Night Photography Course | Melbourne | Focus 10 | 2 hrs

• The best night photography course • Iconic night photography of Melbourne • How to set up your camera • Simple, effective techniques of night photography • Portraits, cityscapes, reflections, light streams, zooming & more • The best gear, lenses and accessories • Detailed notes • Cost: $150

LOCATION:

• Melbourne CBD

COURSE DURATION:

• 2 hours

COURSE FREQUENCY:

In the event the forthcoming course date does not suit, please note that this course runs approx. 4 times per year

DESCRIPTION:

Introduces beginners and intermediate photographers into the fabulous world of dusk / night photography in Melbourne. We focus on practical 'hands on' shooting with a strong emphasis on camera settings, handling and technique. There is intuitive instruction on lighting and photo composition along with learning how to balancing ambient and artificial light, ISO settings, white balance, picture style options and the best gear and accessories to achieve professional results.

We focus on learning the hows and whys shooting of buildings, cities, landscapes and portraits and the essentials of night photography.

Our teaching style is one of clarity and simplicity, how to be flexible and adaptable so that if you find yourself with only a compact and no tripod in Venice at 2am you can still achieve a great photograph. A quality compact set on a low ISO setting and firmly embedded in a beanbag using the self timer will take a brilliantly sharp image. Conversely one needs a sturdy, quality tripod and a decent DSLR / mirrorless to shoot a night wedding, using fast inter-changable lenses, high ISO’s and external flashes. Its understanding what can be achieved with your available gear and expanding your creative vision and technical skills.

COURSE OUTCOMES:

• Fast track your photographic technical and artistic skills
• Learn how to set up your DLSR / mirrorless camera, digital compact or smartphone ( using Apps to shoot RAW files)
• An understanding of what these settings are and when and where to use them.
• Get great shots of iconic Melbourne locations and attractions such as South Bank, Art Centre, Federation Square, Block Arcade, Young and Jackson Pub, trams, Flinders St Station and the vibrant Hosier Lane.
• How to shoot light trails of cars, boats on the Yarra etc.
• How to starburst night lights
• How to shoot neon lights
• Zooming techniques
• Understanding of white balance, ISO, file sizes, picture style
• Lens perspective
• How to shoot sunsets and handling the magic (alpenglow) light after sunset
• How to shoot buildings, skylines, objects and people at dusk and at night
• How to shoot with flash and available light
• Discipline, persistence and planning skills
• A fun, interactive, dynamic, creative, learning experience

WHAT THE COURSE COVERS:

• Your DLSR, mirrorless, compact or smartphone functions
• What these functions mean and when and where to apply
• Modes and what’s best for the situation (Aperture, shutter, program, manual)
• Memory, file sizes, formats
• Exposure compensation button (+/-)
• Mirror lock up, self timer and remote release
• Depth of field
• ISO setting
• White balance
• Focusing mode and focus points
• Composition, light, viewpoint, angles, lens perspective
• Long exposure, movement
• Balancing artificial and ambient light
• Use of ‘built in’ or external Speedlite flash
• Reflections and abstract effects such as zooming
• Shooting buildings, iconic city structures, street scenes, modes of transport and landscapes
• How the image is affected by atmosphere, time of year, latitude, shooting at dusk vs. dawn
• Night portraits using natural and artificial light and camera flash
• Creative settings on your camera (expressionistic, colour accent, etc.)

INSTRUCTOR

Andrew Thomasson

REQUIREMENTS

No prior photography knowledge although we highly recommend that you have done some sort of beginners photography course or self learning to become familiar with your camera’s functions in daylight hours.

We recommend you have a digital SLR / mirrorless and / or a quality compact with manual functions (aperture and shutter speed priority modes) Smartphones users are welcome.

Should you not have a camera, you can rent a Nikon or Canon DLSR or Lumix LX7 camera from Focus 10 at a cost of $30 per course. Request on the booking form.

For Digital SLR users, at least one quality multi range lens such as a Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens, a Canon 17-85mm, or the twin kit lenses sold as a package with many Canon, Pentax, Nikon and Olympus DLSR cameras and ideally a prime lens such as a Nikon/Canon 50mm f1.8 (available for sale from us). We highly recommend the 50mm f1.8 lens (or a 35mm f1.8) for night photography.

Memory card(s) - we recommend at least a 8GB card for this course. We sell 32GB memory cards for $25

A tripod is pretty much essential on this Melbourne night photography course although there are places to wedge a camera rock tight.

Charged camera battery and a torch. Head torches are really useful leaving your hands free.

On a final note...we always have a few tripods for students to hire ($20) in case you do not own one. Mention this on the booking form, please.

Upon booking we will give you a list of suggested tripods to purchase

Dress comfortably with good walking shoes.

MEETING LOCATION:

Riverland Bar, Vaults 1-9 Federation Wharf, Federation Square, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

INCLUSIONS:

• Instruction from professional photographers
• Detailed notes
• Camera, lens, and accessory shopping service
• Bonus $25 Focus 10 gift voucher for future courses

Availability

This workshop is available on demand. Please specify your preferred date and time on the booking form.