Today was the first day of LookBeforeYouLive photography school.  We brought along an old DSLR body for both of our kids, and put a 50mm lens on each.  The class was a big hit, and they’re already begging for the next installment.

Today I introduced aperture and its effect on depth of field. I asked them to photograph me at f/8 and f/1.8 and notice how the focus of the background changes:

I then talked about how using high aperture values results in long exposures, which in turn introduces motion blur:

Our son enjoyed experimenting with moving the camera while taking long exposures:

For the last few minutes, they went outside and had “free play” with their new cameras:

Our son did a lot of directing:

School over, we wandered down to the beach.  Oh, the tiresome crowds at the Nothern California coast:

Since it was low tide, we explored amongst the rocks for tidal pool critters:

The kids began a building project…

…While Trish surveyed the north side of the beach.

They built a ship:

Our daugther’s pet kelp, “kelpie”:

When we got down to true low tide, we could see starfish:

When we got back, I went to check in with the casino.  The security fellow said there was no need to check in, and that they have no stay limit.  Hmm, we could get used to “living” here!