Week 1 Done!

Throughout the week we continued to learn how to use all the camera functions in order to complete a 10 item list to shoot and our 50 faces project. The 10 item list included shooting the same subject at various ISO, shutter speeds and apertures. The 50 faces project was left entirely up to us. I decided to shoot shoes.

At the end of the week the instructor and TA's evaluated and critiqued our work and we had to choose our 2 best images to share with the class. Above are my 2 best shots. The top one is a shot of the sky with a row of Georgetown shops at the bottom which I captured in Program mode. The second shot is from my 50 faces project where I shot the 50 faces of shoes. I call this one "Old Leather Face." Next week we'll start Camera Work Flow 2.

It was great having Michael Cunningham as an instructor. He gave us a wealth of knowledge on techniques and the industry.

Next week we'll start Camera Work Flow 2 with Chris Alvanas.

Basics of Photography

Today was a very busy day. Michael started out our day with the quote "In the absence of light there can be no photograph"... As photographers we need a strong foundation of light and how to control it. We talked about elements that affect our photography; exposure, aperture, shutter speed and white balance.

We learned how to use the meters in our cameras to measure light exposure and how to make adjustments get the correct exposure. We talked about Depth of Field (DOF), ISO settings, aperture priority, shutter speed priority and program modes. Then came the fun part, taking our cameras out and shooting various objects at different settings. We were given the freedom to roam outside the classroom to capitalize on our creativity.

Below are my shots in the equipment room at different white balance settings.

Towards the end of class we were given a list of ten tasks to accomplish by the end of the week. I really have my work cut out for me.

Day 1, The Introduction

January 25, 2010

Today is my first day at CDIA. Finally! Our classroom was full of all types of people from all walks of life. We had recent high school graduates, people from the world of finance, people who are passionate about photography and wanted to explore it on a deeper level. People from as far as Thailand came just to attend this class in Washington, DC. It's interesting to note that last year only 3 students were in the full time photography program. This year there are 2 classes of about 18 students in each class. What an increase!

We were introduced to our instructor for Camera Workflow 1, noted photographer, Michael Cunningham (www.mcphotog.com) and our TA's Erik and Dave. Throughout the morning we talked about class procedures, equipment, photography today. In the afternoon we were introduced to the Mac computers and did a few basic procedures like formatting our portable drives and setting them up for our workflow. We also played around with Adobe Lightroom and setup a few preferences.

Throughout the day the Michael, Erik and Dave were quite adamant about being open and encouraged us to ask questions, to take advantage of all the people at CDIA. This open, creative, nurturing environment is one of the things I love about being here at CDIA. Can't wait till tomorrow.