Busy learning more about photography...

I am in the middle of all my photography lessons, and Wow it is intense!! I am doing at the moment a course named: Photographing with Impact, Basic Photo shop, although it is not so basic anymore to me! and yesterday I started People Photography.

I am very impressed with the lecturers, they are great! Knowledgeable, inspiring and motivating!! Love to go to class! Yesterday I did 2 classes, each 3 hours and for each class I have to drive 45 minutes one-way, so my whole day was swallowed with Photography. So for anyone who is living in SA and want to do some Photography lessons, go to the College of Digital Photography in Saxonwold! Here is their website.

A few more weeks and then I'll have a break, will start again next year. I need that break to practice all the tips and tricks I am learning now. It is one thing to see your teacher do it, now I have to practice, practice, practice myself!!

Below some shots I did for my last lesson: I call it Macro in the kitchen and added some extra blue and red lights to make it more interesting.... I am not impressed with my own work yet. Was kinda running out of time and totally not inspired... got interrupted the whole time with telephones, people visiting etc... not good for my concentration! But that is the thing, I have to do this in between my life and working with deadlines isn't always easy... But hopefully I will look back in one year and see the improvement I made, that's why I am posting these, so I can look back soon and think: Wow I am so much better now... can't wait for that moment :-)

In all the shots I added a blue and red torch light, to give it an extra dimension. And these are not done with a Macro lens, unfortunately I don't have one... so just my regular lens Nikon D80 18-135mm. But I just went as close as possible.









This is actually the only one that I like; a shot from my kitchen drawer. I tried it with different lighting, with and without the blue and red torch light, see the difference?





Can you guess what this is? Photography from different angles...



Well, I hope to improve a lot more, but I can tell you already that I am looking different at things, more from different angles, thinking about lighting, so at least I am improving in that way... now just waiting for the results to happen :-)

Are you looking different now to your kitchen items after seeing my shots??

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!
Mireille

Macro shots from Botanical garden

As you know I am doing several photo courses this year. I've started with the Fundamentals, now I am doing Photographing with Impact, Basics Photo Shop and this month I also start People Photographing. So a few different modules to learn more tips and tricks to take better pictures.

I really enjoy it! There is still so much out there that I don't know about Photographing, taking my old hobby to a new level. And I get a lot of inspiration from the people around me who are giving the courses and the other ones attending it. The different view/ideas others have about a subject is just inspirational.

So last Sunday we went with the whole class to the Walter Sisulu Botanical gardens here in Joburg and the plants, trees and shrubs are just amazing. Very different than I am used to and especially when you look at them from such a close distance. We were there at 6am to take advantage of the better light. What also makes it more attractive is that there is still dew on the plants and leaves, much more vibrant and alive that way!

See here some of my pictures I took that morning.





















These are taken with my regular lens; Nikon D80 18-135mm, so not a macro lens, otherwise I could have gone even more close-up and then the results are more spectacular, it becomes more abstract which I really like, so maybe I am going to try that next.

Which one do you like best?

I am giving an Indonesian cooking class to some of my friends today, so have to rush off and start preparing! More about that another day!

Have a Terrific Thursday!
Mireille