Looking for the Light - Using Your DSLR (Manual Camera) Level One

Welcome to Looking for the Light - Using Your DSLR (Manual Camera) Level One! In this four week, 55-minute course, we'll learn the basics of using a manual camera. Once we begin to actually understand how to manipulate and work the manual aspects of our cameras, we can truly begin to photographically manipulate the world around us and how we want it to appear through the lens. A manual camera offers us so much control in terms of our photos, but learning those controls is crucial. So let's start with the basics! Each week there will be a photo assignment based on our topic. Images can be uploaded to the class and we'll discuss those images in our next class together.

Week One - Let's understand what f-stop and shutter speed are, how we control them through the camera, how they affect our images, and how we use them to alter the images we take. What do they do for light, for focus/motion, and for depth of field? 

Week Two - Back to the light. Let's understand how the histogram works and how to read the light meter to better understand what the camera is telling us about our exposure. How do we fix it? If we get a bleached out, too light image, what did we do wrong and how do we best fix it? If our shadows are black and have lost all detail, what do we do? 

Week Three - Let's talk about focus and ISO. How do we control them through the camera or lens, why are they important? Let's play with manual focus and auto focus.

Week Four - We'll talk about different lenses and what they offer for our photography. What type of lens works best for wildlife, macro, landscape and portrait photography? If we only have one or two lenses, how can we use them to the best of their capabilities?