Photography 101: Introduction to Photography

4-Hour Fundamentals Workshop

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Course Description

Photography 101 is a structured, four-hour fundamentals workshop that introduces students to the core technical principles behind image-making. The curriculum is built around a systematic understanding of how cameras work, how light behaves, and how compositional decisions affect the final image. Students will leave with a working knowledge of manual camera controls, exposure theory, and basic post-processing — a solid technical foundation for any photographic pursuit. No prior experience is required.

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Hour 1 — Camera Mechanics & The Exposure Triangle

The first session establishes the technical groundwork for everything that follows. We begin with camera anatomy — how light travels through the lens, strikes the image sensor, and is converted into a digital file. Students will learn the difference between sensor sizes and how they affect image quality, field of view, and low-light performance.

From there we move into the exposure triangle in depth. Aperture is measured in f-stops and controls the size of the lens opening — a wider aperture (lower f-number) admits more light and produces a shallower depth of field, while a narrower aperture (higher f-number) increases the zone of acceptable focus. Shutter speed determines how long the sensor is exposed to light, directly affecting motion rendering — fast speeds freeze action, slow speeds introduce motion blur. ISO sets the sensor’s sensitivity to light, with higher values introducing digital noise as a tradeoff for usability in low-light conditions. Students will work through the reciprocal relationships between these three variables, learning how to compensate one setting against another to achieve a correct exposure while controlling creative outcomes.

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Hour 2 — Composition & The Physics of Light

Hour two addresses two interconnected topics: how to organize visual information within the frame, and how the physical properties of light shape the look of an image.

On the composition side, students will study the rule of thirds, leading lines, framing, symmetry, figure-to-ground relationships, and the use of negative space. We’ll examine how focal length influences spatial compression and perspective distortion — why a 35mm lens renders a scene differently than a 85mm lens even from a comparable vantage point — and how lens choice is itself a compositional decision.

The second half of this session focuses on light as a technical variable. We cover the inverse square law and how it governs light falloff over distance, the difference between hard and diffused light sources and how they affect shadow definition and texture, color temperature measured in Kelvin and how it shifts from artificial tungsten sources to daylight, and the role of white balance in neutralizing or leveraging those shifts. Understanding light not just aesthetically but physically gives students a reliable framework for analyzing and recreating any lighting condition.

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Hour 3 — Structured In-Class Shooting Lab

The third session translates the technical concepts from hours one and two into direct practice through a structured, classroom-based shooting lab. Working with a series of instructor-designed exercises, students will photograph controlled still-life setups arranged specifically to isolate and test individual technical variables.

Exercises include bracketing exposures across a fixed scene to observe the effect of each variable in isolation, deliberately varying aperture across a tabletop depth-of-field study, using slow shutter speeds to capture controlled motion blur using available classroom light sources, and comparing images shot under different white balance settings. Students will review results directly on their camera screens and in pairs, comparing outcomes and identifying the cause-and-effect relationships between their settings and the resulting image. The instructor will review work in real time, reinforcing the connection between the theory covered in earlier sessions and what is actually appearing in the frame.

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Hour 4 — Editing Fundamentals & Technical Review

The final hour introduces students to the post-processing stage of the photographic workflow. We cover the fundamental difference between JPEG and RAW file formats — how RAW files preserve unprocessed sensor data and afford far greater latitude in post-processing, while JPEGs apply in-camera processing and compression at the point of capture.

Using a standard editing interface, students will work through the core tonal and color controls: exposure, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, contrast, and clarity. We address white balance correction, how to read and interpret a histogram, and how to use it as an objective diagnostic tool rather than relying solely on screen preview. Sharpening and noise reduction workflows are introduced as the final stage of a technically sound editing pipeline. The session closes with a side-by-side review of edited versus unedited images from the lab session, reinforcing how disciplined in-camera technique reduces the corrective burden in post-processing and produces a stronger final result.

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Who This Workshop Is For

This workshop is intended for beginner photographers who want to build a genuine technical understanding of their craft rather than rely on automatic settings. It is well-suited for students new to interchangeable-lens cameras, photographers who have been shooting on auto mode and want to transition to full manual control, and anyone seeking a structured, classroom-based entry point into photographic fundamentals. All camera types are welcome — DSLR, mirrorless, and smartphone — though students with interchangeable-lens systems will have the greatest opportunity to apply the hands-on technical exercises in real time.

