So....what have I learned.....?

So now the course is over, how has it helped me?

Yet again sharing work, thoughts, ideas and inspiration with others on the course has been great.

Making a blog was great, I probably wouldn't have got round to doing this without the push from the course. I do intend to keep up my blog after the course is over, and use it for both my scrapbooking and photography.

Although I had already read my cameras manual, and was fairly comfortable in using some of the creative modes, the course pushed me outside my comfort zone in using full manual on the camera. I must admit that for speed Av will still prob be my choice if I am trying to get pics of my kids (they get bored if i fiddle about too much!!) but I now know how to use the manual settings if I am not happy with aperture priority shots.

Lightbulb moments... Trying to get shots on a very bright day on the beach, and I remembered that forcing the flash would improve them. Tried in Av, overexposed, so switched to manual, set the aperture to underexpose slightly and with the forced flash I got some great beach shots, perfectly exposed!

Really chuffed with my reflections shots, without the course I would not have tried shooting at night, so glad I had a go!

Only disappointments were that not as many of us completed our blogs as I would have hoped, so there was less to inspire here as I would have liked. I know that I was away for 3 of the 4 weeks, so that meant I couldn't keep up with everyone else's blog, but I did have lots of opportunities to take photographs while on holiday. The time of year was good for me, as I had enough time to complete the tasks and update my blog, not sure about the thoughts of others.

Here's one of the beach shots of my nephew and DS I was really happy with, and I couldn't have got this without the course, so thanks CJ.
Exif data, ISO 100, f13, 1/200, WB set to sunny, flash forced to fire.