photos by shona #2;

As some of you may know from this post, I'm currently studying a digital photography module at college.  In my first photography post, the module has just begun and I was only getting the hang of actually using my camera.  Since then, I feel like my skills as a photographer (albeit still an amateur at this point) have greatly improved, which is really exciting to me.  I've had an interest in photography with so long, so simply understanding what settings to use to get a photo to look the way I want feels like a huge achievement!  Like I've finally accomplished something I've always wanted to do. It really is a good feeling.

Over the past few weeks in classes, we've covered a number of topics/themes including college architecture (I chose parallel lines as my topic, if you hadn't guessed), parkour and free running (which was really cool and lots of fun), and working with flash and studio lighting (I'm sorry, Kate!), and my photography portfolio is coming along quite nicely!

As I mentioned in the last post, if any of you have any tips or ideas on how I could improve my photo-taking, be sure to leave a comment!  I just wanted to give you all a quick update on my progress, so thanks for reading!

photos by shona #1;

This semester in college I'm taking a digital photography class, which means I'm actually learning how to use my DSLR for reasons other than taking very high quality Facebook profilers.  On Monday, to get some snaps for an upcoming assignment, a few of my classmates and myself took a trip to the Guillamene Cove in Tramore. It was cold and windy, but ultimately very productive, as I managed to take most of the photos I need for the assignment handup.  That afternoon in Photography class, while it was still quite sunny, our lecturer took us on a walk around campus to put some of the theory we were learning into practice.  I'm really enjoying this class, I'm really happy with some of the photos I took today, and I'm really looking forward to improving my photography skills.

Keep in mind, I'm still a total beginner.  Aside from owning a "fancy" camera, and the theory I've learned over the past few weeks, I know very little about taking a good photo.  My photos mightn't be the best, but I'm learning, and it's a start!

Have you any tips on taking a better photo?  Thanks for reading!