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Duration: 4 Hours · Format: In-Person, Classroom-Based · Level: Beginner–Intermediate · Bring: Any Camera

Photography 102: Intermediate Photography Fundamentals

4-Hour Fundamentals Workshop

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Course Description

Photography 102 is a four-hour intermediate workshop that builds directly on the technical foundation established in Photography 101. Where the introductory course focuses on understanding the camera and basic exposure, this session moves into the more precise and nuanced controls that separate deliberate photographers from those still relying on guesswork. Topics include advanced exposure technique, metering systems, lens optics and their creative implications, artificial and mixed lighting, and a deeper integration of RAW workflow into the post-processing pipeline. Students should have a working understanding of the exposure triangle and basic camera operation before enrolling.

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Hour 1 — Advanced Exposure Control & Metering Systems

The first session begins with a structured review of Photography 101 concepts before advancing into the more precise tools that professional photographers rely on for consistent, technically accurate exposures. The central focus is metering — how the camera’s light meter interprets a scene and how that interpretation can be overridden or refined.

Students will examine the three primary metering modes in detail. Evaluative (matrix) metering analyzes the full frame and averages luminance values across multiple zones — well suited to evenly lit scenes but prone to error when contrast is extreme. Center-weighted metering biases the exposure calculation toward the central portion of the frame, offering more predictable results when the primary subject occupies the middle of the composition. Spot metering reads only a small percentage of the frame — typically 1 to 5 percent — and is the most precise tool available for exposing a specific tonal value regardless of surrounding conditions.

We then cover exposure compensation as a systematic override for metering errors, and introduce the histogram as an objective diagnostic instrument. Students will learn to read luminance distribution across the tonal range, identify clipping in highlights and shadows, and use the histogram to evaluate exposure accuracy independently of the camera’s LCD screen, which can be misleading under variable ambient light.

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Hour 2 — Lenses, Focal Length & Depth of Field

Hour two addresses one of the most technically and creatively consequential decisions a photographer makes — lens selection. Students will develop a working understanding of how focal length, aperture, and subject-to-camera distance interact to determine depth of field and spatial rendering.

We begin with the optics fundamentals: how focal length is measured, the relationship between focal length and angle of view, and how crop sensor cameras apply a multiplication factor that effectively changes the angle of view of a given lens. Students will compare wide-angle, standard, and telephoto focal lengths and examine how each affects perspective compression — the phenomenon by which longer focal lengths appear to compress the distance between foreground and background elements, while wide-angle lenses exaggerate spatial depth.

The session then covers the depth of field equation in practical terms — the combined effect of aperture, focal length, and focus distance on the zone of acceptable sharpness. Students will conduct a controlled tabletop exercise comparing images shot at wide and narrow apertures across multiple focal lengths, directly observing how bokeh quality, subject isolation, and background rendering change with each variable. The distinction between prime lenses and zoom lenses — in terms of maximum aperture, optical sharpness, and practical flexibility — is covered as a framework for informed gear decisions rather than brand preference.

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Hour 3 — Artificial & Mixed Lighting

The third session introduces students to the technical principles and practical application of artificial light sources in a controlled classroom environment. Understanding how to work with, modify, and balance artificial light is a critical step beyond natural-light-only photography.

We begin with flash fundamentals — the difference between ambient light and flash-illuminated exposures, and how the camera’s flash sync speed imposes a ceiling on shutter speed when a flash unit is in use. Students will learn to calculate and apply guide number relationships to estimate flash output at a given distance, and will work through the practical implications of flash exposure compensation.

From there the session moves into light modifiers — reflectors, diffusers, and bounce surfaces — and how each alters the quality of the light source by changing its effective size relative to the subject. A large, close light source produces soft, gradual shadow transitions; a small or distant source produces hard-edged, defined shadows. Students will observe these differences directly using classroom lighting setups. The session closes with mixed lighting scenarios — situations where flash and ambient light coexist — and the white balance and exposure challenges they introduce, including color cast management when sources with differing color temperatures are present in the same frame.

