the art of learning

Last week's photography workshop class was on the topic of bracketing, which is basically changing the shutter speed and f-stop on your camera to get different exposures. During class everyone who completed the assignment put their shots on the class computer and there was a lengthy review in which the instructor scrutinized settings, exposures, composition, etc. My pictures were not included because: a. my shots were taken on a dreary and gray Sunday, thusly ruining the setting in which I could achieve successful results; and b. I was going to use my time wisely and put my submission (even though gray and dreary) on a CD during work, but my computer didn't read the blank CD. Foiled!

This past weekend I did both assignment one and assignment two (subject motion and shutter speeds) and am ready for class tonight! I also have a new binder in which I put handouts, assignments, and my little notebook (thank you, job, you are good for something -- gotta love the production room with office goodies).

Below is my experiment with bracketing. I'm not crazy about the focus, but overall I'm satisfied with the result. I'm also making peace with the fact that not all of my pictures are going to be about composition, since the point of the class is to learn the camera settings and how to make a properly exposed photo. However, I'll do my best to make stellar pics.

This is where my camera's light meter told me to start out:

Incrementally overexposed:

And now a little darker...

I took these shots at my mom's house, where I happened to catch the light making a cute lil heart shape on the window ledge. I love the spotlight effect as the exposure gets darker. Neat! (he. I love being a geek.)