Digital Photo Academy's experienced instructors are available to work around your schedule while providing 3 hours of hands-on instruction carefully designed to address the unique needs of individual students or small groups.
Your session typically commences with a thorough conversation about your camera equipment, your photographic aspirations, and what you hope to accomplish through photography. This introductory discussion naturally transitions into an engaging, in-the-field shooting experience that directly supports your personal photography goals. Your session can emphasize landscape work, portrait photography, architectural subjects, or virtually any other photographic specialty that captures your imagination and creative interest.
This private instruction experience concludes with a comprehensive demonstration and overview of important post-production workflow tasks and techniques. Depending on your individual objectives and the specific portion of the day you've booked, the time spent on each section of the course will be adjusted to provide maximum benefit. Both half-day and full-day options feature a meal break that can be scheduled at your convenience to fit your preferred timing.
Topics to be discussed:
Camera Discussion and Equipment Overview
Are you shopping for a new camera, or do you already own the equipment you intend to use regularly? Your instructor will work with you to deepen your understanding of your camera's settings and controls, and help you explore the full capabilities of your equipment if necessary.
Should you photograph in JPEG, RAW, or a particular resolution? Are you creating images for a website, preparing a large print for your living room, or sharing on social media like Facebook? What type of photography excites you most: flowers, landscape vistas, wildlife, portraits, sports, natural light photography, or studio lighting work? Understanding your preferences allows your instructor to recommend the best camera settings, suitable lenses, and helpful accessories to support your creative vision.
In-the-Field Photography and Specialized Venues
Your instructor possesses deep knowledge of field photography techniques and often has exclusive access to special locations and venues not ordinarily accessible to the public. You might find value in receiving expert instruction while photographing at a local zoo, botanical garden, historic mansion, or community sports event. Many of our instructors have backgrounds in shooting for local news publications and can facilitate access to interesting local competitions where you can practice your skills.
Depending on your photographic focus, whether capturing nature and wildlife, street scenes, studio portraits, or anything in between, your instructor will develop a personalized curriculum for your class. Your private session will take place in an environment that supports your specific learning interests. Your instructor will share multiple proven techniques designed to help you produce portfolio-caliber images. Composition represents an art form in itself, and while you'll gradually develop your unique aesthetic, your instructor will introduce classical composition techniques that transform your conceptual vision into stunning, realized photographs.
Post-Capture Processing and Image Organization
Following your field shooting experience and technique instruction, learning to organize your photography collection for easy retrieval and efficient sharing becomes paramount. During this portion of your session, your instructor will work closely with you to review your captured images, looking for consistent patterns in your photographic perspective and approach. For example, do you repeatedly use a similar compositional perspective? Do you habitually position subjects at particular locations within your frame? Do you favor shooting close to your subjects or prefer more distance? Recognizing these habitual patterns enables you to strengthen what works well for you, or deliberately experiment with alternative approaches, and you'll gain awareness of additional compositional choices for upcoming photography opportunities.
Contemporary digital photography offers powerful tools to address limitations or mistakes that occurred in the field. Perhaps your outdoor lighting was inadequate or unflattering, or perhaps you wish you had captured a different angle or composition. During this session segment, your instructor will present images you took that day and demonstrate various Photoshop adjustments and editing solutions, explaining each modification and discussing how it improves the final result.
Important Scheduling Notes:
- Private lesson scheduling offers flexibility based on your instructor's availability and your preferred dates.
- Should your instructor become unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances, they will contact you to reschedule according to your availability or offer an immediate refund as an alternative.
- Session locations are to be determined and will be confirmed before your class. You'll receive detailed location information prior to your scheduled session.
- Your session fee remains consistent regardless of whether you attend privately or bring friends and family to split the hourly rate.
