Getting Schooled on this Picture Taking Thing

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I am pretty excited. After years of thinking about and delaying and making excuses, I signed up for a four session photography class at a local junior college and already had the first class.

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It is after work on Mondays for three hours. The teacher got us all up and going. Showed us what all the dials and adjustments were and we jumped right into how to do the much feared “Manual Mode” with the in-camera metering. She talked about how to hold the camera  and gave us a few tips about what shutter speed to use for what situation and how and when to adjust the iso level. We went into the white balance adjustments and reformatting the memory card. How to, and how not to, clean the camera and lens and all sorts of stuff.

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And then the homework assignment. Go out into the world and take pictures (she said we are really “making pictures.”) In the manual mode, no editing!! Bring your memory cards next time. She will put everybody’s photos up on the whiteboards and critique them. Anonymously she said because she is very frank and wants us to learn. I guess the giveaway will be if I start sobbing when she is displaying my images.

We are to bring six images. Take them in bright sun, with the sun at our back, set the iso level as low as the camera will go, set the speed at 1/125th of a second and   use the camera’s meter to manually set the aperture. For moving objects increase the speed to 1/500th of a second.

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So I have taken a couple walks with my camera. Manual mode is not natural to me physically. I have to search for the buttons and dials to make it work and sometimes in bright light the camera metering is hard to see. Plus I have to remember to get the white balance, speed, and iso set right. The feel for it will come. I’m having fun.

I can’t wait for the next class!!

5 thoughts on “Getting Schooled on this Picture Taking Thing

  1. Driller's Place

    WooooHoooo!!!! Manual Mode…you’re going to love it! It will open up a whole new world and you will indeed be making images. I’m sure the instructor will tell you that everyone on Facebook will “Like” your images, so she that’s why she’s going to be brutally honest. If you want the best class online that you can watch over and over for future reference, go to http://www.creativelive.com and purchase the “Fundamentals of Photography” class by John Greengo. It is awesome. Have a great journey into the world of photography.

  2. Gaelyn

    That is very cool that you are taking a class. I’ve had to be self taught with much practice and mistakes. Manual will come naturally over time. I LOVE that shot of the stairs on the side of the building. You have a good eye for the unusual shapes.

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