AGES 13 & Up. Capture the beauty of Ventura through the lens of your camera. This class will focus on technical aspects of photography such as composition and how to make natural light work for you. Students will engage in outdoor photo shoots for two sessions meeting at a local Ventura beach. The class has been scheduled at the end of the day to help ensure great lighting to work with. Critiques after each photo shoot will help students create a portfolio of their best photographs. Student must bring his or her own digital camera. A schedule of meeting places will be sent after registration. NO CLASS 10/25 & 10/27

You have a good camera and you want to take your photography to the next level. It is time to learn how to use those features and use more than that Auto Function. This ½ day Workshop will concentrate on the questions “What makes a powerful image?” and “How do I capture that power in the camera?” We will cover the basic concepts of photography: vision, light, and the elements of composition. Then we will touch on the main tools and techniques used to capture that vision: exposure, depth of field, shutter speed, and lenses The workshop will include demonstrations, examples, presentations, a lot of discussion - and some good talk about "The Rules". Bring your camera & manual (if you still have it!) This course is open to anyone with an interest in improving his or her photography – Digital, Film, Point and Shoot or DSLR.

Now that you know what you want to capture – now how do you do it? Today’s Digital cameras can do everything for you – find faces, wait for the smile, take movies, tell you where you are, and even order dinner! There are millions of correctly taken pictures taken everyday, sent to friends, printed and stored away. But are those millions of snapshots better photographs? If the camera is making all the decisions, are your photos any different than those countless other snapshots? How do you get past the snapshot? How do you create powerful images? How do you take photographs that people will ask to see? Start with the Fundamentals of Composition! What are the elements of a powerful image, why do some photographs have impact, how do some tell a story, inspire, provoke emotions…. Follow with the Fundamentals of the Camera! Exposure, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Depth of Field, and Camera Speed. These 5 fundamentals are the building blocks of photography; let the camera handle them and you will shoot “nice” shots; learn to use them and you can create wonders! In this full day workshop, we do just that – learn the fundamentals: take the mystery out of F-Stop, learn how to expose correctly, freeze action, capture speed, get the detail, make it sharp, and give your photographs some “Wow”! For both Digital or Film – the Fundamentals are the same! This is a discussion and hands on course; with examples, demonstrations, and a photo assignment. We will take a shooting break, and upload for a critique and discussion. Film shooters can bring a few favorite prints. This course is open to anyone with an interest in improving his or her photography – the camera itself isn’t so important – this is about learning how to use it! Open to all digital and film shooters. Bring your camera and if you have it - your manual.

Adobe Lightroom along with Apple’s Aperture are two new programs that are a dream for digital photographers. They offer excellent editing, file management, printing and webpage creation. The programs are intuitive, relatively simple to understand and learn, and provide a huge improvement in managing your digital files! This ½ day workshop will work through each of the 5 modules of Adobe Lightroom: Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print, and Web – with an emphasis on developing and managing your images.

The main topics:

Importing & managing your files

Auto functions

Photo editing & color management

Using and creating Presets

Synchronizing between images

Exporting and finishing in Photoshop

Creating a slideshow

Printing

Creating a webpage

The course will be beneficial for photographers looking for an introduction to the functions of Adobe Lightroom. It will be a presentation and discussion course with some opportunity for hands on examples.

The best light is right at dinnertime, and some of the finest images happen after the sun goes down! Join us for a small group evening photo shoot. We will explore the world of long exposures, shadows, and changing color. Surfer’s Point in Ventura can offer some amazing light, sunsets, ocean views, surfing and sailing action, and seabirds. We will meet for a discussion on capturing dramatic light, long exposures, sharp details, and composition. Then we photograph until “Last Light!” Bring your camera, and borrow a tripod!