Join a private workshop on your own, scheduled around your choice of place and schedule, or up to a single group of 8 with an additional instructor with each additional group of 8.
Session One: Operating Your Camera and/or Cellphone
- Learning automatic controls — what effect they create, how to access each control of cameras and/or cellphones
- Learning the power of manual controls to override automatic operation limitations of cameras and/or cellphones
- Learning about light
- Indoor and outdoor lighting scenarios
- How the time of day affects your photographs
- Inexpensive and free apps for your cellphone
- Aperture control
- Shutter speed control
Session Two: Composing Powerful Images, Part I
- Easy composition tricks to turn snapshots into compelling photographs
- Quick review of how to engage the camera and/or cell phone for taking photos
- Leading Lines
- Create images that show the viewer exactly what spot within the photo is the starting point on which to focus and which path, in and around, within the frame, the eye should follow. Showcase what is important in the image.
- Patterns and Textures
- Let the viewer lose themselves in your image.
- Rule of Thirds
- Placing the main subject off-center allows a visually dynamic balance of important details. Adding extra detail, such as a pet, in the surrounding space helps add interesting context to the main subject.
Session Three: Composing Powerful Images, Part II
- Easy composition tricks to turn snapshots into compelling photographs
- Quick review of how to the engage camera and/or cell phone for taking photos
- Shadows and Silhouettes
- Add drama to your image, whether haunting, cheerful, mysterious or simply compelling.
- Simplicity
- Profound and thought-provoking. Simple photographs can convey complex narratives.
- Angles
- What’s in front, what’s in back, what’s below, what’s above can make the difference between an inspirational scenic or a whimsical point of view. Make the ordinary extraordinary.
Session Four: Challenges of different lighting
- Quick review of how to engage the camera and/or cell phone for taking photos.
- Natural Light (window lighting, bright sunlight, dim lighting, incandescent, fluorescent)
- Each kind of light requires different controls on your camera or cell phone
- Waiting for the light
- Different lighting means different moods
- Capturing sunsets
- Savoring the “blue light” twenty minutes after sunset or twenty minutes before sunrise
Session Five: “A Day in Your Life” — Photographing your Story
- Quick review of how to engage the camera and/or cell phone for taking photos
- Visual sense of who, what, when, where
- Starting at the beginning
- Important symbols, keepsakes, mementos
- Who are the stars in your life?
- Capturing the mood
- With your camera, you can look at your life and capture blessings and even share them with friends and family in portfolios, which you’ll learn how to do in this session. Soon, you will be able to do this in a day or across a week on your own or with a companion, and develop an intuitive sense of which pictures best tell your story. Your instructor will explain the photojournalistic thinking so you can select which images to capture your story. Share the images with others in the group and the instructor for insightful feedback. Go out for extended periods with the instructor for in-depth, at the moment, instruction.
- You can start off with a photograph of your breakfast or the beautiful view outside your window.
- You know that you enjoyed your lunch and want to show someone else how delicious it looked.
- What about stopping to smell the roses, maybe even joining a local garden club?
- Someplace nearby, maybe you have a favorite walking place to replenish yourself.
- Then, of course, there’s keeping up with family activities.
- Any special evening activity that was an exhilarating experience?
- It’s time to say goodnight.
Session Six: Sharing your photographs with Family, Old Friends, and New Friends
Digital Photo Academy instructor demonstrates ways to keep in touch with friends and family across email, texting, and a variety of social media. Periodically, you will sit with the instructor and post your favorite images and captions. Your instructor will supervise every step of the way, and your day-in-your-life stories can inspire loved ones, friends, and other social media followers.
- Working with your instructor to manage memory card image selection and/or cellphone texting
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Emailing and texting your photos with captions
- Albums
- Photo books
Notes:
- Price per enrollment can accommodate a group of up to 8 people.
- When booking, you will pick the date of your first session. Other days will be organized directly with the provider after booking.
