Beginning of the class

In the beginning of the year I figured that photography would be a class where we just take pictures and upload them for people to see. I never realized that there is so much that goes on behind the scenes before uploading pictures or even deciding which pictures will work. I learned over time that the process is ultimately the whole learning curve of the class and it is very interesting to see how everything works.

Adjusting to the camera

At first, I only shot on the automatic settings where the camera did everything for me and it was extremely easy. When I started experimenting with the other settings it was difficult because I wasn’t sure exactly what to adjust all the time to make the pictures come out better. Most of my issues came from not having the right lighting which I knew had to deal with the aperture settings in the camera. I started to take a lot of the exact same picture with different settings to run a trial and error test of what worked out the best. Eventually I got the hang of it and I learned what aperture settings worked best in specific areas and it has made the quality of my pictures a lot better.

Favorite Assignment

As of now my favorite assignment has been the Tree Transitions because I love to shoot nature settings. While going out to see my tree every Wednesday for a couple weeks I noticed changes quickly and it was interesting because I never paid much attention to the small details changing; I only noticed the major differences of the leaves in between seasons. It was an interesting project because it took a while to capture the changes through the lens but once all of the pictures were put side by side, the changes were very clear. I liked that I had to revisit the same spot and see the changes instead of being able to just go out and shoot one time and be done with the project.

Finishing the semester

With the semester coming to an end I feel like I have learned a lot from taking photography and not just how to use a camera. Taking pictures on my phone now I know better angles and ways to edit that will enhance my photos. It has even changed the way I view things in life such as landscapes, people in public, just areas that I think would make for a good photo or something that will engage other people. Street photography stands out a lot more to me because now I understand a lot of what people are thinking when they take those pictures. I will definitely continue to take pictures everywhere I go and this class has changed a lot about my perspective on the world.