OUR COURSE DESCRIPTIONS;
BASIC CAMERA COURSE- Master your camera & numerous controls both inside & out.
By the end of this course you will be taught every external setting on your camera body & lens, how to use them most effectively & accomplish photos you never thought you or your camera could do. We then go into your individual cameras internal menu & unlock each mystery one at a time. Learn how to drive this confusing fusion of technology otherwise known as the modern camera. It simply comes down to aperture & shutter speed as it has been for well over 150 years. After that it is an education of additional options of your choice with the automatic settings. My students have literally said they feel completely enlightened at the end of the first half of the 2 part 1 day lesson.
PART 1- The first half of the day we do the basics. This is where you begin to unlock the mysteries in the most simple and least confusing way. The simplest settings will always see you through any lighting situation and get you through most any challenge. Then it becomes your option to keep it simple or go for the automatic options the modern camera was designed to do. We then take a lunch break as you go outside and employ what you just learned to make it sink in right away.
PART 2- After lunch is the second half of the day. We analyze your results, make sure you understand the morning lesson, help you with any corrections then proceed. We then move into the various educated choices you will now be able to make given the solid footing you now know. We will keep going until you have a comfortable amount of clarity and my students actually do reach this point. Even students that brought me cameras that were still in their boxes "get it" when we're done.
You bought the camera with all these options, now put them to use or at least understand how to use those options.
STUDIO LIGHTING COURSE- Get a hands-on lesson in studio lighting.
DAY 1- You begin with how to pick apart photos & understand how each of many beautiful images in magazines were made. Teaching you how to analyze a photo is the beginning step to creating what it is you want to say with your photography. You will then learn your way around a studio and the many choices of professional lighting. On day one you will study "hot lights", "Hollywood" style Spots & Fresnels, Booms, Color Metering, Light Meters, Color Balancing in Kelvin Degrees, using CTO's & CTB's to balance Daylight & Hotlight in one photo, balancing Hotlight & Strobe. A lot of new words here?? Don't let the words scare you, all this can become a normal dialog for you by the end of the day.
DAY 2- This is a pure Studio Strobe lighting day. Get into the many choices of light sources. Spot Lights, Focusing Spots, Optical Spots, Honeycomb Grids, Soft Boxes both large & small, the ever popular Ring-Flash, Beauty Dish, Conical Spots, Umbrellas, Light Modifiers, Soft Light, Hard Light, Open Heads, Bare Bulbs, Cucoloris, Bounce Lighting, Bounce "V" Cards, Silks, Diffusion, Inverse Square Law, proper Light Metering, Synch Speeds & Copyrighting. You will make an environmental portrait & light a forground subject with a matching lit room behind. Given this education you can now make intelligent choices to actually create the hard drama or soft emotion of how you visualize the image that you want to say with your photos. Students photograph each other & take turns understanding your new medium known as light. Anyone can shoot with daylight- now you will be able to create the image you want to with your new found knowledge of how to light. This will separate you from an amateur as you can now be versed in most any studio in the world.
Hmmm, now you can make an educated choice about renting or buying equipment, become a photographers assistant, or open so many more possibilities about working in this industry.
BASIC PHOTOSHOP RETOUCHING- The natural follow-up to every course.
We will teach you how to scan in your print or slide and show you the Photoshop basics. We'll start with dusting or spotting, show you several ways to adjust your color to tweak it or to acheive shocking effects. If you have an old family photo you can learn on that or simply images of your own that you would like to work on. You'll be taught some of the functions of the toolbar, dodging, burning, eyedroppers, cloning, rubber stamping, cropping, sizing, patch tool, healing tool, cutting a path, cloning, adding type to an image, smooth out bumps, scratches, folds & tears. This course is designed to get you familiar with a lot of the basic tools you can use to get you experimenting with some of the endless possibilities that Photoshop has to offer. A lot of these skills can be applied to other photo retouching programs as they each use some of the same basics. If you've never been exposed to the options of Photoshop then this intro course will be amazing!!
BASIC DARKROOM- The alchemy of the art that was & still may be the standard, for well over a century. See why artists & purists continue!
Learn why so many of my students have chosen film as their medium. 100% of my Parson's/New School students chose to use film over digital. All the legendary greats and working pro's today say there is no substitute for film and the classic, timeless, often priceless gelatin silver prints continue to be capable of producing. A better understanding of what is involved in making a print & see why the big auction houses today are setting record prices in the collector's market place and the art. Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, The Weston's, Ansel Adams, Steichen, Steiglitz, Atget, Man Ray, Helmut Newton, and myself, all made their mark with this medium along with hundreds of others. Now you can too!
You will learn how to expose a roll of film, mix the chemistry, spool your film in the total dark and process it in daylight. After drying you will then make a contact print, select a negative & make an enlargement of that negative. It is a great way to understand photography in one of its truest forms.
We will have a casting beforehand & hire a Model, Hair & Make-Up artist and employ the techniques that so many professionals use today. Direct the model and learn how to handle the talent that is on the set. Bring in your ideas and tear sheets. We will discuss how your samples were lit while the model is in hair & make-up, make a choice as a class of which lighting ideas we can accomplish in the studio & proceed with which ideas we would like to do that day & accomplish the desired result. At the end the result being portfolio quality photos to place in your book. You must have enrolled in our lighting class or demonstrate that you have the required skills to complete this course. Minimum 2 students required. Private courses available. Double up with a friend, get a discount and you're ready to go.
Masterclass Nudes available at extra cost.
HOW TO BE A PHOTO ASSISTANT- looking for an exciting career?
Learn the skills you will need to know to become a 1st, 2nd or 3rd assistant. Want to work with the top pros? Want to be on the same sets as the celebrities? Want to work with the editorial shooters or become one yourself. It all starts here. How to Meter a Set, how to Color Meter, use of a Grey Card, Color Correction Filters, Flags, Slaves, Gobo's, Cinefoil, CTO's, CTB's, CC Filters, Strobes, Hotlights, Light Modifiers, Matthews Stands, Cambo Stands, Polaroid Film Holders, Film & Digital overviews, Hasselblad, Mamiya RZ, Nikon, Pentax, 4X5, 8X10 camera overviews, Getting your name out there, Set Sketching, Packing for Travel, Set Cart Organization, The Assistants Tool Kit, Practical Books and Knowledge, Proper Set Etiquette & Protocol. Stop wishing you were a fly on the wall for the big shoots & start participating on the job.
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THINKING OF A COURSE THAT YOU WISH YOU COULD TAKE BUT
DON'T SEE HERE, NEED A TUTOR, WANT TO ACE THE CLASS YOU
ARE THINKING OF TAKING NEXT SEMESTER?
WHY NOT SUGGEST ONE & WE'LL CUSTOMIZE A COURSE FOR YOU!
HOW ABOUT VIEW CAMERA, STILL LIFE, WATER SPLASHES
OR HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH ARTWORK?
ANY DAY OR EVENING OF YOUR CHOOSING (for an extra fee).
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DISCOUNTS; BRING A FRIEND & YOU BOTH QUALIFY OR IF YOU ARE A PREVIOUS STUDENT OF OURS, CAMERA CLUB MEMBER OR CURRENT COLLEGE STUDENT.
WE LOVE TO TEACH, WE ARE ARTICULATE AND TAKE CARE IN KEEPING OUR CLASS SIZES SMALL
TO MAKE YOUR EXPERIENCE REALLY GREAT (usually 2-6 students).
DROP US AN EMAIL HERE TO LET US INSPIRE YOUR INTEREST BY CONTACTING US BELOW.
