DC Photography Class

Looking on Groupon can have many advantages.  One day, while I was browsing, I found a discounted photography class with Remember Forever and signed up on a whim.  I also got my older sister and two friends to do it with me so I wouldn’t have to do it alone.

I wasn’t sure what to expect.  We signed up for the Family, Friends, Children workshop, which specialized in teaching us how to take great portraits.  Since I’m not a big portrait taker, I thought the class would be interesting and was excited to find out what it was all about.

“This popular photography course with Remember Forever teaches you how to get beautiful portraits and photographs of people using natural light and your environment. This is the Remember Forever workshop for the person who wants to take exceptional photographs of their family. Learning the difference between a happy snap and a photograph, you will learn the settings on your camera to ensure you never miss capturing one of those special moments and make sure you have a photograph you will treasure forever. This three hour specialized workshop includes ensuring your light and colour are correct, composing and framing your image, finding the right angle and perspective and ensuring that the photograph you take tells a story to everyone who looks at it.”

Throughout the three hour course, our instructor would teach us different styles of portraits and then we could go off and practice.  I loved that he came up to each one of us personally, took a look at our photos, and critiqued them and told us what to do to make them better.

We also learned about the rule of thirds, which I already knew about thanks to Madison’s guest post from the other week!  (thanks, Madison!)

I also took a few seconds and snapped this photo of the blossoms while we were supposed to be snapping pictures of our partners.  I may get distracted by pretty pink things easily.

Out of all the things I liked, there was one thing the instructor did keep saying that bothered me to no end.  That was, “don’t worry about the light in this picture.  It’s not important”.

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FALSE.

Light is always, always, always important!  Light directly effects whether or not your photo will be overexposed, underexposed, or perfect.  If used correctly, then you will consistently get great photos.  If you don’t know how to correctly read the exposure setting on your camera, then you will never have a good photo.

If you’re not sure where your exposure reading is on your camera, consult you manual.  It is your best friend and it will tell you everything you need to know!  I cannot stress how important exposure readings are to photography.

After the class ended and Julie and I were walking back towards the metro, I decided to snap a few other pictures.  I just love DC in the Spring!

I have to say that if you’ve been shooting in Manual mode for the past six months, this class is not for you.  Not unless you need a refresher course for the basics.  I did learn a few things, like how to snap headshots and pose people in flattering positions, but most of the information I already knew.  I was also a bit disappointed that when I did ask the instructor a few questions he didn’t seem to really know the answer.  Granted, I was asking him things that were a bit more advanced than what he was teaching us so that may have been the issue.  I honestly don’t know.  But, I did have fun and was really glad to get the chance to shoot a little bit in DC!