In this one week certificate program you will learn how to operate a professional digital SLR camera, how to create an efficient digital workflow, perform basic photo editing in Photoshop and color management techniques for the highest quality output. These skills will enable you to shoot professional digital photos.

Program Description

Learn and review the basic technical skills and aesthetic considerations necessary for shooting professional digital photographs. These skills will include operating a digital SLR camera primarily in manual mode, lighting, creating an efficient digital workflow, performing basic photo editing in Photoshop, navigating color management, and learning techniques that produce high quality prints. You will also consider the complex blend of aesthetics involved in capturing an effective digital image, including light, color, and composition. By projecting student work - either images brought to the class or taken during the week in and around Boulder - you will learn firsthand the elements that contribute to effective digital photographs.

The instructors teaching this program are all pros - you'll be learning from people who are at the top of their game. You'll gain experience and practical working knowledge to give you the skills to go out and make some of your own amazing images. Whether you're into portraits or landscape, close-up or weddings, we are sure you will gain knowledge after this week to be able to advance to the next skill level.

Click here to read more about what makes our Transitions Certificate Programs unique.

Prerequisites

Students should have a basic working knowledge of their digital SLR camera, be reasonably comfortable operating in manual mode, and have some basic experience shooting still photographs. Students must also have some basic computer skills.

Equipment

Students should bring their own digital SLR camera and its accompanying User's Manual. No film or point-and-shoot cameras please. If possible, students should also bring their flash, any lenses they may have, and any accessories necessary for full operation of their camera, including connecting to a computer.

BDA provides a computer workstation when necessary; however, some people prefer to bring their own computer in order to use it during our mentoring hours or practice what they've learned in the evenings. If you are planning on bringing your own computer our staff person will provide you a list of all the necessary software and/or hardware requirements in advance of the program.

After You Register

BDA is committed to making your week-long learning process as enjoyable as possible and making sure that you can focus on your learning. After you register you will be contacted by our staff who will get your meal preferences and who are available to help you with any logistical and travel concerns you might have. BDA provides a complimentary catered lunch every day.

Schedule

Monday

• 9am - 5pm : The Digital SLR Camera
  The instructor will do a quick overview of the technical basics of Single Lens Reflex (SLR) photography, including exposure basics. He will then get into the more detailed specifics of a SLR digital camera - full frame v. crop-sized sensors, ISO sensitivity, white balance, exposure modes, exposure compensation, metering, and more.

Tuesday

• 9am - 5pm : Seeing and Designing the Photograph
  The instructor will start the day with "Getting and Staying Sharp: Focus and Depth of Field". Depth of field - how much do you want and how to get it - is a major composition and design issue for all photographers.
  
  The session will continue in the afternoon with composition and the "aesthetics of seeing". What is it we "see" when we photograph? Apart from technical issues, what is your intention as an artist when you are framing a photograph? What personal vision of the world are you trying to communicate through your photographs?
  
  There will also be time for viewing and critiquing student work.

Wednesday

• 9am - 5pm : Portrait Photography, Lighting
  The instructor will cover a range of issues related to creating interesting portraits, including site location, previsualization, and photographing "in the moment" by "minimizing judgment" and helping the subject become comfortable in their "own skins". He will also cover composition and simple lighting techniques using one light and reflectors.
  
  We will also tackle the complex issues of lighting since photography is really about "shooting the light". Lighting is the variable that photographers constantly navigate with or without a flash. This session will cover general lighting techniques and creative use of the flash.

Thursday

• 9am - 5pm : Introduction to Photoshop
  The instructor will first "tour" Photoshop: the structure of a good digital file, file types and size, the histogram, and other related issues; also asset management in Adobe Bridge. He will then go into setting up your workspace in Photoshop, color theory basics, color management and related issues. Chris finishes the day with making your files look the way you want them: menus, tools, layers, and adjustment layers: curves, levels, hue-saturation, and other related issues.

Friday

• 9am - 5pm : Printing Techniques, Critique of Student Work
  The instructor will continue introducing Photoshop by covering selections, alpha channels, and layer masks. How to make, modify and save the four incarnations of selections.
  
  During the afternoon we'll be covering a variety of printing issues and techniques. Introduction to printers, inks, papers. Prints in terms of how they are lit and presented. If time allows, viewing of student work.

Instructors

Chris Brown has been practicing photography in Boulder for almost 40 years. His specialty is medium and large format color landscape photography. He was the first photographer in Colorado to receive a commission in the Art in Public Places program, for his series "The Hydrologic Cycle: Studies of Water" which is housed at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has also done portfolios for the Earth Sciences Department at CU, and Boulder's Open Space and Mountain Parks. His prints are in numerous public, private and corporate collections, including the Denver Museum of Contemporary Arts and the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts.

Nathaniel (Nat) Coalson is a travel photographer, instructor and author based in Colorado. He has worked in the graphic arts since 1987. In addition to photography Nat has done graphic design, prepress, printing and web development. His work has been exhibited extensively, received many awards and is held in private and corporate collections. Nat is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop and Lightroom and is an experienced instructor who provides training in photography, printing and digital imaging for private and corporate clients. He is the author of Lightroom 2: Streamlining your Digital Photography Process, published by Wiley in 2009. For more information and to see Nat's work visit www.NatCoalson.com.

Stephen Collector, has over 25 years of freelance experience. Originally specializing in tabletop photography, his attention to detail and lighting techniques were applied to working on location for editorial and corporate assignments. "Working with light is my love, both in color and in black and white. I am excited by the variety of subject matter in the world. I am fully digital with film capability."

Collector freelances for numerous magazine clients, among them: Esquire, Outside, Men's Journal, German Geo, Field & Stream, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, Wine Spectator, and the New York Times. Corporate clients include: United Airlines, Ball Corporation, Shell, Dekalb Engergy, Hain/Celestial Seasonings, Horizon Dairy, United Technologies, Oracle, Quaker Oats, Sears Roebuck & Co, and Burroughs Corporation.

Steve Gandy is an educator, trainer, technology support professional and life-long photographer. Steve has introduced the ins-and-outs of digital photography to students young and old since 1995 and has been involved in education since 1978. His photography is varied but he focuses on nature, travel, and sports. Steve has contributed to training books and websites on Photoshop Elements, StarOffice/OpenOffice and other educational topics. He leads photographic tours to the southern Utah canyon lands.

Erik Stenbakken is a commercial photographer based in Greeley, Colorado who's been lucky enough to parlay his passion into his profession. He shoots for clients like Banner Health, Outlast Technologies, Ralston Purina, Nebraska Travel & Tourism and universities from coast to coast. He's been technical director on shoots for Nikon and Ford Motor Company as well as instructed several National Geographic photographers on technical aspects of artificial light and equipment. Before becoming a photographer, Stenbakken was a teacher and he still loves to teach. No questions are stupid, so come with your questions and frustrations and leave with answers and solutions! You can see more of his work at www.stenbakken.com.

Evening Mentoring

BDA is committed to providing the best learning experience possible. One of the distinctive benefits of our Transitions Certificate Programs is evening mentoring from 6pm to 8pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Our evening mentors are different than the class instructors who are also working professionals in the industry offering you a broader perspective and a great opportunity to practice the skills you've learned, get particular questions answered or simply hang-out with peers and exchange ideas and conversation.

Location

This certificate program will be held at the Boulder Digital Arts Broadway Production Studio which is complete professional production studio operated by Boulder Digital Arts for exclusive use by our members and training participants.