INTRODUCTION. Creative Photography. PHOTOGRAPHY A Course at The Granite Club By Michael Willems BSC LPPO

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1 PHOTOGRAPHY A Course at The Granite Club By Michael Willems BSC LPPO MVWPhoto Creative Photography INTRODUCTION Who is who? Why, what, how What you will learn Requirements Camera choices Homework NEXT Oakville Beaver Burlington Post Toronto Star Toronto Sun Hamilton Spectator Milton Canadian Champion West of the City Magazine Contact photo exhibition CBC Radio *new* gallery Kodiak Gallery 180mag.ca MICHAEL WILLEMS BSC, LPPO Award-winning event photographer, teacher, public speaker. Shoots for newspapers. Also shoots destination events, portraits, weddings, models, corporate, stock, and travel. Has worked in 33 countries on 5 continents. Worldwide educator, teacher, public speaker. Daily photo blog: Toronto Star Oakville Beaver West of the City Magazine Hamilton Spectator Burlington Post Milton Champion Toronto Sun CBC Radio CONTACT Photo exhibition Etc.

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3 YOU WILL LEARN: How to operate your camera How to make sharp pictures How to expose them well How to use a flash How to use your computer How to photograph people PROGRAM (PART 1) Wk Date Subject 1 5 Oct 10 Camera Basics 2 19 Oct More Control 3 26 Oct Real Photography 4 2 Nov Advanced Exposure 5 16 Nov Flash Basics 6 23 Nov Your Computer (&Lightroom) 7 30 Nov Photographing People LOGISTICS Weekly two-hour sessions (including 90 minute interactive lectures) Homework every week Review of your photos Personal Assistance, Q&A Certificate upon completion REQUIREMENTS Digital Camera, manual controls (Preferably SLR) Manual Battery, flash Note pad Time to do some homework Web, access HANDS ON 1. This type of page contains an exercise you can do yourself, in class. 2. You should play these back at home later. QUICK TIP Tip Pages This type of page contains a handy quick tip or checklist.

4 YOUR HOMEWORK: This type of page contains your homework for the week. UNCLE FRED: Uses Auto-everything. Shoots only horizontal. Puts the subject in the middle. Never gets close. Forgets to simplify. Never uses frames, reflections, or curves. Shoots two-dimensional photos. Always shoots from 5 above ground. Is not aware of the light. Uses straight-on flash. modes composition light UNCLE FRED VS UNCLE MIKE UNCLE FRED VS UNCLE MIKE PART ONE: LEARNING THE TECHNOLOGY 1 CAMERA BASICS Buttons and switches and names Basic point and shoot pictures Scene modes for more control NEXT

5 1 CAMERA BASICS IN THE BOX Buttons and switches and names Basic point and shoot pictures Scene modes for more control NEXT THE USER MANUAL: BY ENGINEERS, FOR ENGINEERS! NOT IN THE BOX:...Hood Loupe, Straps, Flash, 50mm lens, Other lenses... FRONT Mode Dial REAR Viewfinder Main Input Dial MENU Shutter- Release Button ( wake-up ; focus; click) LCD Battery Space Playback Delete Set ( Enter ) Joystick controller

6 TOP LCD (on the more advanced cameras) DUAL-FUNCTION BUTTONS When shooting When Reviewing Mode Dial Quick controls (This example shows Canon. Nikon and others have similar mechanisms.) SLR: VIEWFINDER SLR: VIEWFINDER Used to look before you shoot. Uses no power. Shows the real thing. Viewable in daylight. Adjustable to your eye. Adjustable to your eye: Diopter Adjustment

7 THE MENUS What you do not do often. Like your PC s Control Panel. Multiple menu tabs (Canon, at the top; Nikon, on the left) THE MENUS 1. Press MENU 2. Navigate to the menu bar 3. Choose the correct menu 4. Enter that menu 5. Choose the right function in that menu 6. Enter that function 7. Set values, confirm with OK or Set button. QUICK MENUS Most Point-and-shoots and some SLRs also have a Quick menu This contains the most commonly used shooting functions Often called Menu/Set, I, or Q HANDS ON 1. Enter your menu system 2. Find the IMAGE SIZE or QUALITY option, and set it to SMALL ( S ). 3. Observe the effect on the number of images you can take. 4. Leave it on SMALL for now. (But only for now!) ABOUT IMAGE SIZE A pixel is a dot. The more dots an image contains, the sharper it is. Options: S, M or L (Small/Medium/ Large). Always set it to the largest size. You can downsize on a computer. You cannot upsize without losing quality. HANDS ON 1. Find the Reset option in your camera s menu (or hold two green dots down on some cameras) 2. Check your LCD for image size now. Still Small?

8 1 CAMERA BASICS HOLDING YOUR HANDS CAMERA ON Buttons and switches and names Basic point and shoot pictures Scene modes for more control NEXT HANDS ON 1. Set your camera to the fully automatic mode (Green Square, green AUTO, red AUTO, ia setting, etc) 2. Aim at your subject 3. Press half way down 4. Observe the focus areas 5. Take a picture or two REVIEWING IMAGES You can focus here But not here Press Playback......View Image on LCD

9 REVIEWING IMAGES REVIEWING IMAGES Zoom OUT Zoom IN View Part of Image View Multiple Images Pan (Left- Right-Up- Down) REVIEWING IMAGES After (repeatedly) pressing DISP or INFO or Up/Down: DELETING IMAGES 1 2 Navigate to the image you want Press Delete button Detail of many image settings Great Learning Opportunity! 3 Confirm. FORMATTING Do NOT do this now! Activate menus Navigate to FORMAT option 1 CAMERA BASICS Buttons and switches and names Basic point and shoot pictures Scene modes for more control 3 Confirm. All your images will be deleted! NEXT

10 NEXT STEP: SCENE MODES Often better than the green square : designed for specific photographic situations. Still fully automatic! Camera does it all: you just point and shoot PORTRAIT Camera tries to blur the background Flash used if needed Best lens: low f-number (e.g. 50mm f/1.8) LANDSCAPE Camera tries to keep everything sharp Any lens will do Where do you focus? MACRO For close-up shots SLR needs Macro Lens Point-andshoots are good at this SPORTS Camera tries to minimize motion blur (using fast shutter speed) Indoor sports: use lens with low F-number NIGHT PORTRAIT Auto will give you Deer in the headlights flash pictures

11 NIGHT PORTRAIT So try Night Portrait. Hold the camera still, turn on all the lights you can FILTERS AND HOODS Lens Hood: always Specific per lens Stops flare Protects QUICK TIP Flare? Protective Filter: when there is danger (rain,sand, snow) Use Hood Remove UV-filter Point slightly more away from strong light If inevitable: fix by using Blacks adjustment in Lightroom FILTERS AND HOODS YOUR HOMEWORK: 1. Take a portrait with blurry background. (be uncle Mike!) 2.Take either of: - A sharp landscape picture - A flash picture indoors. Polarizer: for deep blue skies & less reflection Cuts light, so only temporary