Beginning Digital Photography I with E.K. Waller

This is a 5-week, 3-hour class in beginning photography, which is designed to teach the basics of shooting with a 35mm DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera.  In addition to learning basic camera operation, students will complete technical and creative assignments.  (A student can shoot with film if they have their film scanned for critique.)

We start by learning the fundamentals of a digital 35mm camera, proper exposure, bracketing, and exposure compensation.  The first assignment will focus on Composition, exploring creative guidelines for good composition.  

Light is everything in a photo, and the second assignment emphasizes the quality of light by focusing on and observing Shadows and Silhouettes, as found in natural settings. 

The last two assignments are the nuts and bolts of photography.  We will address the technical and artistic aspects of Depth of Field using the aperture or f stop. This will be followed by techniques of portraying Action using the shutter speed.  These two assignments are technical in nature, but utilize creative techniques to isolate the subject against a busy background.  We will touch on photo abstraction with these techniques. 

After these assignments, students will be able to utilize the basic controls of their camera, with artistic considerations. Samples of each assignment will be shown and student’s assignments will be critiqued in class. 

Requirements:  A 35mm camera with manual capabilities and focus is required (either digital or film)!  You must be able to remove the lens and attach other lenses and be able to focus manually.  Digital cameras that meet this requirement are okay (they must have both aperture priority and shutter speed priority). Without these features, you won’t be able to control depth of field, create action effects or get the full use of your camera.  Bring camera (and instruction book, if you have it) to first meeting.  It is encouraged that you read your instruction book for your camera.

Digital shooters will need a computer to view and edit your files.  You will shoot jpeg file format (no raw files), edit them and burn a CD to bring to class for critique.  Film cameras will shoot 35mm slide film, for projection, or preferably, will have the lab scan them to jpeg format when you process your film.  You then need to edit them and submit on a CD for critique.

This class is limited to 15 students.

E.K. Waller has a passion for photography which spans decades of shooting for advertising and editorial clients.  She specializes in the intricacies of food, product and people photography and has infinite patience for arranging the perfect composition, lighting and camera angle.  To balance that, she loves to focus on capturing the essence of a person in a portrait, and also loves to scout and wait for the “decisive moment” in her fine art “street photography”.  E.K. has taught photography and photoshop at Santa Monica College since 2004.  She has an extensive background shooting with large format cameras (4x5 and 8x10), digital backs on medium format cameras, and small format (35mm) film and digital cameras.

Registration
Pre-registration is required for this class or workshop. Please call 323-938-2420 and speak to the receptionist for registration. (Online registration is not available at this time.) You will receive an email confirmation within the week before the class. Please call or email us at edu@samys.com if you have any questions regarding this class.

Refunds & Cancellations
Enrollment is limited, therefore your commitment is important to us. If you must withdraw from a workshop, we provide this refund policy: A $25 administrative fee will be charged on all cancellations. If you cancel 24-72 hours prior to the start of the workshop, we will retain 50% of the total workshop fee, unless we are able to fill your spot. If you cancel 24 hours or less prior to the start date of the workshop, we will retain 100% of the workshop fee unless we are able to fill your spot. No refunds are given once the workshop begins.

If you miss 1 - 2 classes of a workshop, you may sit in on those missed classes during the next session as long as space permits.

On occasion we may cancel a class because of low enrollment and/or unforeseen professional conflict on the part of the instructor. Should this be the case, al monies will be refunded in full. We do not take responsibility for non-refundable airline tickets, so please buy a refundable ticket if you are coming from outside of Los Angeles.