Photography Adventures

In my July Adventures I mentioned I finally broke down and bought a dSLR camera. I was so excited to get started with this new camera. I opened it up and pulled out the little manual that comes with it, and instantly got overwhelmed by it. I searched the internet for some basic photography e-Books or courses. I remembered that the lady who held the Liberate Your Art Post Card Swap, had some online courses for photography. You can check out her website here. I searched around her site for a course that would work for me being a total newbie. I found she offers a FREE Digital Photography Basics e-Book. I started reading it and I enjoyed the way she teaches the basics. She has exercises after each of the chapters for you to try and understand what you are doing.

I thought I would share my experience with you of going through this book and also just showing my growth as I learn photography. I asked myself why I wanted to learn how to use a manual camera. The first reason is I would like to take better pictures of my paintings and art not only for the blog, but to be able to sell prints. The other reason is I love taking pictures of sunsets and nature, and I thought a better camera would bring better photos.

I have read through the first chapter of the book. It was all about exploring how to find the light. She had us keep most of our settings to automatic and to take photos of the same object at different times of the day in the same spot and then photos in different spots to see how the lighting affects the object.

The object I chose was this little kokeshi doll I have. I ended up taking over 100 photos and these are the best of those 100.

This first photo was taken at about 10 am on the deck on my back patio.

The second set of shots were also taken on the deck but at around 2 pm. It had just rained so it changed the color of the wood to a more warmer color from being wet.

This last set on the deck was around 6 pm where the Sun was pointed on the other side of the house.

I noticed how the light was coming in from the front window and took this picture.

The dog was sun bathing on the floor in front of that same window so I put the little kokeshi doll on the floor to see how the lighting affected it.

I also got a couple of decent shots of the Murphy dog, even though he doesn't care to have his picture taken.

I have this Orchard Spider that has been hanging out in the bushes in front of my house for quite a while now. I love seeing how he keeps changing his web. The first 2 photos were taken right after it had rained. When I went back out to check as the Sun was setting he had built a whole new web.

I really enjoyed these exercises and look forward to continue sharing my photography adventures with you.