What is the best way to take your photography skills to the next level?

What is the best way to take your photography skills to the next level? Some will turn to books or movies on YouTube. Although this may work for some people, many will greatly benefit from a guide, mentor or teacher to help them navigate their learning journey. Just as most parents wouldn’t send their children to a school that had a library but no teachers, most individuals wanting to advance their photography skills will benefit from a structured course that has a teacher that will answer their questions, set them weekly goals and provide constructive feedback in response to their creative endeavours. If you find an online course is being offered for free, or very low cost, you can be assured that you are being offered access to information only. Just remember the old saying ‘There is no such thing as a free lunch’. A structured course run by a reputable college will provide the reassurance that your time is well spent pursuing goals that are attainable. It also helps when the supporting learning information is vetted for accuracy by experienced professional photographers and educators (unfortunately there is as much misinformation on YouTube as there is helpful information).

The courses are priced at AUD $600.00 for the 8 or 12-week course. Warning: Cheap Online courses usually provide content but little or no support and feedback (humans need to eat and pay rent).

The courses outlined below have been created by Mark Galer who is the Adobe Imaging Ambassador for Australia. He has published 30 photographic educational curriculum books for the International publisher Focal Press and was the first to offer photography online courses back in 2000. Photography Studies College, who have won the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP) Institute of the Year award for six years in a row, offer these online courses that are derived by experienced educators. Take a look at the information below and click on a link or contact the staff at PSC.

Photography Studies College

65 City Road
Southbank VIC 3006
Australia: 03 9682 3191
International: 61 3 9682 3191

info@psc.edu.au

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The movie above answers the most frequently asked questions about these online courses

Watch the movie above to find out why these course offer both value for money, and a great way to improve your photographic skills

Lightroom: Essential Skills Online

Lightroom is a powerful tool for organizing, editing, and sharing your photographic work and it has now become the primary editing software for most photographers. This Lightoom course will not only provide you with the essential skills you need to become fully proficient with the software, but also help you to fine-tune the craft of capturing images with your camera.

The 8-week online course is suitable for beginners and intermediate users who aspire to make the most from their photography. This online course will allow you to fit your learning around your lifestyle and busy schedule! You can work at your own pace and interact with your teacher and other students as part of a shared online learning environment and experience.

Course Credentials

This course provides a combination of real-world image-editing examples and step-by-step projects from internationally recognized author, Photoshop expert and Adobe Photoshop Ambassador, Mark Galer and Mark Derbyshire (one of Australia’s most experienced online educators). This course is accredited by Photography Studies College (Melbourne). Photography Studies College (PSC) is Australia’s leading contemporary tertiary photography college. For over 40 years PSC has delivered specialised, high quality and innovative photography education, consistently producing graduates of the highest calibre. PSC has built a leading reputation for producing high quality, creative and award winning students and is the first choice for many when looking for a specialised, stimulating and industry relevant learning experience.

Princes Pier-Before

Princes Pier-After

Why are these skills so important?

Photography is a holistic process that combines the skills of image capture with those of postproduction image editing.

Editing an image is how photographers have historically been able to ‘tell their story’ and express their emotions. Increasing your postproduction skills with Lightroom will enable you to express your own unique vision of the world we live while keeping your photographic archives organized.

You will require access to an interchangeable lens camera or a compact camera that is capable of capturing images in the RAW format as we will be studying some basic camera craft including image capture and image optimisation techniques. Throughout this 8-week course you will be working with Raw images and will learn advanced methods for Raw processing in the Develop module of Lightroom.

Using the comprehensive support materials (supplied video tutorials, production guidelines and PDF book chapters) you will learn photographic composition and capture, catalogue management, image optimisation, colour grading, how to prepare images for print and how to make a photo book in the Book module of Lightroom. Upon the completion of each task you will upload your files to the online classroom for assessment and feedback from you tutor. You may chat to your fellow classmates and your tutor via the discussion groups and if you desire you may showcase your images on the course’s Flickr group.

Millennium Bridge

Millennium Bridge

Assessment

The assessment for this course is objective (technical proficiency) rather than subjective (artistic merit) although we encourage creativity and critical debate in the online class forums in relation to conceptual thinking and aesthetics. An objective assessment structure makes the assessment both fair and transparent.

