This month I started my Digital Photography class! This was one of the many classes I was looking forward to because the last time I took a class on photography was in my sophomore year of high school and that was at least 3 years ago.

Two of my assignments required me to post two photographs on my blog so I will combine them into this post.

Composition

The first assignment involved taking an inanimate object and taking 30 different photographs of it, all different to play around with composition. I decided to take photos of my stuffed llama I got last spring.

• 

This assignment got harder for the last 10 photos because I was running out of ideas fast, but this photo captured my attention out of the many I took. Maybe because it adds this sense of mystery and questioning as to what the llama is looking at (even if it is a stuffed animal). I learned that composition is all about how you want the subject to be represented and to also never try to center your subject unless you are striving for symmetry. I found photos taken from the back to be more interesting than regular front photos of this llama.

Aperture

The second assignment involved taking 10 photographs of still life, all with different aperture settings (f/stop).

I had to choose one of the photographs who showed the best depth of field, sharpness, and dynamic range. This one is average in terms of the 3, it could still use some improvement, but as a beginner, at this topic, I would say it is passable. I liked the lighting cast on the gem tree which is why this one was picked over the rest.

The settings for this photo were as followed:

• Shutter Speed- 1/50
• Aperture- f/4.0
• Iso- 2500

From this assignment I learned that the wider the aperture is, the more light will come through the lens; the narrower it is, the less light will come through the lens. This goes in hand with the depth of field because the wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field is. The depth of field is all about what aspects of your photos will be in focus.

I still have a lot to learn, but I enjoyed doing these assignments.