1 Day Photography Workshop

I have had an interest in photography for a number of years, and whilst I've taken the odd good photo on my travels I've never really known what I was doing. Since my last holiday I've been looking at doing a photography course, and finally decided to do a 1 day workshop through +Chris Bray Photography with one of my best friends on March 23 at the Adelaide Zoo.

The day was a full on 9 hours, but a good mix of theory and practice that allowed us to test ourselves on what we had learnt.  Our first practical out in the Zoo was to capture something with a shallow depth of field and then with a deep depth of field.  Then we tested out the effects of shutter speed.   We were also shown how using a shallow depth of field and focusing on an animal in the cage, could blur out the wires, enabling the animal to appear out in the open.

Nikon D3100 62mm  f/4.2  1/640s  ISO 800 

Nikon D3100  62mm  f/22  1/25s  ISO 800

Nikon D3100  55mm  f/4  1/250s  ISO 100

Nikon D3100  55mm  f/22,  1/6s,  ISO 100   +0.7 step

After that, it was back to the classroom to learn about composition, framing and lighting before going out "on assignment" to take a portrait photo for use on the cover of the Australian Geographic.  The prize for the best photo of the group being a Lowepro Camera Bag.  There was not a bad photo in the competition, and sadly I went home without the bag.  Below are a few of the photo's I took on the day.

The first photo is the one I chose for the competition.

In hindsight, this is the photo I wish I had used.

Other photo's taken on the day:

Finally, to end the day with a bit of fun, we were shown how to paint with light.  Using a darkened room and a laserlight on the wall with the shutter speed set to 10 sec, this was the result.