruin the anticipation by scrolling down too fast...

really, you're gonna be amazed...

you may want to just go ahead and sit down...

Are there heavenly voices singing right now for you, too?  Cuz I can hear them at my house.  

I showed my final shot to Hector who was only moderately impressed.  (whatever...)  But then when I showed it to Vernetta, she was thrilled.  Let me just write it down verbatim, so you can get the full effect...

Me:  How's this? V:  Girl, you rocked it!  Look at that!  It's perfect.  I love the composition.  Perfect light.  And LOOK AT THE BLUR!!  (then to the class...)  This girl has rocked this photo shoot.  Look at this Sonic cup!(then back to me...)  Girl, we're gonna just call you Sonic Girl in here from now on cuz this rocks!  You rocked this!  Good job!! 

(and then she fist bumped me...which, I think, in the fine arts photographers' world is the equivalent of an ultra coolness award!)

It's nice to have someone gush over your "rocking-ness" every now and then.  And I have to admit, it's a pretty dang good picture considering that the room was dark, I've only been using the MANUAL function on my camera for...um...24 hours, and it's a Sonic cup, for heaven's sake!  

I think I will call this shot Ode to a Sonic Cup and frame it and hang it somewhere in the house.  Who knew, a styrofoam cup full of ice could be so artistic and could LAUNCH me into photography awesomeness.  :)