Photography Class

Back in November, Jim and I took the plunge and invested in a good SLR camera.  The thought behind it was that with what you can pay for professional pictures in the course of just one year, you could buy a good camera and learn to take somewhat comparable pictures yourself.  The trouble with this theory is that I am not one to sit down and read instruction manuals so all the pictures I was snapping was on the automatic "green" mode.  While the green mode has it's place it basically felt like we bought a car with all wheel drive yet I was driving in first gear all the time.  (Note, I don't know if previous example is a real "thing" but I like to think that I just made a car analogy that made sense and was aptly applied to this situation.)


Anywho, I went through all of that say I didn't know how to use my camera so I signed up for a continuing education class at Richland College.  I lucked out and got to take the class with two Mamas from my play group, Leigh Ann and Becky.   I LOVED the class!  It was a great learning experience, I really enjoyed having regularly scheduled adult interaction, and had a blast getting to know Leigh Ann and Becky better!  The class was an 9 week class that met on Tuesdays for 3 hours from January - March.  We had assignments each week.  Here are my submissions:


FIRST ASSIGNMENT:  Take pictures NOT on green mode and submit your favorite three pictures.

I like this one because of the juxtaposition of something growing in the midst of things that weren't thriving (read: dead).  I call this one "Erin isn't good at watering plants"

I liked the "shallow depth of field" and the light.

I loved the graphic quality the swingset provided and how grown up my little guy looked.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT:  Depth of field assignment, items in the foreground and background get sharper with each picture; the only the camera settings changed - the camera remained stationary.

THIRD ASSIGNMENT:  Applying some of the 6 rules of good photography

Triangular formations emphasize the subject.  Here I borrowed Clay's Noah's Ark to take the picture.

Off centered subjects make for interesting pictures.

Leading lines draw your attention to the picture (Clay is looking in the direction of the "leading line" - the bricks).

FOURTH ASSIGNMENT:  MOTION

Take a picture and pan with camera so that the moving object looks still and the back ground looks like it's in motion.

Peak motion:  Take a picture of an object when it's at its peak height just before it starts to fall again.

Just take a picture of motion.

FIFTH ASSIGNMENT:  LIGHT

Take a picture where your subject is silhouetted.

Take a picture of light with shadows.

Picture of light coming through a translucent object.

Take a picture of a cute kid - okay, I don't remember why I took this picture but I know I like the subject!

SIXTH ASSIGNMENT:  Apply everything that you know