Wannabe Photographer

For the last eight weeks, I've been taking a photography class.  I'm not taking it to become a professional photographer, I simply want to use my DSLR in manual mode as it is intended to be used instead of like a point and shoot.  Here are a few some of my favorite pictures from my class assignments.  I have other favorite pictures too, but I've already used some of them in previous posts or will be using them in the future (I'm super excited about how his 6 month and Christmas photo shoots are coming along). 

One of our first assignments was to take close ups using ambient light.

Then we learned about framing and aperture.

After that, it was a matter of piecing what we had already learned together while adding new concepts like white balance, rule of thirds, ISO and shutter speed. 

I don't just take pictures of Joseph.  When the dogs are willing, I take pictures of them too. 

And sometimes the dogs sneak into pictures of Joseph.

Look at the joy on both of their faces.

This might have been my favorite photo shoot of the whole class.  We were instructed to take pictures in the dark using a light sorce and bulb setting.  It was hard to narrow down the many, many pictures we took that night in my garage.  We started by letting the kids have fun with the glow sticks.

Heidi outlined the kids.

We drew pictures.

And wrote names.

Then we broke out the light saber (how cool is it that my neighor friend just happened to have a light saber). 

I'm kind of in love with this picture of the two of us.

Emma's album cover.

In case you were wondering what Joseph did while we were taking pictures, he enjoyed playing with the extra glow sticks. 

Over all, the class was great!  I recommend anyone with a DSLR learn to use it in modes other than auto and P.  Another perk of taking the class was that Sam had alone time with Joseph for 3 hours every Tuesday night allowing them to bond and helping Sam to appreciate what I do as a stay-at-home mom a little more.