Week 6 -and that's a wrap!

For the week 6 assignment in my Intro to Photography class I had to shoot one photo where the subject is framed with an object around them and one photo of lines or curves that lead your eye to the subject.

Here is my subject framed by the slide and the circle behind her head frames her face.  This photo got runner up in the class bunch so I was pretty happy about that.

Here is my "leading lines" photo showing a path that leads your eye to the barn in the background. 

I'm throwing in these shots because I can't get enough of the cuteness and neither will you..LOL.

That concludes my Beginning Photography class. It was well worth it!  I've learned so much. And if anyone is interested, my instructor is the wonderful Mike Dellerman at Durham Technical Institute. And next up, I'm hoping to take Beyond the Basics and share with you my assignments.

Until then...

xo

Cathleen

Photography week 5

Week 5 of our photography class was the location photo shoot. Unfortunately it was a very rainy day so our original plan to head to Sarah Duke Gardens was out. So we all headed just down the street to the Nasher Museum of Art on the Duke campus. We had several "assignments" to shoot so here we go!

This was was taken at F/22 at 18 mm.

This image of the chair was to capture something from below. We also had to shoot it from the top, but this angle was much more appealing.

Here another shot of a peice of art shot at F/36 and 18mm.

This mobile was trying to capture an image with only 2 colors, not including black or white.

This picture of the ceiling was just taken for fun. Cool geometric shapes.

This child ran straight towards this art piece that said "don't touch." I think the mom scolded him later.

Here I was supposed to capture something funny, so my classmate pretended to fall for me. But it actually looks like he's pushing that bookcase behind him.

Another funny one, and this is because my classmate is supposed to be out shooting pictures but instead he was in the gift shop reading a book. I think it's especially hilarious!

This one was just for fun in the bookshop. I liked all the letters on the front of this book and the brown cardboard pencil holders next to it.

This was a piece of metal car parts all crammed together. Thought it looked pretty cool.

In the next two photos we were told to take any pictures we wanted of the tables and chairs in the dining area of the museum. In the first photo I captured the cool blue plates and white napkins and geometrics of the table top. In the second photo I captured a close-up of the table leg. Sort of abstracts of the assignment.

It was fun shooting in the museum especially since I usually don't get to go out taking pictures for 3 hours.  I hope my pictures are improving each week as I learn different techniques on my camera. Sure is fun experimenting with different subjects and settings.

Hope you're having a great week and enjoyed these photos!

xo

Cathleen

Week 4 of photography

Week 4's assignment for Photography was this: 

Take 2 almost identical pictures of a row of subjects (ex. cars in parking lot). Set camera to 80mm. Focus on the closest subject about 5-10 feet away. Go to Aperture Priority and set the aperture to the widest opening then do the same pic at the smallest opening.  

So below I have two sets of photos showing the assignment.  I went to one of my favorite hang outs, the fabric store. LOL.

This photo was shot at 55m on AV (aperature priority setting) and F stop 36.

This one shot at 55mm, AV F stop 5.6. You can see that the depth of field opens up and focuses on things in the distance.

Here are some colorful spools of thread. This was taken at 55m, AV at F stop 36.

This is at 55m, AV with F stop 5.6.

This coming Saturday is our location shoot at Duke Gardens, so I should I have some pretty good photos for next week to share with you.

xo
Cathleen

Week 3 of photography

This week's photography assignment:

Auto  vs. Night Time Portrait: Your subject should be no more than 10 feet  away from you. Take a photo of an interesting lit background. Make sure the background is at LEAST 20 yards away from your subject and not standing under the background lights. Do two same exact compositions.  One with Auto and one with Night Time Portrait. Be very still or use a tripod and make sure your subject is still too!

So here we go again with my male model. Of course smoking cause that's how he rolls. Now remember kids, smoking is bad for you.

Here is my Night Time Portrait shot. You can see that this setting accounts for the interesting lights in the background as well as lights up my subject.

Here is my Auto focus shot. My subject is illuminated, but the background is dark. 

I have 6 more weeks of photography and hopefully lots of more subjects and interesting things to shoot.   See you next week for more photography fun!

xo
Cathleen

Week 2 of photography

This week's assignment - Take a photo of something vertically and take the same shot horizontally. Pretty vague right? Since we just learned about portrait taking I figured I would try my hand at some portraits of a friend.  He was willing to come out with me to Wood Lake just right down the road and be my muse.  He was even willing to take off his shirt. What a good sport.  And so it goes this blog won't let me post vertical photos, so I posted two horizontal photos for you.

These next two are just some pretty views from where we were shooting (just down the street.)

None of my photos are photoshopped, edited, or cropped. Just raw images. I hope I can make it to class on Monday because Joe will be out of town and I need to find a baby sitter. Otherwise these photos will just end up not being seen by my teacher. So off I go to find a baby sitter so I can attend class on Monday!

xo

Cathleen

Week 1 of Photography

 The Self Portrait.  That was my homework assignment for my Beginner's Photography class (week 1.)  I didn't even attend the first class, due to a mistake about scheduling. I did however attend the 1st day of the advance class. Oh well.  The teacher, Mr. Mike Dellerman, professional photographer asked that we take a self-portrait this week.  We need to bring in a print tonight for Monday's class.   The three shots below were the best of the bunch. All taken with a self-timer on a tripod and reflecting some aspect of my personality. I chose to sit on the steps of my beloved first house that we've put so much hard work into and I chose to wear my painting clothes with a brush in my hand.  This is me during most all of my DIY projects.  The first pic makes me look very worn out, Oh my god am I. LOL. These photos were NOT cropped or Photo shopped.

Here's the same pose with a softer face.

The last one with a different body angle, more relaxed maybe.

Which is your favorite?  These were all taken with no lesson so I really do hope that each week my photos get better and better.   I'll share them each week with you. Aren't you excited?

xo
Cathleen