Cleveland Photographic Society Class

Each Wednesday for the first twelve weeks of this year, I headed out to my photography class.  After about 50 complaints and remarks I made on facebook about needing a photography course to learn how to use my SLR camera better, someone finally made a GREAT recommendation and I jumped on the first opportunity to make the recommendation a reality.

The solution to my photography woes:  Cleveland Photography Society SCHOOL.

http://www.clevelandphoto.org/cpsschool.cfm

No longer will I shoot in only AUTO & P-mode.  No longer will terms like metering, aperture, ISO and depth of field be completely confusing to me.  I'm still getting the hang of using the wealth of information covered in the course, and practice will help tremendously.  But overall, I'm seeing a HUGE improvement in my photography skills since taking this class.

On the last day of the course, we each had to share 3-4 photos that we've taken and talk a bit about them.  I was SO nervous because the leaders of the class were going to critique us, and that uneasiness escalated when I realized that we were sharing in alphabetical order by first name which meant that I was FIRST!  Here are the photos that I shared in class:

Since the course wrapped up, I've taken about 1000 more photos and many have turned out GREAT.  Next up for me is learning how to edit the photos in photoshop elements.  I want to learn how to make my photos sharp and vibrant, how to smooth out skin when needed (like baby skin) and how to play around with tone and color on my photos for interesting effects.  Once I'm done with all of the projects for Bristol's first birthday party, I'll be able to focus some time on learning photoshop and I'll be sure to share about it along the way!