Hello, my name is Tracy Conroy. When I was asked to hold this online class, I was really excited about the opportunity! Photography is a passion of mine, taking a serious turn in college. Because it wasn't that long ago that I started learning about photography, I know how confusing it can be. I believe I can make the lessons clear and understandable so you can absorb & learn better. I love photography and I want others to learn how much fun it can be too. My credentials consist of courses I took in college, books I have read and the time I spent interning with a professional photographer last year...the rest of what I learned came from the "school of hard knox." ;-)
I was hired as the photographer at the NWI Curly Horse Show in April 2009. So some of you may have seen my work personally.
Visit my website for more information about me & see some of my work:
Inspiration Photography Etc.
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Deadline March 31st, 2010
When you know and understand the basics of photography, a whole new world of creative adventure opens up and you realize that taking good photos really isn't that difficult. It's just a matter of understanding and practice.
Four Week Course, Learning the Basics
This is a Four Week course in which I will be covering a variety of the basic essentials for good photography. No matter what you are shooting - whether it be horses, flowers, sports, or people - you can expect to gain a better understanding of what a good photograph actually is and how you yourself can achieve it.
If you have a standard Point-and-Shoot camera, one without full manual controls, you will have more limitations in regards to having control over the exposure of your image. This might make one or more of the lessons difficult. That does not mean you cannot learn anything from this course. On the contrary, you are still going to learn and, hopefully, gain more knowledge on how photography works. Heck, after the course is finished, you may decide that you would rather have a fully manual camera!
If you have the ability to obtain one from a friend for this course, then I can assure that you will have better results, as it will allow you to truly grasp the lessons I will assign. If not, don't worry. You will still have the ability to do nearly all of the lessons with your regular Point and Shoot.
The first week of the course we will cover Aperture. What it is, what it does, and how important it is in obtaining a good photo. I will also give an assignment that will allow you to experiment with aperture and demonstrate to me and yourself what you have learned about it and how it affects your image.
The second week we will cover Shutter Speed and ISO . Once again, we will go over what each of those are and how they after your image. I will answer common questions about when they are going to be important and how they relate to each other, as well as how they relate to Aperture. There will be another assignment that is going to allow you to experiment with these elements and see for yourself what exactly it is that I'm babbling about J
The third week we will cover Photo Composition. You probably know that you can have the perfectly exposed photograph, but if the composition - the way the photo was set up - is bad, the photograph is obsolete. I will help you understand the Rules of Composition and how to see for yourself the mistakes made most commonly by even the most experienced photographer. These rules will help you learn how to set up and frame your shot so that you can make your own award-winning photos. We will touch a bit on how this applies to taking great horse photos so your ads and website will stand out and attract buyers. Then you will get to demonstrate your newly acquired knowledge to me in another assignment! Are you excited yet?
The fourth and final week, we will cover Manual Exposure and Metering. This is where having a fully manual camera will be of value. If you do not have a fully manual camera, that is okay. You will still gain an understanding for how it works and how to adjust things, if the time ever does come when you have the ability. Metering and Manual exposure work hand-in-hand, so throughout this lesson I will teach you how and when manual exposure is necessary and the importance of using your meter -Don't worry, every camera has one - effectively to get a shot that is exposed correctly. I will also go over the types of metering systems and how they will affect your final image. If you have a Point and Shoot, using your meter is still important, to understand - if not more so. I will go more in depth with this in the lesson. There will then be two final assignments - one that is going to allow those with manual exposure cameras to experiment with manual technique and those with point and shoots to try to trick their meter! The other assignment will have you demonstrate all you have learned in this course through - guess what! - more picture taking!
So there you have it. I will do my absolute best to answer any questions you may have throughout the course. I also have many resources you can use to help further understand what it is I am teaching. Each lesson will be filled with examples and diagrams to help you better grasp the concept of photography.
I am truly excited about this course and I can't wait to get started! I hope you learn as much as I expect to teach!
Deadline March 31st, 2010
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