Camera and photography classes northern michigan

 

Workshop 1, A photography introduction.

The intent of this workshop is to introduce, in an academic setting, certain basic principles of photography as an art form. It is designed for the emerging photographer who is already knowledgeable about his or her camera’s functions and capabilities. It is not intended to be an instructional class in camera operations.

The workshop is intended to introduce the student to certain artistic concepts and to try to combine those concepts with the student’s pre-existing technical skills set. To get the most out of this workshop we recommend that the student use a DSLR camera; however, any digital camera with which the student can independently operate the shutter speed and the aperture will suffice. 

This course is a 2-day workshop. Students will learn about basic compositional methods, will be given time to take a number of photographs,  and will participate in a series of peer review sessions. To enhance our focus on composition, students will concentrate on capturing classical black and white images.

This course is currently being restructured for improvements. The below schedule is an example but should not be used to determine the time of the class.

Scheduling guideline:

Day 1:

  • 8:00 am
    • Carpe Diem! – Workshop begins
    • Meet and Greet
    • Lecture
      • Exposure, light metering, intro to composition
      • Depth of field
      • Shutter speeds, minimal, artistic…. 
      • Lenses
  • 10:00 am – Noon
    • 1st photo shoot: Students will work in the field, incorporating concepts discussed in previous lectures
    • This experience will be followed by lunch (not provided)
  • 1:00 pm
    • Meet back in the classroom
    • Lecture and critique
    • Presentation of images and peer review
    • Lecture
      • Discuss textures and light angles
  • 3:00 – 4:00
    • 2nd photo shoot:  Students will shoot images with the concepts we discussed in the afternoon session in mind.  Students may also choose to re-shoot images taken during the 1st photo session of the day as a result of their peer reviews. 

Day 2:

  • 6:00 am – 9:00 am 
    • 3rd photo shoot: “Racing the sun”. Students are encouraged to wake up early and take advantage of the morning light. 
  • 9:30 am 
    • Optional coffee session at the gallery, by donation. 
  • 10:00 am
    • Workshop starts –  meet in classroom. 
    • Presentation of images and peer review of 2nd photo shoot.
    • Review
    • Presentation of images and peer review of 3rd photo shoot.
  • Break for lunch as appropriate, estimate noon to 1:00 pm. 
    • (lunch not provided)
  • Following lunch:
    • Lecture
      • Post processing black and white in Lightroom, and other raw processing software
      • Compositional concepts, drawing the eye
      • Questions
  • 3:00 – 4:00 
    • Wrap-up and end of workshop
    • There will be time allotted for Q&A after each section. 

This class is open to students ages 15+, and will require a minimum of 6 participants.

Students are required to bring their own cameras, lenses, notebooks, and writing tools. It is highly recommended that students also bring a laptop, camera card reader (or USB cord to import images), a tripod, and a white translucent bed sheet.

* There are prerequisites for this class: 

It is recommended that only students who have already taken Camera Basics, or a similar course, enroll in this workshop.  The class is not intended to be an instructional course in how to operate a camera.  Students are expected to have a basic understanding of their own equipment as outlined below:

  • Placing the camera into manual mode
  • Changing the ISO
  • Managing the shutter speed and aperture independently of one another
  • Changing lenses on a DSLR camera
  • Manually focusing on capable camera models
  • The cost of this workshop is $120 and is due at the start of the workshop

camera and photograph classes norhtern michigan