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Hour 4 — RAW Workflow, Post-Processing Pipeline & Critique

The final hour builds on the RAW versus JPEG distinction introduced in Photography 101 and takes students through a complete, technically grounded post-processing workflow. The emphasis is on a disciplined, non-destructive editing approach that mirrors professional practice.

Students will work through the full tonal editing sequence: setting the white and black point to establish tonal range, adjusting exposure and contrast to place midtones correctly, then using the highlights and shadows sliders to recover detail in clipped or compressed regions. The HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) panel is introduced as a precision tool for targeting individual color channels rather than applying global color shifts. Lens corrections — including chromatic aberration removal, vignetting compensation, and geometric distortion correction — are covered as a baseline step that should be applied to all RAW files before creative adjustments begin.

Students will also examine sharpening and noise reduction as complementary processes with an inherent tradeoff: aggressive noise reduction softens fine detail, while aggressive sharpening amplifies noise. Understanding how to balance both — using masking and luminance controls to apply them selectively — produces cleaner, more technically refined final images. The session concludes with a structured critique of images produced during the in-class exercises, with discussion focused on the technical decision-making behind metering choices, lens selection, lighting setups, and editing intent.

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Who This Workshop Is For

Photography 102 is designed for students who have completed Photography 101 or who already have a working understanding of the exposure triangle and basic camera controls. It is particularly well-suited for photographers who are comfortable with their camera hardware but want to develop a more systematic and technically precise approach to exposure, optics, and light. Students shooting with interchangeable-lens systems will benefit most from the lens and depth of field exercises, though all camera types — including advanced compact cameras and smartphones with manual controls — are welcome.

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Duration: 4 Hours · Format: In-Person, Classroom-Based · Level: Beginner–Intermediate · Prerequisite: Photography 101 or Equivalent

Photography 103: Advanced Photography Fundamentals

4-Hour Fundamentals Workshop

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Course Description

Photography 103 is the concluding workshop in the three-part Photography fundamentals series. Building on the exposure precision, lens theory, and lighting principles covered in Photography 102, this session advances into the higher-order technical and creative skills that define intentional, technically refined image-making. Topics include advanced compositional frameworks drawn from gestalt and color theory, motion and long exposure technique, portrait and environmental photography in a controlled setting, and an advanced RAW post-processing workflow covering tone curve manipulation, selective masking, and color grading. Students completing this course will have a comprehensive, technically grounded understanding of the photographic process from capture through final output. Completion of Photography 102 or equivalent experience is required.

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Hour 1 — Advanced Composition & Visual Storytelling

The first session moves well beyond the foundational compositional rules introduced in Photography 101 and into the more sophisticated visual principles that underpin strong, narratively coherent images. The starting point is gestalt theory — a set of perceptual principles that describe how the human visual system groups, separates, and assigns meaning to elements within a scene. Principles including proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, and figure-ground relationships directly inform compositional decisions and explain why certain arrangements feel visually resolved while others create tension or ambiguity.

From there the session addresses color theory as a compositional variable. Students will examine how color relationships — complementary, analogous, split-complementary — create visual harmony or deliberate contrast, and how color temperature within a frame can direct the viewer’s eye and establish mood. Tonal contrast as a structural tool is examined alongside color: how areas of relative brightness and darkness create visual weight and guide attention independent of subject matter.

The session closes with an analysis of narrative composition — how the placement, relationship, and implied movement of elements within the frame can communicate a sequence of events, an emotional state, or a point of view. Students will analyze a curated set of reference photographs, identifying the specific technical and compositional decisions that give each image its narrative coherence, before applying those principles in a structured in-class shooting exercise.

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Hour 2 — Motion & Long Exposure Photography

Hour two addresses one of the more technically demanding areas of photography — the precise control of motion rendering through shutter speed selection and camera technique. Students will approach this topic from both ends of the shutter speed spectrum: freezing motion with fast exposures and rendering motion with intentionally extended ones.

On the fast end, students will examine the relationship between subject velocity, subject-to-camera distance, and the shutter speed required to produce a critically sharp image. A subject moving laterally across the frame requires a considerably faster shutter speed to freeze than the same subject moving directly toward or away from the camera — a function of how much the subject’s position shifts relative to the sensor during the exposure. Panning technique is introduced as a method for maintaining subject sharpness while rendering the background as a motion-blurred streak, conveying speed while preserving subject detail.

