Photography Classes and the Joys of the NBN

I mentioned recently that my son and I had booked in for a photography class so that we could learn how to use our cameras. I really really love my old Canon Point and Shoot camera as it is so convenient to use but seeing as I also have a Nikon Coolpix P600 which I bought on eBay for a discount as it was 'refurbished' ...whatever that means, I thought it was time to find out how it works properly. Our tutor, Don Hildred, was given the difficult task of combining both the basic course and the more advanced one as I wanted to do the basic one but my son already knew most of the basics so really needed to do the more advanced one. However, Don took it in his stride and was very helpful.

My Mother's Day present to myself...just because I loved the colour :-)

Don asked us to bring along some photos we had taken and he showed us how to.....

....sharpen the photo to make it look clearer.

 This was the photo I took recently of the mural painted last year in the First Coat Festival.

Don showed what could be done in Photoshop by making the colours more vibrant, not that we have Photoshop but it is interesting to learn what can be done. I dare say that painting would have faded over the past year as well. By the way the First Coat Festival is on this weekend and I saw some of the artists painting in the CBD this morning when I was walking to our Simple Living Toowoomba workshop on decluttering which incidentally was just great. Only problem is I should have taken the CEO. LOL! This is the last time the festival will be held in Toowoomba as I believe it will be going to the smaller regional areas in the future which will be wonderful for them as it will attract tourists. 

How to take a photo from a different angle....this was the photo I took a couple of months ago of the Hitching Rail at Picnic Point.

Don took it from this angle which looks more interesting. I can highly recommend Don's classes if anyone in our region is interested in attending a class. Just email Don and I am sure he will be only too happy to help you out. Just go to the link in the first paragraph for the details.

So now I am trying to discipline myself to get the camera out of the bag and use it each day to become familiar with the settings. 

 

I am always fascinated by seeing the sun shining through leaves so tried to capture that effect but it is all a bit hit and miss at the moment till I learn a bit more. It might help if I read the notes Don gave us as well.

As my camera has an amazing zoom I used it to zoom in on this unsuspecting cockatoo sitting at the top of the huge pine tree next door....a long way away from our back yard. I have been watching out for other birds that might visit in the afternoon but there don't seem to be a lot of birds around at the moment.  You can always count on the odd cockatoo though unless you are doing the Aussie Backyard Bird Count and then they seem to disappear for the week for some reason.  

Oh yes, I was going to write about the joys of being connected to the NBN this week. Unfortunately there aren't any. Enough said :-)