Photography & Photoshop®

This introductory course teaches students to understand and utilize the manual functions on their DSLR camera. The course focuses on a different genre of photography each week – including landscape, portraiture, documentary and abstract. To maximize the benefits of taking the course, students will be given weekly photographic assignments relating to each genre. Instruction will also cover downloading, archiving, and image manipulation and the photographic lighting studio will be used for commercial lighting demonstrations.

Suitable for beginners

The Intermediate class is designed for students who are completely fluent with their camera and understand its manual functions and the creative impact of these controls. The course is designed to further this experience with more technical and challenging tasks. Through ongoing discussion, group critique, observation and workshop style learning of issues related to photography, students will develop an awareness of the medium both practically and conceptually. Topics covered include; client scenarios, colour theory, grading laboratory prints, a field trip for High Dynamic Range shooting, a gallery visit and studio lighting workshop.

The Portrait, Figure and Fashion in Photography-

This course is an introduction into the portrait, fashion and figurative genres in photography and is designed for students interested in extending their knowledge of digital photography while creating a photographic body of work. Technical essentials are covered: the basic use and mastery of the DSLR camera, metering light, lens selection, framing and composition, image processing and photo editing to finally complete a small series based on an individual portrait, fashion or figurative concept by the end of the course or workshop. Students will learn how to direct, photograph and style their subjects, working with available light on location as well as being introduced to the photographic studio.

Meighan is a contemporary portraitist and a specialist in the subject, practice and history of the photographic and fashion portrait, and has taught in this subject area for over a decade. Her work has been published and exhibited internationally and locally and holds a MFA (1st class honours).

Photoshop^® is the professional standard in digital imaging, with an endless selection of drawing tools, filters, and colour-adjustment capabilities for manipulating items in almost any way. Photoshop® has become an indispensable tool for all creative professionals. This course teaches a broad spectrum of core skills that are common to many creative fields. Students will learn how to work with layers and selections, how to adjust, manipulate and retouch photos. Students will also learn how to use the paint tools, add text, prepare files for output, and much more. Whether you are making a photo album, a brochure for a small business, or a graphic for your website, this course will teach you how to use Photoshop to achieve the best results possible.

This course is suitable to those who are new to the application, just learning this version, or expanding their skills.

Prerequisites: Before enrolling on this course, participants should have basic computer skills including mouse operation, creating folders, creating files and savings files into folders.