If cost and time are a major factor in your decision on what types of classes would be right for you, then you should try out the Chicago Photography Center. They offer one of the most affordable and quick photography classes in the Chicago area. Founded by students and photography instructors in the summer of 2002, the Chicago Photography Center is a non-profit organization. They offer evening courses and workshops under a hundred dollars as well as a seven week course that runs $350, or $250 for non-darkroom courses. They offer a classroom, darkroom, computer lab, studio, and gallery space in an informal setting, making it the ideal place to brush up on your skills.

Looking for something a little less informal? If you are looking for photography classes in the Chicago area that are more geared toward a degree program, Harrington offers a specialized digital photography school where you can earn an associate’s degree. Led by experienced professional photographers, Harrington’s program sets you up to join in this highly competitive field as a professional photographer yourself. You’ll be required to purchase your own camera and equipment but are provided in return with state of the art labs, studios and software.

Still not elite enough? Columbia College Chicago offers some of the most exhilarating photography classes in the Chicago area, and in fact the largest photography program in the country. Offering the most up to date innovations in the industry as well as a rich history behind photography, taught by over 70 professors, Columbia College will surely meet all your needs. Students at Columbia are eligible to obtain a B.F.A or a B.A. in photography or they may couple it with another major as a minor.

If you still want to take some photography classes in the Chicago area, but your heart is set on a broader art program, Truman College might be best for you. They offer areas of study in liberal arts and science programs that specialize in areas of art, illustration and design, intended to be used as a transfer program to a college or university offering baccalaureate degrees. The programs may also be used to get your foot in the door of a professional career in the many aspects of art, illustration or design.

This is in no way an exhaustive list of the places in Chicago offering classes in photography. No matter what type of setting it is that you are seeking, be it formal or informal, expensive and tuition based or inexpensive and non-profit, you will no doubt find a variety of places offering photography classes in the Chicago area. You can find more information on the programs listed above by searching for the following:

• Chicago Photography Center
• Harrington Digital Photography School
• Columbia College Chicago
• Truman College

You’ll see lots of different settings on the top of your digital camera, for now though, just ignore them. Set the dial to “auto” and start shooting. The effects you’ll get from allowing the camera to make the decisions will be fun. The best part about digital photography for beginners is that you can take a bad picture and because it’s digital you can erase it and no one will ever need to know, so experiment.

Now that you have a few shots take a look and see what you like the best. If you have a shot, for instance, that is too dark, erase it and remember not to take that shot again.

HOW TO AVOID BLURRY PICTURES

Most beginning digital photographers shoot landscapes, mostly because they are wide shots and they show pretty scenery. That’s fine, but eventually you will want to shoot something close up, like your little girl’s first steps or the dent on your car where the guy just hit you. Here are a few tips to help you avoid getting blurry shots.

1. Stand still - plant your feet solidly about 12 inches apart.
2. Move with the action - if your subject is moving left to right follow the subject with your upper body left to right.
3. Only zoom as much as you need - If the subject requires you to be zoomed the whole way in then by all means do so, but remember, the more zoom the less clarity.

SOME CARDINAL RULES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Although there are many things you can do with a digital camera that you never could do with a regular point and shoot there are still a few things you should never do as a photographer.

1. Don’t take a picture of a subject with his or her back to the sun. You as the photographer should ALWAYS have your back to the sun. If you don’t, the iris on the camera will pick up all that light and make your subject dark.
2. There is no need to always use your flash. If you have a side light situation that makes the other side of a subject dark, then kick on the flash and brighten it, but basically you don’t need it all the time. And, if you’re shooting landscapes don’t bother with a flash at all. Let the natural light brighten your picture. You’ll get much better results.
3. Make sure your optics are clean. There is nothing worse than taking that perfect shot only to have half the sky smudged because of a thumb print on your lens.

Digital photography for beginners can be fun filled. Armed with the proper tools, you’ll take beautiful pictures you’ll love to show your friends.

If you get this joke, you are probably a photographer who puts up with ridiculous comments every day. If you don’t get it…read on, my friend, and learn.

If you eat a great meal at a restaurant, you don’t compliment the chef on the quality of his saucepans. When we appreciate a great painting, we don’t automatically think about the brand of paintbrush. When you hear your favourite song…well, you can see where I am going with this. So why is it that so many people think that good photography is all about how much money you spend on your camera?

A camera is simply the tool a photographer uses for their craft. There are dozens of brands and models available, with myriad minor features that sound good in a camera shop. But really good photography, just like it always has, requires only the basic features found on almost every camera: shutter speed, aperture, and a good quality lens.

In the days of film, these features were only available on SLR and larger format cameras, so it could be argued that they belonged to the realm of ’serious’ photographers. However, in the digital age, these essential features are available on almost any camera, should the owner take the time to learn how to use them.

Regardless of what type of camera they have, a photographer uses an appreciation of light, a unique flair for composition, and a sense of timing, to capture their subject in a way that satisfies their vision. These skills are the product of experience and creativity, and have nothing to do with technology.

