Art Degrees Online

Course Code APH001
Fee Code S1
Number of Assignments 6
Duration (approx) 100 hours

The broad principles of photography, whether we use film or digital are often the same or similar and in this respect most of what you read in this course will have relevance to both digital or film. Photography is a craft, the techniques and skills of which we must study and practice learn in order to become proficient. Our craft has a new selection of tools which we should master in order to create beautiful, dramatic, informative images. The tools and technology are the means to the end.
This course can be undertaken by users of film or digital technologies.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The content of each of the six lessons is as outlined below:‑

1. Origins of Photography

Image formation, how light works in photography, lenses, understanding photosensitive materials.

2. Understanding Film & Cameras

Parts of film: supercoat, emulsion, backing support, anti-halation layer; film sensitivity.

Camera Construction, shutter speed, f stop, ASA/ISO

3. The Camera and it’s Use

Camera stability, ways of reducing camera movement, depth of field, filters, fault finding, etc.

4. More on using a camera

Flashes (electronic & manual), flash synchronisation, problems with flash photography (eg. red eyes), using a flash in daylight, special lenses, photo composition.

5. Photographic Techniques

Planning a photo session, Posing for photos, Snapshots, Water photography, The human form, Portraits, Animals, Action, Landscape & Still Life photography.

6. Developing your photographic style

WHAT YOU NEED?

This course can be undertaken successfully without sophisticated camera equipment; however, you do need the use of a camera. An SLR camera is best, but any camera will do. Over the time you do the course, you need to submit photos (either digital images or processed film – in that case a minimum of 5 rolls of film would need to be shot and developed.

All photos you take, and written work you submit will be returned to you.

Aims
Describe how light forms an image in a camera.
Describe how an image can be captured in a camera.
Discuss how you can work at improving your capabilities with respect to taking photographs.
Take photos under a range of more complex conditions.
Improve your technique for taking pictures.
Analyse your photographic skills and develop an increased consciousness of your own photographic style.

The BFA in Photography & Digital Arts prepares students to pursue a variety of career paths in the fields of photography and time- and web-based media, giving them the flexibility to enter many industries, both existing and evolving, that are based in information technology and new digital media.

The Photography & Digital Arts major is a distinctive course of study designed to foster artists who work across multiple disciplines including traditional darkroom photography, digital photography, HD digital video, web/interactive media and 2D/3D animation. Opportunities to learn using both sequential and non-linear narrative strategies in interactive and hierarchical environments allow students to produce work that is critically engaged with the combined phenomena of digital technologies and the photographic image in today’s visual culture.

Intensive studio work allows students to develop a solid foundation of the concepts, tools and techniques associated with photographic, digital and emerging media. Seminars covering the history, theory and criticism of photography and digital arts informs students’ principles and practices. The balance of practice and aesthetic consideration encourages students to combine and even challenge the boundaries of photographic and digital technologies. Through classroom instruction and a required internship, students master the essential conceptual, technical and production skills, that are central to an artist’s ability to create meaningful work that reflects and responds to contemporary life.