Lessons 10-12!

OK, so this is the end of my Photographing Nature class. I must say, I loved getting out there and learning more about nature photography. I am sad that the class is over already though! I already took my final exam and have my grade, and A!!!

Ok, so to share what I did for the last lessons. Lesson 10 was all about Marco photography. Macro is technically 1:1. But, the term is also used for any really close-up photographs. I struggled with this one. I love macro photography, but I don't yet have a macro lens. This made it tough for my to get as close as I wanted to. I just could not focus my lens right unless I was further away. But, I kept at it and did get some nice shots!

Lesson 11 was about basic post-processing, or editing. The instructor actually gave us photos to work with, so these were not shot by me. For each one, he told us what he wanted done. I will show you before and afters of my takes. I will also explain what he wanted, and what I did to get there.

 For the leaf, the instructor said to use a healing or cloning tool to get rid of the two big brown spots. I used the healing tool in Photoshop to "fix" three brown spots.

 For this one, there are obvious over-exposed areas. He wanted those areas fixed. I used a selection tool to select the over-exposed trees and water then I lowered the brightness level. I also selected the darker areas (using a mask on the areas I already fixed) and raised the brightness slightly.

For the spider web, we were left to our own devices! He just told us to experiment and have fun. I went through every filter option in my Photoshop. I wanted to make it look out there! I thought the "neon edge" filter did just that!

Our final lesson was about abstract nature photography. He described abstract as "anything beyond concrete realities or specific objects". He also described Abstract photography as "not having the usual subjects and objects". So, I got as creative as I could using my back yard. This is what I came up with:

I know the abstract work could be better, and I will definitely use what I learned about as I continue the path of photography. I must say, I am glad I found this class. It has thought me a lot and inspire me, too!