I leveled up my photography skill a few points this weekend, as you can see from the post title.

I took a Intro to DSLR photography class on Saturday. A lot of the topics covered were very basic beginner things, but towards the end we got into the ISO/shutter speed/aperture details, and I got a lot better understanding from that. I think I’m finally ready to move out of Aperture-Priority mode and go to Manual mode full-time. Up until now, I’ve gotten by on just blind luck and some natural ability. But now, I’m starting to understand a lot more about how the settings can take a great photo , and also stop me from having a lot of wasted shots.

I liked the teaching style the instructor had, so I’ll probably keep an eye out for their next tier of classes, the advanced photography skills and the photo-editing class. If I can get those skills upgraded, my photography should take a large step forward.

I also ordered a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX to replace my 50mm f/1.4. Unfortunately, with my upgrade to a D7000, the 50mm is an effective 75mm, and is no longer a prime lens. At least the 35mm is pretty cheap – only $200 on Amazon. It should be arrive today – I’m really excited for that!

I spent today studying with the Greybeards. Master Arngeir has been instructing me on the Way of the Voice, and helping me understand what it means to be Dragonborn. I’m not sure I fully understand what’s happened to me over the last few weeks. Arngeir says that over time I will more fully understand my destiny.

My destiny.

Two weeks ago I came to Skyrim just to see my homeland, and try and find out where I came from. That was as far in advance as I had thought. Now, I’m supposed to fight dragons and prevent the end of the world.

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Ok, I’ve finally uploaded a bunch of the photos that I promised. However, in doing so I noticed something very sad… the colors are coming through very muted and the images are also fuzzy. I’m not sure why this is, but suspect is has something to do with the photoblog plugin I’m using for my website. I’m going to have to look into it and see if there’s anything I can do to fix it, or maybe another option. I really don’t want to let it stand as-is, because it’s not doing some of my photos justice. And I also discovered that I can’t upload more photos.

I’m not kidding! I have two more photos to upload, but for some reason it won’t take them. Gotta look into that ASAP.