Online Photography Course
Exposure and Processing

Your Instructor
George Schaub

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What You Get

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	Benefits: You get direct feedback on your photos from world-acclaimed, professional photographers. You can learn photography in this way from anywhere in the world.
Learn at your pace, with structure. Be guided by a real pro instructor. Get your photos critiqued every week. Join students from around the world. Go far beyond any book or DVD. Make great pictures, again and again!

Instructor

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George Schaub
George Schaub is the Editorial Director of Shutterbug and eDigitalPhoto magazines.

He has authored many books, including Focus on Digital Landscape Photography (Lark Books, 2010), The Digital Photolab: Advanced Black and White Techniques, and Using Your Digital Camera.

George has taught black and white printing in the US and abroad, and is a member of the faculty at the New School University in New York. His work has appeared in numerous gallery shows and museums.

For more of his work, visit his Web site at www.georgeschaub.com

Note: Don't miss the BetterPhoto interview with George Schaub.

A Couple of Photos by the Instructor

© George Schaub

© George Schaub

A Couple of Student Photos

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View photos by previous students. You can make pictures like this too!

This class is new. Student photos coming soon...

Course Outline

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Week 1: Achieving the Best Exposure
Controlling Light: Aperture and shutter speed
ISO and image quality
Shutter speed effects
Aperture effects
Equivalent exposure
Assignment: Shoot three photographs at using maximum, minimum and median aperture.
Shoot an action shot at 1/1000 sec and 1 sec.

Week 2: Exposure Modes and Metering Patterns
AV, TV, Manual and Program
Matrix, center-weighted, spot
Assignment: Use spot metering (with exposure lock and exposure compensation) for an entire session. Use Program shift for a session. Work in manual for a day.

Week 3: Exposure Diagnostics
Histograms
Highlight exposure warning
Bracketing
Finding ISO quality levels
Assignment: Use bracketing at various ISO levels to see shift. Shoot low light at high ISO and low light at high ISO with and without noise reduction

Week 4: Direction, Key and Color Temperature
White balance
Reading directional light
Seeing and shooting high and low key
Mood and exposure
Assignment: Shoot a scene with all possible white balance presets. Find a low angle light shot and use spot metering to expose it. Find a high and low key image.

Week 5: Exposure Diagnostics, Contrast, Color and Subjective Exposure
Exposure diagnostics in the field
Scene contrast: Seeing it
The color of light
The objective and subjective
Assignment: Shoot a bracket series and combine using HDR. Expose for the highlight and use processing to open up the shadows.

Week 6: Tone Curve Compensation and Contrast Processing
Tone curve compensation in the camera
Bracketing for processing single shots
Assignment: Shoot a series of bracketing shots and attempt to process each for best results. Use Levels or Curves controls to enhance or “fix” contrast in Lightroom.

Week 7: Advanced Lightroom: Adjustment Brushes, Gradients and More
Monochrome options in the camera
Conversion techniques in Lightroom
Sharpening and noise controls. Contrast and tonal control in black and white
Assignment:Work with sharpening and noise processing, black-and-white conversion, etc.

Week 8: Applied Processing Techniques
Using Lightroom as an image processing software.
Color, contrast and selective controls
Assignment: Before and after image manipulations using Lightroom. 

© George Schaub

© George Schaub

Requirements

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Adobe Lightroom 3 ... but either Lightroom 4 or Lightroom 2 is acceptable too, although a few screen shots may look different. Note: If you do not have Lightroom, no problem! You can receive a free trial of Lightroom 4 through adobe.com. However, since the trial lasts only 30 days, you'll need to begin the trial with Lesson 5, when Lightroom is first introduced in this course. Digital camera with ability to control settings and shoot in Raw mode. Computer capable of running Adobe Lightroom 2 and above. You should have some experience with your digital camera and some image processing basics. You should have the desire to work hard to achieve your goals and be willing to experiment and try a new way of seeing and doing things. Most of all, you should have the desire to get the best images you ever produced from your digital photography work.

FAQ

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You should have a working knowledge of your camera and familiarity with creating image effects by manipulating aperture and shutter speed. However, these effects will be reviewed as we work. You should be comfortable downloading images into a computer.  

Having worked with a film or digital SLR is helpful, as this is not a course in camera use per se; it is about getting great exposures using camera controls and functions. It is also about “seeing the light” and developing your eye for brightness values and how to manipulate them. This course is about maximizing all the tools and programs available in a digital SLR and accompanying software for great exposures and enhancement through processing.   

This course is more about getting great exposures regardless of the subject matter or personal compositions.  

Yes. This course will help you thoroughly understand how to work with your camera to make the best exposures you can with it. 

Lightroom 3 ... but either Lightroom 4 or Lightroom 2 is acceptable too, although a few screen shots may look different. ... Note: If you do not have Lightroom, no problem! You can receive a free trial of Lightroom 4 through adobe.com. However, since the trial lasts only 30 days, you'll need to begin the trial with Lesson 5, when Lightroom is first introduced in this course.  

This course is for all digital SLRs, and each tool and application discussed will be common to 99 percent of the cameras. Some cameras, such as pro digital SLRs, may have more functions than we might cover. This material will apply to a wide range of Digital SLR camera from all makers.   

No, but we will cover Raw thoroughly. As you’ll see, shooting Raw is one of the most important elements in gaining ultimate exposure control. 

© George Schaub

© George Schaub

No, you do not need to be online at any specific time. The lessons are sent to your email and you are also provided the Campus Square - where you interact with your classmates and instructor. This is also where you upload your photos to be critiqued by your instructor. The instructors are very punctual and respond quickly.

Absolutely! Students can ask questions in the special Q&A forum set up in the course's Campus Square, or can ask the instructor via email.

Yes. We are confident that you will fully enjoy our courses. All the same, for our 8-week classes, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee before the Wednesday that Lesson #3 is sent out. If for any reason, you are not satisfied and let us know that you would like to withdraw before the Wednesday that Lesson #3 is sent, you will be promptly refunded.

For our 4-week courses, we offer a 100% money back guarantee before the Wednesday that Lesson #2 is sent out from BetterPhoto. If for any reason you are not satisfied and you let the ordering department know that you would like to withdraw before the Wednesday that Lesson #2 is sent, you will be refunded within 7 days. After the second lesson has been sent out, no refunds will be given.