Finding your photo style - Week One

I have just finished week one of the new class over at Big Picture Classes found here.  We are experiencing a week of rain, snow, and black clouds which makes for not a lot of fun outside and even less fun taking photos for this cool new class.  Funny though how taking a class can really open your eyes to the opportunities all around you that you would otherwise be blissfully unaware of. 

Our first assignment was to take a photo using colour as the focal point (in a nutshell).  I have the ultimate photo idea in my head but need a break in the weather to pull it off, so I just cruised through my photo files and happened upon all of these neat photos that all have that bright, fun, cheery element to them.  I never realised why I liked these photos so much, but now thanks to Maggie Holmes I can see it is the colour that captivated me!

 

 

Our second assignment required the use of 'open shade' which basically means a shaded area that still has enough diffused light from the sun to highlight a subject.  I'm sure others could do better to describe it than that, but there you have it!  I took a photo of B standing next to our shed - it was late afternoon so the sun was going down to the back-left of the shed (or a nor-west direction as you look at him).

He makes for such a willing subject!  Truth be told, B is a photo bomber expert and is constantly on the look out for me to photograph him.  I reckon he would be a great model - he stood exactly where I asked and how I asked and even had this expression because I asked it of him - so compliant! Lol.

      
Maggie asked that we adjust our photos using an action in Photoshop.  Since I don't have the full version of Photoshop yet I used Photoshop Elements 11 and Radlab which Cathy Zielske has been teaching me in this class. 

Looking forward to the next assignment.  It's all moving a little fast, so I'm not getting much in-depth reasoning or learning how to use my camera to it's fullest potential, but then that wasn't the goal of the class either.  I will just hold on for the ride and see where it takes me, and I may even find my own 'photo style'.

See ya
Steph