A Picture Is Worth...

When it comes to taking holiday snaps and creating a blog (that hopefully interests the masses of fans out there – Hi mum! Hi dad!), a perfectly framed picture is worth more than a thousand words. Which is the reason I decided to spend one of my last precious days in Australia doing a Photography course (whilst I am still happy with my decision, hindsight has lead me to believe I probably should have put more of a priority on packing, but that is another story).

The course Lens, Light and Sunset is part 2 of a course offered by National Photography Training College. I had already attended, learnt and forgot (sorry Terry!), the basics from the Introductory into Digital Photography. The basics covered Program Mode, Shutter Speed, ISO and Aperture (amongst other things). This 2^nd course was an intensive reminder of the importance of these concepts and after taking practice and comparative shots in the beautiful War Memorial, we quickly moved onto Manual Modes (which will take some time to perfect!) and, my favourite, night photography. I spent the day and evening snapping away with my newly-purchased hybrid camera: Nikon P600.

Such a pretty monument

Did I capture the mood?

Machinery-turned-into-art

It is amazing the differences that changes in Shutter Speed, ISO, White Balance and Aperture can make. Throughout the day, I found myself staring at terribly overexposed pictures of white light (and not much else). While mistakes are allowed, Terry is very big on “respecting the light” and is happy to provide feedback and advice on how to “See the shot and take the shot”. I managed to get a few nice pics for a newbie in the end.

Cloud art on a sky canvas

Trying to capture all the textures and contrasts of Lake Burley Griffin

Gorgeous sunset

Is this “the shot”?

I’m quite the Shutter Speed whore, and love my night photography and ‘panning’ and spent the majority of my afternoon trying to figure out how to get that perfect shot. And Canberra’s Spring afternoon/evening provided the perfect subject.

Monet-inspired picture

The National Carillon in all its glory

Canberra by night

For those of you based in Canberra, Sydney or Melbourne who would like to “get off Auto mode” and take some more control of their camera and snappy pics, check out http://www.nptc.com.au/ and get in touch with Terry. Meanwhile, I’m going to have to invest in a tripod, keep practicing and revising my notes to take the perfect shots from my Spanish adventure. Here’s hoping there’s a notable improvement as the blog develops!