Hurray for Christmas - Fantasy in Lights (Photography Class)

Let me start out with I am not a photographer.  When my parents retired, they both took up photography (you should check out their pictures, http://lakeseminolephotography.com/, they ROCK!!) and love it.  Last year, they went up to Callaway Gardens' Fantasy in Lights photography workshop and had such a great time, they wanted to go back.  Callaway Gardens also has lots of geocaches and so my parents invited me to their trip this year!  YAY!  I also went to the photography workshop (it was for 'advanced' photographers so I sat in between my parents and asked zero questions and smiled and nodded like I totally knew what was going on...which most of the time I did not).
An example of by noobiness - my remote clicker got stuck one time and this was my 'shot'!

Another example - I couldn't put the camera on the tripod and had to ask my dad for help.  #fail

After about an hour in the classroom, we went over to the Gardens for a preview of the Fantasy in Lights, stopping at many of the scenes to take pictures.  This was the point of the class, to go through the show before it opened to the masses so we could stop and take pictures without spectators/cars/trolleys getting in the way.  Truth be told, at first I was too nervous and wasn't having a blast, but once I figured out a couple of kinks, I had a GREAT time!
In person, you only see one of the kites at a time (they blink back and forth), but slowing down the ISO and increasing my aperture (I have really no idea what I just said or if I even said it correctly!) I was able to capture all the kites in one shot (no photoshopping required!).

Callaway has introduced the LED lights to its displays, which look awesome in person but are a bit hard to shoot.  The nutcrackers are all LED.

Santa's workshop is also LED now.  I love the purple LED lights (let's face it, a snake could be purple and I would like it)!

As part of the tour, some of the trees around the park/gardens are lit up (either lights on the trees or a colored spotlight aimed at the trees).  This shot is actually two trees!  When you see the trees in person, you don't see the colors you see in the photograph.

And then there are swans.  To be honest, I am not sure what swans have to do with Christmas, but it is pretty neat to see their reflection in the water.

Even after only 1 hour of instruction, I did learn a lot about photography and the camera (probably mostly from my parents showing my how to use the camera).  And I learned that though I am not an avid photographer, I really enjoy the Photoshop part!  :)