Photography Class – Halfway Mark

For the curious – the sweater is finished! I put the buttons on last night, and it is 100% completed. As soon as I get a decent FO shot, I’ll definitely post about it. Hurray!

Before I knew that this October was going to be insanely busy – the busiest month of the year at work, plus our upcoming move, I had signed up for a photography class. This class is less about the artistic side of photography, and more about the basics of the DSLR camera, and how it works. Which is exactly what I needed.

So far, we’ve learned about aperture, which is the mechanical device inside the lens that opens and closes to adjust the amount of light that enters the camera. We’ve learned about f-stops, which is the focal length of the lens divided by the diameter of the aperture. This last part was a HUGE lightbulb for me – it means that f-stops are fractions, which is why f8 is BIGGER than f22. Now that I think of f-stops as fractions, I don’t get nearly as confused!

Last week, talked a little bit more about shutter speed, which adjusts the length of time that light is let into the camera, as well as ISO, which is (in the digital photography, anyway) the camera’s sensitivity to light, and how all three of these can be adjusted to create proper exposures of photos.

Still with me? I know, I know, it’s a lot of numbers, but I’m just so excited that for the first time it’s all making sense. I love learning new things, and each week I come away from the class with new and exciting information buzzing around my head.

But, yes, numbers are boring. How about some pictures? Each week, we’re given a fairly open-ended assignment, and asked to print out a picture to hang on the wall for all of our classmates to see. These aren’t critiqued in any way, but are primarily used to get the cameras in our hands and on the Manual setting.

Oh, the Manual setting. That little “M” is terrifying, but I’m getting used to it.

Week Two Assignment (because week one was our first week, so no assignment then): Patterns

Taken from the parking garage that I park in every day, of the building across the street. I kind of like how the window seem to bend. I have no idea what caused that – I’ll have to ask the teacher one of these days.

Week Three: Animals

It’s harder than you’d think to get a clear shot of Zelda on the Manual setting, especially considering she mostly blends in with the carpet.

Week Four (for this Thursday’s class): Low Light

Tart-warmer on my kitchen table. Not terribly exciting, but getting the exposure somewhat correct was a bit of a challenge.

As you can see, I’m loving this class. I don’t think it’s making me a better photographer (yet), but hopefully once I learn and experiement enough with the settings, they’ll become more second-nature and I can focus more on composition.

In the meantime, I can’t wait for class on Thursday! Maybe I’ll wear my new sweater…

Filed in: Photography