Study Photographic Techniques
This is a great course is for improving photographic skills and extending your potential to work as a photographer.
- Discover how to tell a story with an image
- How to turn your photographic skills into a business
- Understand the photographic industry
- Special photographic techniques
- How to photograph anything well
- Produce photos with special effects
This course can help you understand the potentials and limitations of a camera and conceive ideas to find a way around difficulties you encounter. It is designed to help turn you into a more flexible and skilled photographer.
Lesson Structure
There are 8 lessons in this course:
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Composition
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Choosing the subject, Lighting the subject, Placing the subject in the frame, Choosing the medium for recording,
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Photographing People
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Snapshots, Portraiture, Posing for Photographs, Nude Photography, Fashion, Photography & Wedding Photography
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Nature & Landscape Photography
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Photographing Water, Plants, Landscapes & other Natural subjects
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Colour vs. black & white
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Types of film, Analysing photos, Photography for newspapers, etc.
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Special Techniques - Action and Candid Photography
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Creating Effects, Sport Photography, Events and Candid photography
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Illustrative Photography
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Telling a story with a photo (eg. advertising, sports event, fashion parade or art exhibition), Streetscape photography etc.
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Publishing
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Illustrating articles, Analysing photos in magazines, Understanding the industry and photo opportunities
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Business Opportunities in Photography
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Freelance photography, Commercial photography, Planning a Photographic Session, Studio Photography, What to Charge, Gallery Sales, Written Contracts.
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
Aims
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Compose photographs in a way that matches a predetermined aim.
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Explain a variety of ways to take better photographs of people.
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Explain a variety of ways to take better photographs of landscapes or other natural subjects.
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Differentiate between appropriate use of colour and black and white photography.
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Create varied visual affects through the use of special techniques.
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Explain a variety of ways to take better illustrative photographs.
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Explain a variety of ways to take better photographs for use in print or electronic media.
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Determine the nature and scope of business opportunities in photography.
PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
How to Capture Romance in a Photo
There are various tricks which may be used to make the image appear more beautiful or romantic. These include:
- Using high speed film or iso on a digital camera and slow shutter speeds in available light (no flash) to create a softer slightly out of focus image. This must be only very slightly out of focus!
- Try to avoid using full flash if possible (though this might not always be possible). Full flash tends to light up everything, showing all imperfections in the subjects and making oily skin shine. Without full flash it is possible to hide imperfections and/or create mystery in slight shadows.
- Use flash as a fill-in on one third to one quarter power, so as to maintain some shadows and increase the dramatic affect.
- Use a mix of light sources if shooting in a studio (or elsewhere under lights), such as tungsten, fluoro, halogen and ambient. Pure fluoro can be acceptable with black and white film but should be avoided with colour due to colour temperature variations.
- Using a tripod can reduce the need for a flash or lighting; but quick release fittings are important to allow the tripod to be moved and set up again quickly.
How to Deal with Rain or Sun when Photographing a Wedding
Rain
Use studio lights indoors in case of rain, but the time constraints and logistics involved make their use in wedding photography a serious disadvantage unless you have plenty of time, space, and an army of helpers. Flashguns are good in this situation; one should have a slave attached. A slave is a flash which is triggered automatically by another flash.
Take umbrellas for the bride and groom and plastic sheets, clean linen sheets etc. for sitting and standing the bride on as well as cloths to dry and clean your camera gear.
Use the rain to your advantage!!!
- Can you capture nice reflections in puddles?
- Can you slow the shutter down to make it look like a waterfall in the background?
- Can you capture moody shots of the bride and groom looking out the window at the rain?
- Umbrellas can make stunning props.
- Can you capture some of the bridal parties facial expressions – what do they think about the rain?
- Don’t let the bride get wet in case her make-up runs and her hairstyle falls apart.
- If she’s already soaked to the bone – go with it. Get some arty shots of her in the rain and of people bringing her towels and blankets to warm up and dry off; hopefully laughing and enjoying herself.
Priorities when raining:
- Set up smaller groups to keep things running quickly.
- Use uncluttered backgrounds.
- Get vital groups done first. Bulk out the photography with plenty of candid photos.
Sun
Shooting in bright sun often leads to the subjects squinting. The solution is to shoot into the sun to let the sun backlight the subjects. This is also particularly flattering for the veil and dress. A lens hood will help to stop stray light from flaring into the lens, the effect is easily missed and much easier to spot if you momentarily close the aperture right down and depress the depth of field preview button while you look through the viewfinder.
When you do shoot into the sun, however, you have to make sure that the subjects’ faces are not too dark. It can help to have a reflective board to bounce light back up at them. Get one of the bridal party members to hold it for you if you do not have an assistant. Even a big piece of white cardboard, car windscreen reflector or foam core can work well. Alternatively you may need to use a flash even in broad daylight.
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