Online Photography Course
Fundamentals of Photography Made Easy

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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Jim Zuckerman
Few people are able to spend most of their time pursuing their passion in life. I'm one of them, and I feel blessed to have had a love affair with photography since I began taking pictures.

In 1970, I decided to abort my intended career as a doctor in favor of photography and have never regretted it. Photography has enriched my life more than I can tell you. My career has taken me to over 60 countries, and I've seen and photographed wondrous things.

I specialize in wildlife and nature, international travel, and digital effects. In addition, I also shoot nudes, photo- and electron microscopy, children, and other subjects that stimulate my visual or emotional sensibilities.

For 25 years, I shot a medium format camera, specifically the Mamiya RZ 67, for its superior quality. When I would lecture, I’d project the large, glass mounted transparencies, and it was really an incredible experience to see the brilliant color saturation and resolution of these slides. However, I went digital in 2004 because the technology finally equaled or surpassed medium format. I now shoot the Canon 1Ds Mark II digital camera with a variety of lenses.

I am the author of 12 books on photography. My work is sold in 30 countries around the world, and my images have appeared on scores of magazine and book covers, calendars, posters, national ads, trade ads, brochures, and corporate promotions.

For many years I've led photography tours to exotic places. These include Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Burma, Greece, The Czech Republic and Slovakia, Spain, Morocco, and Peru.

• Don't miss the BetterPhoto interview with Jim Zuckerman.

A Couple of Photos by the Instructor

© Jim Zuckerman

© Jim Zuckerman

A Couple of Student Photos

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

© Debbi Smirnoff

Course Outline

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Lesson 1: Getting Started: Settings
Assignment: Experiment with shutter speed: fast to keep a moving subject sharp, slow to show a blurred subject. Also, experiment with Depth of Field: one showing a subject against a blurred background, the other showing the entire frame sharp.

Lesson 2: ISO, F/stops, and Shutter Speeds
Assignment: Shoot in a low light situation. This could be your living room, a theater, at twilight outdoors, or some other place. Think about ISO, shutter speed, tripod, etc. Shoot in a bright situation, like outdoors. Think about your shutter speed, lens aperture, and ISO setting.

Lesson 3: Understanding Lenses
Assignment: Submit two photos of each a wide angle, a normal lens, and a telephoto. If you don't have all the various focal lengths, submit what you can and identify in the captions what focal length lens or zoom setting you used.

Lesson 4: Exposure Basics
Assignment: Upload 4 photos showing pictures where shutter priority is appropriate, aperture priority is best, the program mode is OK, and spot metering is a good choice. Any subject is fine. Even though I always comment on the artistry of your photos, this isn't the point of this assignment. I just want you to understand the various modes of exposure and when to use them.

Lesson 5: Flash and Color Temperature
Assignment: Upload four flash photos. Tell me in the caption what you think about your images and ask any questions you may have. I'll critique the images based on the issues I discussed in the lesson. Any subject you want to photograph is fine.

Lesson 6: Understanding Macro Photography
Assignment: Upload images where you get very close to small objects, or to a small part of a larger object. If you don't have a macro lens yet, use either a normal or zoom lens at its closest focusing distance.

Lesson 7: Basic Do's and Don'ts in Picture Taking
Assignment: Take any of the do's and don'ts in this lesson and upload photos exemplifying them. If it's a 'do', tell us which concept the picture demonstrates and why it's good. If it's a don't, tell us why the picture suffers and how you could have made it better.

Lesson 8: Simple Rules of Composition
Assignment: Upload photos of any subject, showing images that follow a rule of composition as well as shots that are successful but break a rule. In the caption, identify the rule you followed or broke.

Review: Voting on Best Work

© Jim Zuckerman

© Jim Zuckerman

Requirements

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Digital or film-based camera. Ability to control aperture/shutter speed. Flash - either on-camera or off-camera. Wide-angle as well as telephoto ability.

FAQ

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This course is especially designed for beginning photographers. If you would describe yourself as more of a "picture-taker" rather than a photographer, this course is for you. It will teach you all you need to know to begin to take great photos.  

You'll need a digital or film-based camera - and one that has the ability to control aperture and shutter speed. For lenses, you'll need both wide-angle and telephoto ability. 

Yes, you'll need it. But flash can be either on-camera or off-camera..  

Sure, I love Photoshop and those kinds of programs. However, this course is not about working images on the computer ... rather, it's about shooting techniques.  

© Jim Zuckerman

© Jim Zuckerman

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.


If you have further questions about this course, feel free to contact us via the Contact link below.

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