Photography and editing course

Lesson 1

Camera setup

• Camera mechanics

• Aperture features and their effects on exposure

• Changing the depth of field

• Influence of shutter speed on the depicted subject

Homework:

1. Create photos with a sharp foreground and blurred background ( a large depth of field).

2. Take photos at slow shutter speeds whilst focusing on moving objects

Lesson 2. Use of light

• The basic principles of light setup

• Types of light (drawing, filling, backdrop, background), its influence on the composition of the frame

• Determining the optimal light

Homework:

The photo creation with using different types of light

Lesson 3. Working with the background

• Basic concepts of composition

• Photo accents and balance

• Frame capturing by diagonals

• Work with backgrounds in photography

• Balance of the object and background

• Perspective creation in the frame

Homework:

Create photos with different backgrounds and textures

Lesson 4.

Portrait photography

• Basic outdoor portrait skills: a portrait with the city background

• Work with natural light.

• Light filters. Colour temperature. White balance. Homework:

1.Create outdoor portraits with natural light

2.Take staged and reportage photos

Lesson 5.

Smartphone shooting and editing

• The nuances of taking pictures with your smartphone, its relevance today

• Features of taking portraits and landscapes with your smartphone

• Flat lay shooting

• Editing photos on your phone: VSCO, Snapseed, Rookie Cam, Facetune

Homework:

Take photos: landscape, portrait and Flat Lay photography with your smartphone

Lesson 6

Studio shoot

• Studio equipment: how to use

• Internal and external flash

• Differences between lenses: what’s best for which type of shooting

Homework:

Take photos with different lenses:

Take pictures with and without flash

Lesson 7

Studio portrait

• Basic lighting schemes for shooting portraits in the studio

• Use of light and shadows

• Differences in perception of light and dark keys

• Model positioning in the picture frame

• Side and classical lighting, Rembrandt lighting

• Broad and narrow lighting

• Portrait composition Homework:

1.Take a portrait with artificial light

2. Create staged portraits creation

Lesson 8

Colour in photography

• Colour or black-and-white photography: which and when to choose

• Basic concepts of the colour psychology

• Shooting with colour filters and white balance compensation

• Light and shadow practice for black and white photos

Homework:

1. Create photos in dark and light keys as well as in black and white

2. Create pictures with clearly predominant colours: red, blue, green or yellow

Lesson 9

Object photography

• Use of light in object photography

• Object photography: composition and working with the background

• Food photography, features of this type of photography

• Selecting the light for glass photography

• Handling glare in metal photography

• Shadow manipulation in product photography

• Using props

Homework:

Create photos with compositions of objects or food, using different textures, daylight from a window and a background

Lesson 10

Taking pictures of cityscapes

• Picture perspective and scenes diversity

• Use of non-standard compositions

• Differences between cityscape and landscape shooting

• Framing a multi-faceted shot

• Daylight and evening scenes

• Reportage: outdoors shooting

• Shoot angles

• How to commercialise your hobby

Homework:

Landscape photography practice: take pictures in the city and in the landscape

Lesson 11

Lightroom for the photographer

• Image formats (raw, tiff, jpeg, PSD) and their differences.

• Lightroom interface and its features.

• Work with the library and catalogues.

• Importing and selecting photos, pictures clusterisation.

Homework:

1. Install Lightroom and Photoshop

2. Choose five photos and do the basic editing in the same style

Lesson 12

COLOUR CORRECTION

• Using of Camera Raw

• Colour theory: the concept of the colour circle. Primary and complementary colours and their interaction.

• General light and colour correction and white balance adjustment. HSL and Calibration colour correction.

• Correction of the black-and-white photos.

• Digital correction. Distortion correction and image noise removal

Homework:

1. Analyse some photos in terms of colour

2. Colour correction of two images using the tools you have learned about

Lesson 13

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPOSITION

• Initial Photoshop settings and workspace adjustment.

• Importing and exporting of photos.

• Basic composition corrections.

• Cropping as an artistic image processing tool.

• Image rotation and cropping. Size, scale and aspect ratio image correction

• History of manipulation. Adjustment of history settings.

Homework:

1. Analyse some photos in terms of composition

2. Take 5-6 pictures and work with the crop tool

3. Basic correction of your old photos

Lesson 14 LAYERS AND MASKS

• Working with layers and masks: creation and correction of layers, layer blending modes, layers adjustment, creating and using masks, local colour correction methods.

• Collage-making techniques

• Image toning with layers

Homework:

1. Self-study using layers and masks

2. Creation of two collages

Lesson 15

Local retouching

• Use of Healing Brush Tool and Spot Healing Brush Tool

• Simple retouching: skin retouching, removal of dress folds; correction of body shape; teeth whitening

Homework:

1. Self-study using retouching tools on two photos

2. Body shape correction with the "Liquify" tool