What did I get out of the course

I learned a massive amount about how to take pictures, how to compose them and what I can do with my DSLR. I learned what Shutter speed, aperture and ISO are and how to use them. I also learned about using the Manual mode.

I learned how to print images and a great place to print the images from (ProAm). Since finishing the course I have started to work on a 16"x12" (A3) portfolio to show off my work to potential customers.

I have some fantstic shots that I have taken while on this course and am looking forward to the images that I will take in the future.

I have started my own photography company (Going Wild Photography) and at the moment have 6 jobs on the books, as a result of printing my portfolio, which I am doing at a reduced rate or free to bulk up my portfolio.

April 2011 is the date I have planned for the launch of Going Wild Photography and the date when I plan to start taking paid jobs and selling prints. I have an eBay shop planned and a web site, I am also thinking seriously about branding and image at the moment.

Keep coming back to this blog as I'll be updating it and showing off some of my work as it continues to improve with practice.

I have also ordered 2 new lenses which should be with me soon.

• The first is a 90mm - 300mm telephoto lens for my wildlife photography. If it arrives before the weekend I will be going out on Saturday to find some Kingfishers.
• The second is a fixed focal 50mm lens, which is fast f/1.8 so I can get some good portraits and some nice shallow depth of field. I will be playing with this extensively before putting it to use for the baby, children and dog portraits I have on the books over the next few weeks.

And finally thank you to eveyone who has and continues to encourage me.

End of the 10 week intro course

The last two weeks of the course were fantastic. I really got a lot out of them and learned some really valuable stuff.

Week 9

This week we went through the steps needed to get our images ready to be printed by ProAm Printing. We all brought a RAW image in to process and send off to be printed as a 16"x12" image. We converted the image from RAW, changed the size of the image and even changed the size of the canvas to include a white border. At the end of the session we all had an image to send off for printing.

Week 10

The prints were back. They were great; I wasn't sure what the outcome would be of printing the images that big. I had always been a little worried thinking that the camera I was using is only a 10 mega pixel camera, even though it is a DSLR.

I was happy with the quality of the image. The only problem I had was that the focusing of the image was slightly out and the background was more in focus than the people in the picture.