Photo Class, Etc.

I know everybody (or maybe just my aunt) has been interested to see what I come up with for my photography class assignments, so I thought I'd give you all a little peek at what I've been up to. I've definitely learned a lot about my camera in the last week. As in, I've learned what it won't do and how much I want a real camera now.
The first thing we've been learning how to control is depth of field. And the biggest thing I learned is that my camera leaves a bit to be desired in that area. I can only see a measurable change in depth of field if my camera is set on "macro" or "super macro" when I change the aperture settings.
Sorry.
Didn't mean to give anybody a headache.
That's just a quick explanation of what these pictures are all about. First, we were supposed to practice with a tabletop setting - you know, a still life of sorts. I got a little, ahem, carried away with setting up the tabletop and didn't concentrate on the purpose of the exercise very well. I got lots of pretty pictures of the stuff on the table and demonstrated a nice depth of field with the background, but I think the idea was to use what was on the table to demonstrate it. So, here a couple of pretty pictures I took that might not work for my class.



My desktop monitor is showing them as darker than my laptop monitor. I'm going to see what they look like at work and hope they're okay.
Here are a couple that might work for my actual assignment. Which do you like best? I think I like the last one.






And we were supposed to come up with two real-world examples, too. I have three to choose from, with one at a wide aperture and one smaller setting.









The one with the signs doesn't show a really big difference in depth, but it's there and it's subtle. I might turn it in just so that my pictures aren't all of fruit and flowers!
It has been such a crazy week around here. I am really tired. Well, I'm tired, but so happy. I'm getting my feet back under me today and rejoicing in the birth of my tiny baby nephew who is doing so well already. I'm rejoicing in the fact that my sister-in-law is okay and is doing such a great job of looking at the bright side of things. I couldn't be more proud of her. I'm rejoicing that I have more piano students this week than I had last week and that I'm finally doing something I really love. And I rejoiced on my sofa last night in a dark chocolate (85%!) bar and big band records (yeah - the real records. Nothing beats the hiss and pop of vinyl under a needle) while I took a deep breath and looked at my pictures.
I'm tired.
But I'm doing great.