What to bring to class...
- Camera
- Empty memory card
- Batteries. A fully charged battery should last all through the class.
- Manual and/or quick start guide for your camera.(see links in the left column)
- A USB card reader or USB cable for downloading photos from YOUR Camera to a Computer
- Lunch or Lunch money
- Dress for the weather, we will spend at least 1 hour outside.
Part 1 --Hands on with YOUR Camera
Things you need to know about your camera
- Camera Inventory Check List
- Camera Settings -Global Camera Function Modes
Tip: Learn even more about your camera
Read the reviews about your camera at:
The reviewers are so good that they find things about your camera that
you need to know. If they find issues, they publish work-arounds!
Interested in purchasing a new camera but don't know what to get? Try this on-line Product Advisor wizard What Digital Camera?
Press the Shutter Button Half Way!
- How does your Camera Focus?
- How does your Camera Meter?
- Setting WB -White Balance
Nota Bene: ETTR (Expose to the right)
- If you Capture in "Raw" Format slightly over expose...
- If you Capture in .jpg Format sightly under expose...
- Here's a demonstration of why you want to capture your images in raw format and why you want to "ETTR"
Goldie Locks and the Digital Camera
- Auto Presets
- PASM --Taking Control
- The Histogram
- Exposure Compensation
- Flash Compensation
- Exposure Bracketing
- High Dynamic Range
- An HDR Tutorial
- Nikon Active D-lighting
Nikon Website - AE-L (Exposure Lock) and AF-L (Focus Lock)
- Nikon website, When should I use AE-L
- Canon Website, Back-Button Auto Focus Explained
Part 2 --Composition
- Use The Rules of thirds
- Use one of the Golden Rules
- Shoot an odd number of objects
- Use your instinct, look for lines, diagonals, foreground/background frames, patterns...
Part 3: A Photography Safari in and around the Campus
Before you shoot… a check list
Applying Photo Techniques in and around the Clark College Campus
What to shoot? Try the following...
- Apply the techniques and settings learned in class…
- Shoot a "landscape"
- Shoot a street scene "portrait"
- Take a photo of a classmate photographing
- Take a closeup of a flower, a tree, the ground…
- Pretend you are an alien, you have one hour to photograph…
- Shoot from different perspectives: Low, High, at an angle…
- Here's a bunch of ideas… A Suggested Shooting List
- Some more Photography Tips General Suggestions
Another Nota Bene: Be prepared!
- Put the camera in Program Mode (It's automatic, but you can take charge and over ride the settings)
- Always verify shooting mode when shooting a new subject
Part 4 -- What to do with the photos --The Work Flow
Now that you have pictures, what do you want to do with them?
There is a large variety of image processing software. Your camera should come bundled with a an image enhancing program. Below I have listed a few alternatives.
I use Photoshop Lightroom...
Windows Software
Mac Software
Image Processing Check List
- Down load and Archive
- Pick the Keepers
- Process the Images
- Analyze the Photo. Use the histogram and the Highlight and Shadow clipping indicators.
- Eliminate highlight clipping Set white balance first, then Exposure...
- Recovery: Recover details in the highlights
- Fill Light: Recover shadow details
- Blacks: Eliminate black clipping levels
- Brightness-Contrast: redistribute mid-tones around mid-gray
- Add Presence
- Fine tune the toning
- Target and Fine tune hue, saturation and Luminance
- Sharpen, If you only do one thing to your photos this is it. Sharpen
- Remove noise
- Crop to straighten horizons and eliminate distractions.
- Retouch, dodge and burn, lens correction, and add gradients if necessary.
- Move to Photoshop to merge with other photos, remove or add compositions.
- Archive Keepers
- Print it!
- Share
Software for output, sharing your photos.
- Slideshow
- Movie
- Web Site
- JAlbum (PC & Mac) and
it's freeware (donation ware)
Here's a sample online album