Photography Lessons

I have always been interested in photography. Recently Morgan encouraged me to take a correspondence course in professional photography that had been recommended to me by some local photographers. It is a great course from the New York Institute of Photography (NYIP), which has been in existence since 1910. I am really enjoying the course. Interestingly, one day as I was doing my reading assignment, I felt a connection to my Grandpa who passed away several years ago. He was very interested in photography, and I remembered my Mom telling me that he had even studied it for a while. When I was talking with my Mom later that week, I told her about NYIP, and she said, "That's where Grandpa studied!" My Grandpa was from New York City, and he actually studied at the Institute when he was a young man!


My brother, Nick, has a natural talent for photography. I am amazed by the beautiful photographs he takes. I, on the other hand, don't come by it as naturally, which is why this course is so great for me. (In all fairness to myself, my interest is portraiture, and my subjects are pretty squirmy).

NYIP sends me books, CDs and DVDs and when I finish an entire unit I take a test and do a photo project. I have learned so much just from Unit One. So I thought I would post my photo project for you to see what I have been learning. They aren't the greatest photos, but I learned so much doing them.


This is the walking path near my house where we go on family walks and bike rides. The purpose of this picture was to have everything in focus. I achieved that by using a smaller aperture (larger f-number) for a greater depth of field.

Another part of my project was to show motion in different ways. This picture of Braden is an example of panning. I used a slow shutter speed and moved the camera with him as he passed, resulting in him being in relatively sharp focus, and the background being streaked. Because the shutter was open for a longer amount of time, I needed to use a smaller aperture so too much light wouldn't enter at once. It also helped that we took the picture in a shady area.

This picture shows motion in a different way. I used a really fast shutter speed (which worked fine because it was a really bright day) to freeze the motion of the ball being pitched to Braden.
Finally, in this picture of Lydia, I focused just on her face, and the background is blurry. I achieved this by using a larger aperture (smaller f-number). It is the opposite of the first picture, in which I wanted great depth of field.
It's actually amazing what the average digital camera can do. I did this project with a regular camera that allows me to use manual overrides. I look forward to doing my next project.