Chimpsy!!!

Ever since I bought my dslr camera I have wanted to learn more about photography so that I can take pictures only using the manual settings. So when I found a groupon to go on a fieldtrip for $49 instead of the $125, I bought it quickly. It was worth it.

The class was for 2 hours at the Gateway. For the first hour the instructor taught us about aperture, shutter speed, exposure, ISO and other photography things. He would give us little test to make sure that we got the suggestions down. The second hour he sent us around the gateway to take pictures and practice the techniques. He would go around to each student and answer questions or look at the pictures that they had taken and give them pointers on how to get better photos.

My favorite things to take pictures of are flowers and other landscapes. It was nice to learn how to take clearer and better landscape pictures. He had a polarizer filter that he let us take down to the fountain to try and it made those pictures ten times better. The polarizer filters out the light and so it makes the water look like one solid falling sheet of water instead of little droplets.

 These two pictures are of the same thing, but all I did was adjust my exposure. To me the darker makes the tower look a little more creepy. It also helps that it is cloudy.

These three water features will help you see what the polarizer filter does. The picture on the left is taken with nothing changed (you can see all of the water drops). The middle photo I used the largest aperture setting (you can see that the water looke a little more flowy). The photo on the right is using the polarizer filter. You can see how much clearer the water is and how it looks really pretty. Let's just say that I am going to save up my money to buy this filter.

And finally these are my favorite photos and of course they are of flowers. I love how the flowers pop. I know it is a really easy photo to get, but I don't care I love flowers.


There were a technique that the instructor talked about and I thought that I would give them a try. It is called something like photo painting. The first painting I took one of Kaden's bibs and dragged it in front of my camera while the shutter was open. It left the cool colors. It isn't my favorite and I need to try and investigate this process more.

The next 2 photos I used a light in my dark closet. You move the light in front of the camera with the shutter open and it leaves a cool design behind.

 I really liked this light painting thing that I tried a new approach where I took a yellow t-shirt and then put it over my camera and repeated the process.It is kind of cool what design was left behind. I am going to investigate what other designs I can make with light. It is fun.