Taking pictures in Digital Design class

By QUINN BROWNLEE
Sheridan High School Student

Editor’s note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s Accelerated English 9 class, taught by Ellie Arrowood.

Being in Digital Design class means more than just working on creating on a computer. You also work on making the yearbook and taking pictures for it. In that class, you learn how to use a camera, take pictures, experiment with taking them, and make pages for the yearbook.

When I chose to take Principles of Digital Design, I didn’t know it would be more of a photography class. I really enjoy photography, and finding out that I was actually taking a photography class made me excited. When I took pictures in the past, I always used my phone because I didn’t have access to a real camera. Even if I did have access to a camera, I would’ve had no idea how to use it. Mrs. Waitt, the Digital Design teacher, taught everyone in the class about camera settings, such as how to adjust the shutter speed.

After we learned how to use the cameras, we got to practice taking pictures. One of the days we stayed in the classroom and adjusted the camera’s settings based on how light or dark the pictures came out. Another day, we went outside to take action shots of movement. I worked with my friend, and we took pictures of people walking, kicking a soccer ball, and throwing a football. Then, after we took those pictures, we got to experiment with editing them how we wanted on an app called Adobe Lightroom.

Students in this class also get to pick the theme for that year’s yearbook and design the pages inside of it. Since it is still the very beginning of the year, the theme has not been decided, and no pages have been created. Mrs. Waitt has shown us the website we use to make the pages and how to use it, so that when we are ready to start, we already know how to do so.

Being in Principles of Digital Design is a great opportunity for anyone who enjoys creating and doing photography. Students learn how to use a DSLR camera correctly, take good photos, and create a yearbook for the high school. Principles of Digital Design is just one of the classes that make Sheridan such an amazing school with great opportunities.