ONLINE PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE: MODULE TWO

Taking your new skills on location with landscape, street, still-life and portrait

This online photography course is the second of two modules that will transform your creative approaches toward mainstream photographic subjects and sharpen up how you think before you start clicking.  Based on hard thinking skills, it’s centred around encouraging you to interpret different fields, not just one photography genre. As with the previous module we shall look at the best examples of photography out there and show you photographers outside your orbit.  It’s designed for aspiring amateur photographers who have already completed module one.

EXERCISE 1 of 4: INTIMATE LANDSCAPES

In developing your responses to a local environment, the smaller more intimate view provides a better scope for developing a personal style.

Conditions of lighting are less crucial with a smaller scene.  Instead what overrides is spotting patterns and overall form within a location.  Where you place your frame is important and particularly what you choose to leave out.

Through investigating local landscapes we have the opportunity to mark the turf with our own insights which can be developed through regular visits.  This intimate understanding hopefully leads to us noticing the details, elevating the pictures above and beyond the ordinary.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Be able to identify form within what appears to be chaos.

Use a telephoto lens to creatively charge a location.

Understand how the edges of the frame are crucial to a photograph’s overall impact.

Be able to implement a specific DOF and focus point to achieve the intended result.

Understand how to maintain your intentions through processing.

EXERCISE 2 of 4: PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAITS

Portrait photography often has a number of photographic conventions attached to it such as pose, angle of view and lens choice all of which aim to a subject in their best light.

Less often explored is the psychological dimension that lighting can influence in our reading of a photo. Moreover different qualities of light can change our degree of empathy towards the sitter. Another contributory factor is the proximity of the camera to the subject.

By taking a photograph of someone you know and like, you will have the freedom to engage with that person to create the expression and form you are looking for, based on the previous parameters.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Recognise how light and shadows can change a photo’s dynamic.

Know how to use a wide angle lens to create a sympathetic portrayal.

Understand how the shifting relationship between the camera angle and subject, changes the reading of the photo.

Know how to fully realise the technical aspects of exposure, shutter speed, aperture and ISO to achieve your results.

EXERCISE 3 of 4: EMOTION IN THE FOUND STILL LIFE

Some of the great photographers of the past working in black and white were able to bring emotion to their still life photographs. We often think of inanimate objects for photos only in terms of their photographic properties such as texture, lines and curves.

But on another level, a found still life has context and associations that can be developed, offering a powerful suggestive tool for influencing the emotional responses to a photograph.

In thinking about an object’s background as well as the lighting and decor, as photographers we can push the image to create a specific mood and consequently a particular response from the viewer.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Begin to notice objects in relation to their context and what the two combined signify.

Creatively use a telephoto lens to introduce a background element that is integral to the photo’s intended meaning.

Successfully control lighting and exposure through the processing stage to achieve the desired photo appeal.

Understand how to convey timelessness and permanence through choice of subject and approach.

Fully realise how to manipulate a set-up to achieve your goal.

EXERCISE 4 of 4: STREET LIFE

Reportage or street photography requires fast thinking and the ability to anticipate. Mostly usually rooted in the urban hotspots it requires interaction, occasional confrontation and focus amidst chaos.

As an alternative away from the hustle and bustle, somewhere between countryside and city, in the gentler paced environs of suburbia. Here it’s a space that gives you more thinking time whilst still offering great potential for spotting the idiosyncrasies of street life.

You’re less likely to be perceived photographing only people but potentially instead a backdrop scene, so anyone walking into your shot will not immediately think you want to snap only them. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Understand how colour and processing can produce a distinct effect that links to old photos and memories.

Use shutter speed to control movement within the frame.

Understand how to create depth within the frame.

Be able to implement a specific DOF and focus point to achieve the intended result.

THROUGH CREATIVE EXERCISES YOU WILL COVER THE FOLLOWING:

Framing a scene and composing

Understanding and controlling light

Controlling depth of field 

A creative use of shutter speed

How to incorporate narratives 

HARD THINKING SKILLS: PRECISION, CONSISTENCY

REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Eliot Porter, Brett Weston

HARD THINKING SKILLS: EXACT, ANALYSIS

REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Sian Davey, Brian Griffin

HARD THINKING SKILLS: ADULT, SPECIFIC

REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Joseph Sudek,

HARD THINKING SKILLS: REALITY, FOCUSSED

REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Chris Killip, Matt Stuart

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FEE: £85