The Photography Starter Kit for Beginners
John Greengo
Lessons
The Camera
19:20 2The Shutter
19:17 3The Sensor
10:45 4ISO
14:12 5The Lens
14:23 6Aperture and Depth of Field
15:59 7Focusing
15:07 8Metering
12:06Class Description
Learn how to take the kind of photograph you’ll want to print and pass on to the next generation. In this photography for beginners class, you’ll learn the principles of good beginner and intermediate photography and get the skills necessary to create amazing photos.
Advanced cameras are available at modest price points, but learning how to use them takes an investment. In Photography Starter Kit for Beginners you will learn the the most essential functions of your camera and get ready to confidently put them to work. You’ll get the swing of basic photographic terminology and totally feel prepared to move on to more advanced classes.
You will also gain a solid understanding of must-know lighting and composition techniques. John Greengo will guide you through the process of positioning yourself and your subject so you capture the best photo possible with the camera you have – no additional gear needed.
If you want to take more memorable and inspiring photographs of your travels, your friends and family, or the great outdoors, this photography for beginners class is for you. You’ll learn how to make average pictures amazing photographs and gain the ground necessary to continue your photography education.
Class Outline: What You Will Learn
1. The Camera
- John will take you on an introductory tour of all the major features of the camera. Get a beginner's introduction to the anatomy and functions of your DSLR camera.
2. The Shutter
- Understand how the shutter works, and learn how you can use different shutter speeds to control the amount of light that comes into the camera.
3. The Sensor
- In digital photography, the sensor is what reads and processes the light that comes in when the shutter is open. Learn how this works and why it is so important.
4. ISO
- In film photography, ISO means film speed. In digital photography, we can change the ISO on the fly and adjust our camera's sensitivity to light. Used correctly, this is a powerful tool in a photographer's arsenal.
5. The Lens
- Arguably more important than the camera itself, the lens that you use will determine how the light enters the camera.
6. Aperture and Depth of Field
- The size of the opening of the lens affects how the light is bent as it hits the sensor. Learning how this works will allow you to determine what parts of the image you want in focus.
7. Focusing
- Focusing is very important because we need to have critically sharp images. The most important thing, is to understand focus points on your camera.
8. Metering
- Metering in the camera is about how it reads the light. John will show us how to get the best exposures while taking pictures.
9. Exposure Modes
- The big dial on the top of your camera. This includes both the automatic, and manual settings, but John recommends only using the manual ones, even for beginner photographers.
10. Settings and Workflow
- John will detail his ideal camera settings, including file types, and best practices to save time.
11. Light
- This is a very, very important subject. There are four characteristics of light to consider when evaluating how it will affect your image.
12. Flash
- This is arguably one of the most complicated areas of photography, but John will break it down into a simple, easy to understand way.
13. Composition
- The artistic arrangement of the parts of the picture. Move beyond the technical understanding of your camera, to make the most interesting picture possible.
14. 5 Steps of Photography
- John will now move beyond all the basics in this photography for beginners course, and explain his personal thinking process for when he is going out to shoot pictures.
Class Materials
bonus material with purchase
Ratings and Reviews
user-f3f891
I'm not sure my first review posted. But I LOVE this class! John Greengo is a great, engaging teacher who is really adept at representing the concepts visually and excellent at explaining them verbally. I love how he goes through examples with photographs he has taken. Even though I only have a Nikon Coolpix digital camera, it does have Manual, Shutter priority, and Aperture priority modes. Through his class I've gotten a really good sense of how to balance ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. It's a great overview for me especially since I am new to photography, I can play around with some of these settings, and I have a greater understanding of what I might need in a higher level camera in the future. Money well spend! (For $29, this is an absolute steal). John Greengo is an awesome teacher and I hope to take more of his classes in the future!
Megan Wagner
John is extremely articulate and is a great teacher with lots of visual aids and metaphors to help understand photography. I have been doing photography for a few years now and this class was a tremendous help in boosting my knowledge and refreshing my memory in multiple aspects of photography. The graphics that John uses are helpful and he even goes through images and asks which settings would be best to use and will go through the why. He makes things easy to understand and is very clear about the information he provides. I am so glad I took this course and I would highly recommend it even to an experienced photographer. Thank you John Greengo!
a Creativelive Student
Bravo!!! I am an adventure traveler and have been to many places in the world. I recently completed hiking the ancient Inca Trail in Peru to Macchu Picchu with only my Canon Power shot camera. Even though I have some great photographs, I found that I wanted better quality and decided to buy an upgrade to a SLR camera. I have had no idea how to shoot in manual mode and even when I improved quality by shooting in Automatic mode with my new camera on a trip to Jerusalem, I knew I needed to get to manual as soon as possible. I have an upcoming trip to hike to Mt. Everest Base camp and so I decided to check into this course via Facebook. I am so glad I did! I now have enough information to begin to practice as I prepare for my trek. I am confident that if I need further information as I learn, that I can participate in future courses to improve my knowledge and capabilities. Thank you!