aperture mode

My husband is awesome and signed me up for an intense 4 day comprehensive photography workshop.  I've wanted to take a course for a while now as I'm really keen to get away from the automatic function on my Nikon D5000 and really utilize all that my camera is capable of.

The first two days of the course were on Saturday and Sunday and were quite intense.  On Saturday, the instructor taught us all about the basics of photography.  We learned about the various parts of our cameras and about the different components (like aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) that all must work together for a great shot.  It was a lot of information and I was a tad bit scared that not all of it sunk into my brain.  Thankfully Sunday was a field trip day where we were able to put all that we had learned into practice.  I enjoyed this day a lot because by the end of the day, I had shot all 300 hundred (fairly crappy) pictures on the A(aperture) and M(manual) Mode on my camera.  Not once did I use the Automatic Mode.  WOHOO! The days were long and my brain was about to pop with all the information by the end of it, but I definitely enjoyed myself.  I learned a lot and I think that I will remember the majority of it! :)

HK skyline.  Did you know that if you tilt the camera up or down, the buildings will either 

lean in or lean out? It is best to keep your camera level and to shoot from the waist.

Flower.  This photo has a shallow depth of field causing the background to get blurry.  It is important to zoom in, get close to the subject, and use a larger aperture.

Red.  Did you know that the color red is difficult to photograph and the color on the camera isn't usually very natural? It is helpful to minus compensate exposures to get the color looking right.

Shadows.  Did you know that you can weaken the built in flash on your DSLR? This was 

mind blowing to me and so cool to learn.  I can now use the flash to reduce shadows and to get more natural photos without the people looking too bright and the background looking too dark.

Building.  This was a fun trick to learn.  All I did was zoom out, put the shutter speed to 3 seconds at F22, and as the photo was being taken, zoomed back in on the subject.  Too cool!

Tail lights.  The key for this picture is a tripod...or ridiculously steady hands. :) I actually did this without a tripod though and just rested my camera on the ledge of the overpass we were on.  I left 

the shutter open for 5 seconds at F22 and tried to keep as steady as possible.  Pretty brilliant!

(Linking up with Sweet Shot Tuesday, Our World Tuesday, and Tuesdays Around the World.)