Photography Course

PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE OUTLINE

Overview

This course will enable you to become more comfortable with the technical aspects of your camera so you can focus on the creative sides of picture-taking. This photography course is designed to rapidly improve both your technical and creative skills through tutorials, live shoots, field trips and one-on-one clinics. I guarantee that by the end of this course, your camera know-how will improve, you will become more comfortable behind the lens and you will feel newly inspired to get out and shoot great images.

Session one  (2 hours 1 day )

We begin with storage, cleaning, safe use and handling of camera equipment and accessories followed by the basics of camera control and exposure.

We review every operation and dial to ensure you feel totally comfortable with your equipment, then teach professional techniques on how to get the perfect exposure every time. In detail, we cover
Basic and advanced camera operation (Auto, Programe mode and Manual)
The concept of exposure
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO
This session is very hands-on and interactive, mixing
classroom-based learning with mini-practical exercises that allow you to apply the theories we learn in real-world shooting situations.

Session Two (2 hours 1 day)

Once you have mastered the basics, we venture out for an in the-field assignment to further practice the first Session’s theory, then continue with more tutorials on advanced camera and image manipulation. These sessions include:
Light metering, highlights and shadows and the dynamic range of digital photography
Bracketing and white balance
Lens selection and properties
Composition rules and examples
We round off the Session presentation on different genres of photography and its most famous artists, paying specific attention to what makes a great image great.

Session Three (6 hours/ 1 day)

Now that you have the fundamentals down, we focus on how to conceive of, find and capture great images, this third part of the course is all about creativity.
Building on your knowledge and comfort, we engage you a variety of practical exercises, getting out into the surrounding region
For example a busy street (Kampala road) or quite country (Lugazi Sugar plantation, Golf course, Entebbe botanical gardens etc).
Portraiture and still life

We will pay specific attention to:

  • How to translate creative ideas into shots
  • Approaching your subject
  • Natural, supplementary and fill lighting
  • Styles and genres
  • We review your/our images then brainstorm, research and decide on a photographic project for session four

 

Session Four (6 hours/ 1day)

This is spent planning, preparing and shooting a major work, based upon your specific interests and ability. This project enables you to put together everything you have absorbed over the past several sessions. Your work will be reviewed, and you will be advised on your strengths and style and giving you direction after the course.

Session Five 4-6 hours/ 2-3 days

Time for the digital Photo studio. In this session we will focus our attention on the various software available for Photo editing and organizing and this will include

  • Adobe photoshop
  • Gimp
  • Picasa
  • Raw editors (canon and Adobe Lightroom)

We will look at a typical digital work flow for editing an image and explore the various file formats ie tiff, jpeg and png, followed by storage media
Note
Some of the computer work will be looked at during the course especially when we have to review some of the pictures taken in sessions three and four.

Minimum Equipment required

1.A single lens reflex (SLR) digital camera with a standard lens with basic accessories i.e. flash card (Camera kit)
2.Computer with pentium 4 processor
3.Pen/Pencil and note book
Optional
1.Tripod and/or bean bag
2.Extra lenses e.g. wide angle, tele-zoom
Course Note
Will be provided in print and Soft copy (CD R/RW)