Introduction to Photography 101

Hi, I am Chelsea Peterson, owner at Chelsea Peterson Photography, and I am a Canon.  Don’t let that scare you off nikon owners, its not hard to convert!  Even if you think Ashton Kutcher is attractive. No, just kidding, I hope to help you in whatever camera you use and whichever level you might be at.  But first, let me tell you about myself!

I am married with 3 girls, and my family is the most important thing in my life.  You can read more about my my personal story on my about me! But this is about photography.

I am self taught, which I believe will help me teach you the basics of photography because just like you I had to search to learn.  I was just that mom who wanted to take better pictures.  I always had an interest in photography and almost switched my major to it in college. Things it got a little more complicated once I got married and needed to work to put my husband to school while I finished with an AS.  The interest in photography was still there when all these affordable DSLR’s were on the rise.  It seemed everyone had a better camera than me. I must have been a REALLY good girl because I was shocked when I opened Santa’s present to me, a Canon t1i.  I went from a clickin’ mom, to hobbyist, to a little start up, and now I am running a successful business with taxes, invoices, marketing, and all that boring stuff.

I taught myself right out of the gate so that by the time I had my first photography session I was not in auto mode, but was shooting in aperture priority (I now shoot in manual).  Here is an example of my progress and change up to this point.

Picture from one of my first sessions ever

Picture from a session this month

So before I start throwing around all that photography jargon that gets your head spinning and makes you want to ring you hair and scream… lets go over a few of them to prep you for what I will teach you over the next months.  These are terms that you will see often so you can refer back to this whenever you like.  I remember being so overwhelmed when I started to learn. It will all make since as you learn each one in more detail and PRACTICE!  You do NOT have to want to be a professional photographer, or even a blogger.  Just the desire to learn how to use your camera, whichever kind it is, to produce great images that you will want to share and show off!  This is exactly where I started, and you can do it.

Click for a printable version

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