AFA Basic Photography Course

Dates and sign-up info:

  • Next course dates: TBA
  • Sign up for this course sending e-mail to english@afa.edu.pl or call us: +48 662 222 232 (Tomasz)

www-tomaszpuchalski-pl_afa_english_outdoor_may2012_018Do you enjoy photographing? Do you think your photos could be better? Do you want to learn new skills that give you the opportunity to develop your photography? Then our AFA Basic Photography course is the solution for you!

This course is intended for all of you who wish to venture into the world of amateur photography and learn to take better photographs – be it of your children, family, holiday, landscapes, a tiny worm or dew drops at dawn…

The AFA Basic Photography course consist of ten tutorials in total. The theoretical framework for this course is further elaborated below. The course provides knowledge and practice in a broad range of topic as well as the opportunity for immediate and direct feedback on home assignments and discussions with like-minded.

General information:

  • 10 tutorials altogether
  • 8 tutorials once a week
  • 2 outdoor tutorial (3 hours practical tutorial)
  • Class hours: 10:30-12:00 (morning group)
  • Tutorials held in the center of Warsaw (TBA)
  • Groups of max. 12 people
  • Cost 1500,0 pln

After completing the  AFA course, I take photographs that are way more interesting in composition and much better technically. As for myself, I found out what I hadn’t known and hadn’t had. Hopefully one day I’ll have time to get back to this…, Danuta (spring 2009 edition)

The AFA course is just great for anyone who suspects that all these sophisticated knobs and buttons on their camera are not some kind of decorations… Summing it up, the AFA course has provided me with the ability to consciously use my camera and to deliberately choose my subjects:), Anna (autumn 2009 edition)

Theoretical Framework for the lectures

  • Instruments of photography – Features, drawbacks and advantages of contemporary digital cameras
  • Accessories – Important photographic accessories such as tripods, flash, reflectors, filters, memory cards, remote releases, radio triggers
  • Lenses – Types, features, usage and impact on the image
  • Camera exposure basics – Aperture, shutter, ISO speed, EV compensation, using histograms
  • Camera settings – Important factors determining the choice of camera settings
  • Depth of  Field – How to obtain and use depth of the field creatively
  • Developing your eye– What makes a good photograph?
  • Characteristics of a good photograph– The Rule of Thirds, leading lines, symmetry and patterns
  • Mess on the picture and how to deal with it
  • Science of light– Types of light and its impact on a photograph
  • Flash – Red eye problem, using flash on-camera versus off-camera
  • Portraiture  Photography –  Basics (the „sharp eye”, background and foreground, posed or captured)
  • Child Photography –Basics (viewpoint, hints and tricks)
  • Landscape Photography–  Basics (‘The Golden Hours’, composition, horizon, dynamics, accents)
  • Documentary Photography – Basics (candidness, objectiveness, storytelling)
  • Architectural Photography – Basics (composition, distortions, abstracts)
  • Macro Photography – Basics (textures, viewpoint, depth of field)
  • Black and White Photography – Basics (shades of grey, composition, shape and form)
  • Software – Basic information on available cataloguing and simple photo editing programs, Picasa programme basics

Outdoor sessions:

  • Review and discussion of camera settings
  • Landscape Photography
  • Portraiture Photography
  • Natural Light Photography and use of photographic reflectors
  • Flash Photography
  • Photographic games, plays and challenges

Requirements:

  • A digital camera, a dSLR or a point-and-shoot (required due to homework assignments)
  • Knowing how to press the Auto button on your camera –  we will help you with venturing out of auto-mode :)

Participation costs and regulations:

  • Participation costs amount to 1500,0 zl
  • Candidates are accepted according to their application order
  • Initial downpayment of 500 zł is required at the time of application, final downpayment is due 14 days before the starting date
  • In the event of cancelling your participation in the course, the following applies:
    • If you cancel 7 days prior to the scheduled starting date 50% of the payment will be refunded.
    • If you cancel 3 days prior to the scheduled starting date or later there will be no refund.
  • The organiser retains the right to cancel the course at any time prior to the scheduled starting date in which case the full course fee will be returned.

www-tomaszpuchalski-pl_outdoor_spring_014Great tutorials! In a pleasant way they acquainted me with complicated technical aspects of photography exploring topics which would definitely require much more persistence if they were to be aquired through the use of professional books … A big plus for homework assignments, compelling us to try out new techniques and for words of kind-hearted criticism. Asia (spring 2009 edition)

Looking for a company who provided photography courses I clicked the ‘opinions’ menubar, so to a big extent I relied on people who expressed  their opinions about the AFA course. I have no reservations nor quibbles… Ilona (autumn 2009 edition)