Beginner Digital Photography Workshop
Upcoming Workshops
This workshop is held at DCP from 9:00am-5:00pm. Registration Fee: $240
This workshop is a perfect place to start for beginners who have a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) or mirrorless camera and want to learn how to shoot with more confidence and creative control. This is a hands-on workshop with a small group, live shooting demonstrations, and time for your questions. The instructor will cover all the topics listed below. We keep the class size small, so there’s time for interaction and problem solving.
The instructor will be working with a camera tethered to a computer and projector, so you can see what they are shooting and follow along with camera settings. The classes are geared toward DSLR and mirrorless cameras like those made by Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax and others. For more information, check the FAQ tab.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
- Buttons and dials: locating and deciphering the physical controls on your camera.
- Basic menus & settings: file size, quality, JPG, RAW, TIFF, white balance and ISO.
- The viewfinder: what information is available and how it helps you.
- What’s in a name: Why your camera is called a DSLR and what goes on when you take a picture.
- Exposure: a thorough explanation of shutter speeds, f-stops and their relationship to ISO and light.
- Motion blur and depth of field: understanding these creative tools is the key to better photos!
- Exposure modes: getting off the green Auto mode and understanding the difference between P-A-S-M, (P-Av-Tv-M).
- Built-in flash: when to just say no.
- Focusing modes: if it’s called auto focus, why do some photos still turn out blurry? Taking control of how and where your camera focuses.
- Techniques for stability: stance, camera operation, holding the camera.
- Assignment: we will shoot photos together of live professional models.
- Assignment review: surprises and near-misses; we end the day with a live edit and slide show of your best shots.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
- Workshop fee
- Professional modeling fees (so we have some subjects comfortable in front of the camera to test your shooting skills)
- Lunch (and individually packaged water and soft drinks throughout the day)
We’ve held this workshop frequently since we started in 2009, and it almost always sells out. Student evaluations tell us that people love the wealth of information, hands-on exercises, informative handouts, studio atmosphere, detailed explanations, and live model shoot.
This is an intensive full-day workshop. Some people learn best in that environment; others prefer smaller doses. If you’d prefer to break it into individual classes, take a look at the Beginner Digital Photography and Intermediate Digital Photography online series.
- Cost per person is $240.
- The workshop is at Dallas Center for Photography – 4756 Algiers Street, Dallas, TX 75207.
- All DCP members receive a discount on class registration! Not a member? Join now!
- Workshop price includes modeling fees and lunch.
- Doors open at 8:45am. Workshop starts promptly at 9:00am and ends at 5:00pm.
- Advance registration and payment is required.
- Maximum number of students is 10. Minimum number to make a class is 6.
- Parking is available in the DCP parking lot or along Algiers Street.
Richard Klein
Richard is committed to passing on the craft and joy of image making by teaching classes and workshops at the Dallas Center for Photography, University of Texas at Arlington, the University of North Texas, Texas Woman’s University and as a contributor to lynda.com.
“Learning is a process and I see myself as a lifelong learner continually taking on new subjects, being in a state of Beginners Mind. My commitment as an educator is to share complicated material in a way that is easily understood by the student regardless of their experience level.”
Peter Poulides
Peter is the director of Dallas Center for Photography and teaches several of the classes and workshops. In over 30 years of shooting assignments for national magazines and corporate/stock photography he’s learned a few things and likes to pass it on. His favorite student review is “You remember what it’s like to not know”.
He also works one-on-one with clients to further particular shootings skills, organize their photos with Lightroom or work on projects like books and exhibitions. He still shoots occasional commercial jobs but is busy with personal book projects and running the expanding DCP.
Michael Mulvey
Artist, Educator, and Photographer. Michael Mulvey’s work is rooted in the visualization of sociological practices.
His research interests range from capturing the cultural divide along the border with Mexico to the gentrification of West Dallas Neighborhoods, using methods of the documentary, alternative process, and conceptually constructed still lifes to create various pathways to access cultural complexities. His practice includes the use of analog and digital devices as well as site-specific installation and photo sculpture. His most recent work features pictograms made in cameraless space on the film of items collected from the land during the gentrification process. They represent the memory of what came before and are now in a permanent visual record formed in historic photographic processes.
Michael continues his work in journalism where he first started his creative and visual career of storytelling with images. Earning the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 2006 while a staff photographer with The Dallas Morning News. The award was for coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, America’s most costly weather event, and the beginning of the global warming trend resulting in extreme energy super storms.
Michael holds an M.F.A in Studio Art from the College of Visual Arts at Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, and a B.S in Journalism from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.