Diploma in Photography
Fully utilize the functionality of your camera and expand your creative
potential
Photography is a
wonderful form of expression and communication. Whether you want to tell a
story, sell a product or just show how beautiful a certain place you visited
is, photography plays an essential role in fulfilling your creative vision.
Photography is a magnificent art form allowing the avid student to draw with
light in the most imaginative of forms. Photographers have quite literally
brought light to the world and opened our eyes to the imagery from the furthest
corners of our planet. The course offers you the opportunity to develop your
skills and knowledge and capture those images you have always dreamed of.
Course Outline
Every minute of the day we are exposed to
photography and visual imagery in some shape or form, whether it’s an
advertising campaign in your local department store or simply looking at
pictures of friends and family on a social networking site. This lesson
explores photographic styles and how they are used as a form of communication.
Photography enables you to convey a message or a story, sell a product, or to
simply illustrate how beautiful a certain place you visited is. Therefore the
way you shoot and what you capture determines what your photography
communicates. Understanding the different styles will help you identify the
subjects you like to shoot and enhance your own style.
Camera Types:
We will also dig into the various types of
cameras currently available on the market and why you would use one over the
other. This will help you with purchasing a camera best tailored for your
needs, making shooting in various conditions and situations easier and more
enjoyable.
Most cameras come with a huge range of menus and
functions which can be quite daunting for the user to comprehend. In lessons 2,
we will look at the common functions that appear on most cameras and demystify
their use. Understanding these functions will expand your creative control and
open up new possibilities for your pictures.
Lenses Types
The camera’s lens determines the quality and
sharpness of your pictures and allows you to get closer or further away from
the subject. We will explore the most frequently used lenses and when and where
they are used. Picking the right lens for the scene you are capturing will
ensure you get the best shot.
As technology grows, cameras seem to become more
complex by the day with user manuals getting bigger and bigger with each new
model. In actual fact cameras are an extremely simple device. The process of
capturing and recording light is a reasonably simple process and understanding
this process will change the way you think about the complexity of the camera.
Exposure
Understanding the concept of exposure is
essential to developing your knowledge of light and will improve your ability
to capture the scene the way you see it. We will also discuss different types
of light and with the aid of some examples we will analysis various lighting
conditions you might find yourself shooting in.
Motion and Depth are essential to expanding the
creative potential of your photography. Controlling and manipulating motion and
depth in your images will allow you to add drama and sophistication to your
images. Whether you want to freeze an athlete in action or blur the flow of a
waterfall, controlling motion will expand your capabilities and allow you to
explore new subjects. Lesson 4 explores the camera’s shutter and aperture and
examines the role they play in harnessing this creative potential.
Composition is one of the most fundamental
elements in a photograph. Composition refers to the placement and relationship
of elements within a picture. The arrangement of elements in a scene, the angle
they are shot at, and the distance the photo is taken from, can completely
change the final outcome of the photograph. They can ultimately determine the
difference between a good and a bad picture. Understanding how to explore all
of the compositional possibilities of the scene will greatly improve your
ability to capture the best photographs.
In this lesson we will delve deeper in to the
subject of composition and look at techniques to guide the viewer’s eye into or
around your image. Mastering advanced composition techniques will allow you
take pictures that engage the viewer and hold their attention. We will also
discuss visual consistency when creating a series of pictures.
The ability to capture the light the way you see
or would like to see it, is essential to making great photographs that have
drama, vivid colours and depth. To fully understand how much light you need to
capture for a scene, you need a way of measuring how much light is there. Most
cameras have a light meter to indicate whether you have too much, too little or
just the right amount of light to capture the scene. Lesson 7 looks at the
light meter and discusses how it can be used to understand your exposure even
before you have taken the picture. Grasping how to read the light meter will
help you avoid taking those pictures that are too bright or too dark.
This is one of the most fundamental topics in
photography. The marriage of shutter and aperture in manual mode gives you the
most creative control offered to you by the camera. Having an understanding of
the relationship between the two, will allow you to expand the potential of
your photography and make creative decisions that were not available to you
before.
In this lesson we will look at the different
colours of various light sources and how they can change the atmosphere and
mood of your photographs. We will also discuss how to avoid and resolve colour
issues within your pictures.
Focusing
Focus is key for taking high quality photographs
that are sharp and capture your vision. Lesson 9 discusses different various
techniques and focusing modes available on most cameras. An understanding of
focusing will help you keep the viewer engaged with the key subjects in your
images.
What is a digital picture? Lesson 10 explores
file format and how digital images are constructed. This gives you an insight
into the file formats available on your camera which equips you with the
knowledge to select the highest quality file format and image size that best
suits your purpose. We will also look at some image editing software and the
key differences between the most popular ones on the market. Imaging software
can take your photography to the next level, transforming your pictures into
works of art.
How is a hard copy of digital image produced? Using
a simple printer to output a digital photograph. Working on a printing-device
to produce a hard copy photograph, people can make use of.
Lesson 12: Photo Editing via Adobe
Photoshop CS3
The essence of this
course is to introduce computing graphics design application to photographers.
And the choice application is Adobe Photoshop CS3. The application will
demystify how to edit photographs, inscribe texts into digital images, change
image formats, export images, use images on the internet, etc.
It
is undoubtedly true to underscore the place of social media in human daily
interactions. This last course will seek to teach the Photographers the social
media platforms where they can show case their creative works. It seeks to
educate students on how to register for pinterest and upload their photographs
into the social media for onward networking with other professionals and
connect with new customers.
NEEDED MATERIALS
Flash drive.
Memory card.
Laptop.
Digital camera.
OBJECTIVE
This DIPLOMA COURSE IN PHOTOGRAPHY emphasizes
the essential combination of skills needed as a visual media artist and
communicator: a balance between technology, art and science, business and
practice. This is a reflection on the quality of our curriculum, our approach
and our staff. Our goal is to prepare you for a life of continuous learning in
a complex and changing environment. You are sure to get the very best.
