Taking Digital Photography To The Next Level

A Tutorial for Beginning and Intermediate Photographers at the  Marin Power Squadron Bldg. Hamilton Field

If you're interested in improving your photographic skills and knowledge, this tutorial offers an overview of various areas you may want to learn more about. If you want to do more than point-and-shoot with a digital camera, you need to learn more about various aspects of digital cameras and the techniques used to take good photo.

The primary objective of this two part seminar is to show you all the various aspects of digital photography that you will eventually need to learn to master if you're interested in improving your skills. This seminar is for people who don't use manual settings, don't shoot in RAW, don't understand depth of field, don't understand basic composition and don't use software to post process their photos. And it's a good introduction to digital for people who have always used film.

In Part 1, we'll start with the camera and talk about some of the important features of digital cameras that many people don't use but should. Topics will include: An explanation of why cameras don't see what the eye sees. Why shooting in RAW is important. Why you need to use manual settings to achieve proper exposure and understanding depth of field. What white balance and ISO settings to use. What equipment you need for various types of photography. When to use filters. And we'll cover other aspects of using digital cameras to shoot great photos.

In part 2, we'll discuss some of the basic aspects of composition along with what's involved with shooting back-lit objects, motion, bright objects, macros, and other difficult shooting situations. Most shots, even by professionals, can be improved significantly with post-processing. We'll go through twenty-five adjustments you can make in post-processing from adjusting exposure and white balance to sharpening, the adjustment brush and selective adjustments. The focus here will be on giving you an understanding of what you can easily do in post-processing and how to develop skills in this area. And we'll review various software packages that are available for post- processing. There will also be an introduction to HDR photography which is rapidly becoming more popular.

We'll finish up by discussing how you go about learning and acquiring more skill in the areas we've covered including on-line courses, books, seminars, workshops and field trips.

Part 1 will be on Saturday December 4th and Part 2 on December 11th. Sessions on both days will be from 10am to 12 and 2pm to 4pm.

Location is the Power Squadron Building at the old Hamilton Air Force Base. To cover the rental of the room and other costs, there will be a $15 fee for each session. If you're interested, please contact John Klingel (jklingel@sbcglobal.net) and reserve a spot. If you need a map, he will send you one.

This seminar is sponsored by the Marin Photo Club.