Depth of field

Assignment #2 is to experiment with depth of field, which is something I love (or should I say...I've discovered that I love taking photos with a shallow depth of field). Here's the first photo with an aperture of F/5.7:

And an aperture of F/16:

I couldn't quite get both figures fully in focus...the picture seemed to go a little soft. I don't know if that's the lens or me (probably me). The next assignment is shutter speed!

The many moods of a sunflower

Our first assignment for our class is to see how exposure affects the mood of a photo. First, we have to take a correctly exposed photo. This is mine:

Then we needed to take that same photo, but underexposed one stop:

And then we had to take a third version of that photo, overexposed by one stop:

Homework!

It's been an incredibly rainy weekend, but my husband and I jumped on a break in the rain to go to a local park so I could take pictures for my photography class. We came across a very friendly and curious squirrel:

I made my husband pose for a few shots:

We found a few interesting-looking puffballs:

And, the grand finale...a race car derby!

Photography class!

I am so excited! I am finally taking a photography class after two failed attempts (both classes were canceled due to lack of enrollment). Look for new—and hopefully better—pictures soon! :)

Diving at the aquarium

My husband got to dive at the aquarium today. While he was setting up, I watched an otter playing:

Then I headed over to the sea lion tank where they were just finishing up eating. These two were trying to follow the trainers out in hopes of getting more food:

This girl was pretty sassy and made me laugh. I love her over-the-shoulder, coy look:

Finally got into the glass tunnel and set the camera up for pictures. It was a very low-light environment, plus shooting through thick glass with people's reflections was a challenge. Took some practice shots while I was waiting for my husband to get into the tank, including one of this funky fish:

Finally! James gets in the tank to swim with the fishes! Hooray!

It was a terrific day for both of us! :)

Hiking

My husband and I went hiking yesterday. We stopped on a bridge and I managed to get a couple of interesting shots of the sky reflecting off the water.

Weekend trip

My husband and I escaped for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary.

The remains of an old pier:

The fog settled in at sunset:

A boat comes in for the night: