(The above is a project on bracketing. If you were taking the picture using automatic, which one of the above, do you think your camera would say is the best one? With bracketing, you can control how light or dark the picture is, as you are controlling your exposure)

Several weeks ago, I wrote a feasible list of things to accomplish for 2013. Today, I am proud to announce: I can check number one off that list.

First …I love taking pictures. I might capture 100 of one image  & find that only 3 are worth printing…However, when I purchased a camera several years ago, I realized it was time to actually learn how to use it beyond the automatic setting.

As I work a full time job, I am unable to attend classes during the day for photography, so other alternatives had to be considered. For me, it was early Saturday morning classes. I enrolled at a local community college (which was extremely affordable), and was pleased with how much I learned in the short duration. The class, an intro to basic DSLR’s, was mostly filled with beginners, or avid photographers who did not use (or know how to fully operate in)  “manual mode”. On Day 1 we were told to no longer use the automatic settings…And I haven’t yet!

The first day of class, the room was divided with Nikon users on one side, & Canon lovers on the other. We learned about the functions that make up manual: white balance, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, bracketing, and I could go on & on! After each class, the required homework for the next week consisted of: 3 images depicting what we had just learned, the reading of a chapter from our course material, and viewing selected photographer favorites of our professor.  Our teacher, who was filled with life and an abundance of energy, made Saturday mornings something to look foward to.

Though I have so much more to learn…here are several of my images from that class:

Lesson on ISO

Lesson on Aperture

Lesson on White Balance