Photography in Wales

This weekend was my eagerly awaited birthday present - a photography course in the Brecon Beacons, in South Wales, conducted by a professional photographer.  
The course started with a quick run down of theory using images on the computer to illustrate and then we head outside.  Each with a camera and a borrowed tripod in hand, the first stop for Lee and I was the local reservoir for a lesson in composition, perspective and moving elements of the landscape by moving our feet.  Next up was a waterfall where we practiced taking pictures of moving water, a hillside where we took multiple shots for merging, followed by a quick break for lunch and some processing.  Heading out again we visited a local castle where we took multiple interior shots for HDR and practiced perspective with the tower, followed by a session in a wood to try to create a starburst with the sun and finishing with shots of the patchwork fields in the valley.


It was difficult to keep up with the fast-paced direction while learning to use the camera, but I learnt several very useful lessons:
1) How to use full Manual
2) How to use the histogram
3) How much can be recovered when shooting in RAW
4) When to take shots of moving water to get the 'silky' look (not in sun)
5) Take multiple portrait shots to build landscape images
6) The range of shots to build HDR images


We ended up with some printed images from the day, some promising shots from the next day and a long wish-list of products to buy.