Digital Photo Academy's professional instructors will work with your personal schedule to provide 3 hours of targeted instruction designed specifically for your individual requirements, photographic objectives, and aspirations.
Each session begins with a thorough discussion of your equipment choices, your photographic goals, and what you hope to achieve through your photography practice. This dialogue leads seamlessly into a hands-on, on-location shooting experience that directly supports your learning aims and creative vision. You can emphasize landscape work, portrait photography, architecture, or whichever photographic field interests you most and excites your creativity.
Your instruction concludes with a comprehensive walkthrough of post-production workflow processes and editing techniques to refine your images. The time spent on different sections of the training will be flexible and adaptive based on your individual needs and priorities. Both half-day and full-day options incorporate a convenient meal break timed to suit your preferences and schedule.
Topics to be discussed:
Camera and Equipment Consultation
Are you shopping for a new camera system, or do you currently own equipment you'll use for an extended period into the future? Your instructor will help you understand your camera's complete settings and features, guiding you through a deeper exploration of your equipment's full capabilities and potential.
Is JPEG, RAW, or a specific image resolution right for your particular purposes and intended use? Will you use images for a professional website, creating home wall prints, or social sharing and distribution? Do you have a photographic passion like botanical photography, vast landscapes, wildlife studies, portraiture, sports, natural window light, or controlled studio light work? Your thoughtful answers help your instructor recommend the right settings, suitable lenses, and necessary accessories to support your artistic vision and goals.
Field Photography and Location Work
Your instructor has substantial and proven experience with outdoor and on-location photography, and often has exclusive and privileged access to unique locations not ordinarily available to the general public. You could receive expert instruction while documenting at a local zoo, visiting a garden conservatory, touring a historic site, or attending sports competitions in your area. Many of our instructors have professional photography experience with established local news organizations and can provide valuable opportunities to practice at regional competitions and events.
Regardless of your photographic focus, whether wildlife and nature, street scenes, studio portraits, or diverse genres, your instructor will develop a customized curriculum suited perfectly to your interests. Your private session location will complement and support your learning objectives effectively. Your instructor will teach proven and tested approaches for creating professional-quality images worthy of exhibition. Composition functions as its own independent art form, and while your individual artistic style will grow naturally over time, your instructor will share classic composition methods and principles to help you realize your artistic vision powerfully in your photographs.
Workflow and Post-Capture Analysis
Following your complete field experience and technique instruction, the critical ability to organize and distribute your photographic work effectively becomes vital for success. During this important phase, your instructor will help you thoroughly review the images you've created, noting recurring themes and patterns in your compositional choices and visual perspective. For example, do you regularly select the same shooting position? Do you tend to place your subject in predictable locations within the frame? Do you prefer shooting nearby or maintaining distance from subjects? Understanding these established patterns allows you to consciously reinforce them as artistic strengths, intentionally alter them, and develop greater awareness of compositional options for future work.
Today's comprehensive digital photography offers practical solutions for addressing field limitations and mistakes effectively. If outdoor lighting proved insufficient or too contrasty, or if you missed your intended composition, this session will feature detailed demonstrations of various Photoshop adjustments applied thoughtfully to images from your shoot, with thorough discussion of how each alteration and refinement improves your final result.
Important Scheduling Notes:
- Schedule your private lessons flexibly based on instructor availability and your preferred dates and times that work best.
- If your instructor cannot attend a scheduled session, they will contact you promptly to arrange an alternative time matching your availability, or you can receive an immediate refund.
- Locations for your sessions will be confirmed and communicated clearly before your scheduled class date.
- Your session cost remains the same whether you choose to attend alone or bring family or friends and share the hourly rate equitably.