Lightroom Essential Skills

In this course you will learn how to:

  • Import your images into lightroom, catalogue and rate your images and create synchronised collections to enable editing via your mobile devices.
  • Transform a simple snapshot into a professional quality folio photograph using some simple camera settings and a professional post-production non-destructive workflow.
  • Develop images to communicate a ‘sense of place’ and express your vision.
  • Create artistic Black and White and Split Toned images to explore the creation of your own creative ‘Signature Style’.
  • Optimize images for fine art printing using a professional lab.
  • Create a high quality Photo Book and share your images via the Social Media directly from Lightroom.
  • Enrol now to take your photography skills to the next level.

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Creative Photoshop Skills

If you are looking to unlock the impressive power of Photoshop, the Creative Photoshop Skills online course will provide you with the essential skills you need to take your creativity to the next level.

The Creative Photoshop Skills 12-week online course is suitable for beginners and intermediate Photoshop users. This online course will allow you to fit your learning around your lifestyle and busy schedule! You can work at your own pace and interact with your teacher and other students as part of a shared online learning environment and experience.

Alyssia-Before Before

After

Why are these skills so important?

Photography is a holistic process that combines the skills of image capture with those of postproduction image editing.

Editing an image is how photographers have historically been able to ‘tell their story’ and express their emotions. Increasing your postproduction skills with Photoshop will enable you to express your own unique vision of the world we live in.

You will require access to a DSLR camera or similar or a compact camera that is capable of capturing images in the RAW format as we will be studying some basic camera craft including image capture and image optimisation techniques. Throughout this 12-week course you will be working with Raw images and will learn advanced methods for Raw processing in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and non-destructive postproduction image editing workflows in Adobe Photoshop.

Using the comprehensive support materials (supplied video tutorials, production guidelines and PDF book chapters) you will learn photographic composition and capture, image optimisation, compositing (utilising advanced masking techniques), colour grading, tonal-mapping techniques, and the use of photographic special effects. Upon the completion of each task you will upload your files to the online classroom for assessment and feedback from you tutor. You may chat to your fellow classmates and your tutor via the discussion groups and if you desire you may showcase your images on the course’s Flickr group.

Before Colour Grading

After Colour Grading in Photoshop CC

Assessment

The assessment for this course is objective (technical proficiency) rather than subjective (artistic merit) although we encourage creativity and critical debate in the online class forums in relation to conceptual thinking and aesthetics. An objective assessment structure makes the assessment both fair and transparent.

Essential Photoshop Skills

In this course you will learn how to:

  • transform a simple snapshot into a professional quality folio photograph using some simple camera settings and a professional post-production workflow.
  • develop images to communicate a ‘sense of place’ and express your vision.
  • ‘double-process’ a Raw file and combine the two versions in the main editing space of Photoshop using layers and layer masks. Double processing a raw file will extend the visual possibilities so that you can optimise both the highlights and shadows of the Raw file without compromise.
  • capture a portrait image with the optimum background tone so that you can quickly composite this image with a new background with the minimum of fuss. Photoshop’s blend modes play an important part in this technique and the ability to composite models with long flowing hair is the ‘holy grail’ of compositing techniques.
  • preserve the shadow of an object and transplant it to a new location to create a realistic composite image.
  • create a fixed position composite image from multiple images, modifying the content and/or lighting in each image allowing you to extend your creativity to illustrate complex ideas.
  • inject drama in a flatly lit image to extend your ability to create stylised signature grading treatments. This technique also introduces, what is perhaps, the most significant new feature to be found in Photoshop CC – The Camera Raw Filter.
  • colour grade an image by carefully controlling the colour palette to emulate analogue photography. These skills will enable you to convey a particular mood or feeling to your viewer. Many of the colour grading techniques emulate old film or film intentionally processed in the wrong chemicals (cross-processing). Some of the techniques, however, are purely digital and seek to limit or restrict the colour palette to create a signature style for your images. You will learn how to remove the clean and clinical nature of digital files.

Enrol now to take your Photoshop skills to the next level. Course and College Credentials

This course provides a combination of real-world image-editing examples and step-by-step projects from internationally recognized author, Photoshop expert and Adobe Photoshop Influencer, Mark Galer and Mark Derbyshire (one of Australia’s most experienced online educators). This course is accredited by Photography Studies College (Melbourne). Photography Studies College (PSC) is Australia’s leading contemporary tertiary photography college. For over 40 years PSC has delivered specialised, high quality and innovative photography education, consistently producing graduates of the highest calibre. PSC has built a leading reputation for producing high quality, creative and award winning students and is the first choice for many when looking for a specialised, stimulating and industry relevant learning experience.