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The
Second week
These are extracts from the class notes
The
Art of Photography
Week 2
Composition
Being able to create perfectly focused and exposed photographs is
no guarantee you'll end up with great or even good pictures. It takes
more than technical mastery of your camera's controls and settings
to achieve this. If that were the case any of us could become an experts
by carefully studying our users manual.
Good photography requires imagination, creativity, and a touch of
artistry. Few of us have the spark of genius it takes to aspire to
the likes of a top fashion photographer, but with a solid understanding
of the rules of photographic composition and the knowledge you'll
acquire through practice any of us can become good photographic crafts
people. And while not everyone is a genius all of us have within a
spark of artistry that can be nurtured and developed.
One of the photographic facts of life is cameras and people view reality
differently. Have you ever been on holidays and come across some picturesque
feature or a spectacular landscape and later been disappointed with
the photos you took? If so you have discovered this basic truth. Being
there is an experience that assaults all the senses. You will smell
the ocean while overlooking a spectacular seascape, at the same time
feeling the spray on your face from the breaking surf. This is the
total experience. The photograph is much more limited and therefore
it needs help.
As well cameras have a much more limited exposure latitude than the
human eye, when you look over a scene you sea details in shadow and
brightly lit areas that will never show up in the camera. The cameras
peripheral vision is considerably less and, even when this is enhanced
with a super wide-angle lens, the resulting rendering is usually pared
down to the size of an 8 X10 or smaller print. The job we have to
accomplish as photographers is to take the panorama that we see before
our eyes and translate it into an attractive photograph within the
limits of the camera……………
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Week
3
We
go into detail on how to use Flash and how to get better photos in
difficult situations
Flash
Photography
Pretty well all-digital cameras on the market today come with an electronic
flash built right into the body which allow the user to take photos
under many dim light situation. There are basically two ways to use
the flash. As the main light source or as a secondary source to fill
in shaded areas in brightly lit scenes, illuminate back lit subjects,
or just to make subject stand out in low or flat light situations.
In the former if your camera is set to some auto mode the flash will
fire automatically when needed without any user input and in the latter
there is usually a fill flash mode. Regardless of what sort of flash
photography you practice there are some things you should know.
Flash Range
A fact of life is that every flash has a maximum useful range and
this range is very limited. How………………..
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Week
4
We deal with exposure, I actually dismantle a camera and explain how
each part works so that each student will have a better understanding
of how to get the perfect photograph.
Exposure
Exposure is what creating a photograph is all about and that means
getting just the right amount of light on the light sensitive medium,
be it film or a CCD. The camera has two ways of controlling the amount
of exposure given to the medium. It can adjust the period of time
the medium is exposed which is known as the shutter speed or it can
control the size of the aperture through which the light enters or
the f-stop.
Shutter Speed
All film cameras have a shutter that is a physical barrier that blocks
light from the film until removed. The size of the opening varies
with the shutter speed. The satisfying metallic click SLR photographers
are accustomed too is from the operation of this mechanism.
Many digital cameras don't actually use physical shutters to make
an exposure, though some………………
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Even
though we touched on it earlier on in the course, we now deal in detail
with each of the camera modes
Week 5
Part 1 Digital Camera Basic Modes
Most people use the automatic mode of their camera and it takes good
shots in most situations. It is often very helpful though to let the
camera know what type of shot you're trying to take. This allows the
camera to select the best settings for that particular image.
This can be done by changing to a different camera mode. The following
is an explanation of each of the different modes, when to use them,
and what decisions the camera makes for each mode...............
Part
2 Digital Camera Advanced Modes
Part 3 Photographing People
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Week
6
In this class we revise all that we have done already
The class notes for this week come as "Hints and Tips"
for taking good photos, printed on card paper, so that you can fold
it and take it with you when you are out taking photographs, as a
reminder
How
to back up your photos on to DVD's
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Week
7
This week the students are introduced to Photo Editing
(Free Software is supplied)
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Week
8
we enter the Digital Darkroom and begin to edit our photos
Photos that are too dark are brightened up, and Photos that are too
bright are darkened a little.
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Week's
9 and 10
We
continue working with photos, taking out unwanted "visitors",
removing Red Eye, adjusting photos that are slightly out of
focus and much more.
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