On the long exposure end, students will work through the technical requirements for extended shutter speeds in a classroom environment: the use of a tripod to eliminate camera shake, mirror lockup on compatible DSLRs to reduce vibration at the moment of shutter actuation, and the use of a remote release or self-timer to avoid introducing motion through direct camera contact. Neutral density filters are examined as a tool for extending shutter speeds beyond what ambient light conditions would otherwise allow, with the optical density of the filter expressed in stops of light reduction. Students will conduct a controlled long exposure exercise using available classroom light sources and moving subjects to directly observe the effect of incrementally longer shutter speeds on motion rendering.

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Hour 3 — Portrait & Environmental Photography

The third session focuses on the technical and compositional challenges specific to photographing people — both in isolated portrait setups and within environmental contexts that situate the subject within a meaningful setting.

The session opens with portrait lighting fundamentals in a controlled classroom setup. Students will work with window light and supplemental reflectors to observe how the angle and distance of the light source relative to the subject affects shadow placement, skin texture rendering, and overall tonal modeling of the face. The classical portrait lighting patterns — Rembrandt, loop, split, and butterfly — are introduced as a practical framework for recognizing and replicating specific lighting relationships. Students will set up and photograph each pattern in sequence, directly comparing the results.

The second half of the session addresses environmental portraiture — images in which the subject’s surroundings are deliberately included as a narrative element rather than reduced to an out-of-focus background. This requires a different set of technical decisions: a narrower aperture to retain detail in both subject and environment, careful attention to the compositional relationship between subject and background elements, and a more considered approach to focal length selection to avoid perspective distortion of the subject while retaining sufficient environmental context. Students will practice directing subjects within a classroom environment, making intentional decisions about framing, depth of field, and lighting that place the subject meaningfully within their surroundings.

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Hour 4 — Advanced Post-Processing, Editing Workflow & Final Critique

The final session completes the series with an advanced post-processing workflow that goes significantly beyond the foundational tonal and color adjustments covered in Photography 101 and 102. The emphasis is on building an efficient, non-destructive editing pipeline that produces technically consistent, professionally finished results.

The session begins with the parametric tone curve — a more precise and flexible alternative to the basic exposure and contrast sliders. Students will learn to read the curve as a direct representation of the luminance mapping applied to the image, and to make targeted adjustments to specific tonal regions — deep shadows, midtones, highlights — without affecting adjacent regions. The difference between the RGB composite curve and individual channel curves is covered, with the latter introduced as a primary tool for precise color correction and deliberate color grading.

Selective masking is then addressed as a method for applying adjustments to specific areas of an image rather than globally. Students will work with luminance-based and color-range masks to restrict tonal and color corrections to targeted regions, enabling a level of control not possible with global adjustments alone. The session then covers color grading using split-toning and the color grading panel — applying distinct color casts to shadows, midtones, and highlights independently to establish a cohesive visual tone across an image or series.

The final portion of the session addresses export workflows — the technical decisions involved in preparing files for different output destinations. Resolution, color space (sRGB versus Adobe RGB), file format, and compression settings differ meaningfully between images destined for web display, social media platforms, and print output, and understanding those differences is essential to ensuring that the quality of the final edited file is preserved through to delivery. The workshop concludes with a group critique of images produced throughout the session, with discussion centered on how effectively each student’s technical decisions — from capture through editing — served the compositional and narrative intent of the image.

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Who This Workshop Is For

Photography 103 is designed for students who have completed both Photography 101 and Photography 102, or who bring equivalent hands-on experience with manual exposure control, lens theory, and a foundational RAW editing workflow. It is particularly well-suited for photographers who are technically proficient with their equipment but are looking to develop a more systematic approach to composition, motion technique, portrait lighting, and advanced post-processing. Students at this level should be comfortable shooting in full manual mode and navigating their camera’s menu system without assistance. All interchangeable-lens camera systems are welcome, as are advanced compact cameras with manual exposure controls.

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Duration: 4 Hours · Format: In-Person, Classroom-Based · Level: Intermediate · Prerequisite: Photography 102 or Equivalent