Practice Your Photography. It’s OK.

Photography is a hobby and luxury in my life.  I often feel like taking time to practice – just me and my camera – is an indulgence.

Last week, I found some time with no kids and homework to complete for my photography workshop.  I  stopped at a park I drive by every day and practiced for about 30 minutes.  I can’t tell you how good it was, both for my own enjoyment as well as developing my skills.

So, just a reminder for you – it’s OK to make time for your hobby! Think of it as exercise for your brain, stress relief, or even as developing potential professional skills.

I worked on metering modes, planning composition, and manual focus (try that with a two-year old!).  Here is my final product:

The topic for this Light Workshop assignment was to capture shots in mid-day full sun with backlighting.  The best results would have come from using a person as a subject.  Think of the sun shining from behind into a mop of curly golden hair, while the face is shadowed and perfectly exposed.  Instead, I found backlit berries with a glint of sun reflecting off one of them.

As Detra, the Light Workshop instructor, noted, my picture could have been zoomed in more.  But she liked it!  And I am proud of how I captured the light on the berries.  I can tell you this isn’t something I would have attempted without the structure of a class to guide me.

Here is my SOOC, for comparison.  I used tons of textures and overlays on this one, plus a good measure of sharpening as well.

As I mentioned in my post about my first homework assignment for this workshop, I attended an online virtual class last week.  Detra used a free online meeting software provider to host the meeting.  Aside from being limited in the number of people that can attend any given class, it seemed to work well.  Detra very gracefully overcame some technical difficulties at the beginning of the class to answer questions and demonstrate techniques.

During class, the students looked at ACR and Photoshop running on Detra’s computer, or at a virtual chalkboard where she sketched diagrams.  We could hear Detra speaking, but the students’ voices were muted.  We had a chat box for posting questions or topics we wanted to discuss.  Detra stayed online for well over an hour taking questions.

For those of you interested in participating in the next Light Workshop, check out this post on Detra’s blog.  She’s offering a $75 discount to people who sign up within the first 24 hours.  I’ll be reviewing this class throughout it’s 90 day duration, so my final recommendation won’t be available for a while.  But I can tell you that I have learned a lot so far and that I’m grateful to Detra for letting me attend her class in exchange for writing about it.

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