A few weeks ago I took an excellent introduction to DSLR photography course, and now I’m asking myself questions like these all the time.

I had planned on just looking at websites and spending some time on my own to learn how to use the camera Anthony had gotten me for Christmas; however, a bit intimidated by all the settings and not knowing where to start, I had mostly let it collect dust on the shelf.

But this course (with Derek from TakeBetterPictures.co.uk) taught me well beyond the basics with my camera and really got me excited about taking pictures.

Derek’s passion for photography was infectious. We covered a lot of ground in two days, including photo composition, the relationship between aperture/shutter speed/ISO, focusing, panning, exposure compensation and white balance amongst other topics, and the time flew by. Julie took the course with me and did a great write-up on her blog.

My favorite part was going out to take photos (near Borough Market), and then coming back in to see what everyone took and hear Derek’s critiques. He’s travelled the world taking photos (and used his own photos to illustrate all sorts of points during his presentations), so it was great to hear his tips on composition and what truly makes a good photo. I was vaguely aware of many of these things from taking daily photos, but having them spelled out was really useful and will hopefully improve my photos from here on out.

I have been taking a good amount of photos lately. Was in Barcelona recently, am now about to leave for Tokyo. I’ll get all these photos posted eventually.