I was guest speaker at a camera club once, where a member brought a whole suitcase full of expensive camera gear to the meeting. There was no reason to bring cameras to that particular meeting, and by all reports he wasn’t much of a photographer, but he wanted everyone to see how much gear he had. What he did not seem to grasp was that cameras don’t earn you respect as a photographer - photos do.

If you want to improve your photography, never assume it will automatically happen with a better camera. Instead, settle for the camera you can afford, and learn to use the camera you have. Remember; aperture, shutter speed, a decent lens and a flair for composition and light. Master these and you will get results no matter what sort of camera you have.

Don’t be intimidated by photographers with thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Instead, intimidate them with your photography…in the end, only results matter.

About the Author

Andrew Goodall has photographed nature for over 20 years. He has released two highly popular ebooks to help beginners learn the art and skills of photography. Andrew is in increasing demand as a guest speaker and teacher. Find out more at http://www.naturesimage.com.au

Yet with all these advantages, landscape photography has also become more complicated in some ways. To be fully adept at being the complete photographer, one now has to also own a computer system for storage and processing of images, and to complete the picture, a printer also needs to be added to the setup in order to be able to print one’s images. So not only does one need to be able to operate his or her camera, one must also be prepared to learn how to use computer programs, and generally have some understanding about pixels, file sizes, cropping, sharpness, contrast, and general colour management. It has opened up whole new set of opportunities and/or problems for many people.

Although setting up for digital landscape photography is undoubtedly less expensive than using film in the long term, it is certainly more expensive in the initial setting up, particularly for the professional photographer, whose requirements will always be much more expensive than the average point and shoot amateur. Yet in the case of the professional digital photographer, the setting up costs are very quickly negated.

Some have argued for many years that digital results were not as good as images from film. Up until about as little as 3-4 years ago, this argument had a great deal of evidence to support it, yet today it has been proved fairly conclusively that at all levels from cameras available to the average person in the street, through to the highest quality professional cameras, digital photography has now taken the lead in quality. Never before has photography been at such a high universal standard. With all the auto everything on cameras today, in most cases it is difficult for people to take technically poor photos. Digital photography is much more forgiving than film ever was.

The downside to this rapidly advancing technology has been the speed of redundancy that has accompanied it. The ever increasing features and quality of capture has meant that cameras as little as 9-12 months old lose most of their value, simply because another newer model has come onto the market which is usually not only much better, but cheaper as well. In the days when film cameras were standard, one could be confident of a resale value that was the majority of what you spent on the camera even years earlier.

About the Author

Author Bio:- Steve Grant is webmaster to http://www.geoffrossphotography.com. Geoff Ross is an acclaimed Australian landscape photographer, specializing in stunning Landscape Photography . For more stunning landscape photography and related distinct articles feel free to visit http://www.geoffrossphotography.com or write to webmaster: webmastergrant@gmail.com. Yours comments and

Of course, the last and what this article is about is composing your images. Photo composition is basically how you position your image, where you set the camera at, etc. It’s basically what results in what people see in the borders of the image.

The Angle of the Photograph Picking the right angle for your photo is critically important. It’s so crazy how changing the angle of your shot even a few inches can make your photo much better looking. It’s also interesting how a few inches off can make the photo look as if it were missing something.

Here are some simple tips for angles. Being that I first got into film making before photography, this stuff is very easy to know and is used very often to convey the relationship of characters and such.

1. From below angle Having the angle of a character be from below will make your model look much more powerful. This is great if your model is a character of importance such as a person of high status or authority.

2. From Above Angle A photo from above will make the character being shot look much less powerful. It gives the viewer a sense of power over the character being photographed. This type of shot is great for shooting children. It shows them as innocent and infantile.

These different perspectives will create different emotional responses to the image. Obvious above shots and below shots will be quite obvious to the viewer. A good place to work is in a subtle amount above or below. That way the viewer will feel the emotional response but will not quite see the technique used.

About the Author

Al Sanchez has a great program that teaches

The lens that you should be using for landscape photos is a wide angle lens. This type of lens is great for shots that require a massive amount of land to be taken in. Of course, not all landscape photos use wide angle lenses. Some actually use telephoto lenses and make mountains that are very far away appear closer and together. But in the case of most landscape photos your best bet is to use a wide lens.

The benefit of using a wide angle type of lens for these types of photos is that this type of lens will enable the camera to see very large amounts of the scene in very clear detail. Having this type of lens is much better than the normal lens that your camera probably came with. Most zoom lenses are not as good of quality as fixed lenses.

You can use wide angle lenses not only for large land shots but for other shots that have a large amount of land. Also, wide angle types of lenses can be used for crowded areas and can make these areas much larger looking. As a matter of fact many filmmakers use wide angle lenses when shooting scenes on location because of the lack of space and need to make the scene look bigger. If you have a camera that has a zoom lens, although not as good as a fixed lens, you can see the results of taking landscape shots with this. Zoom out as much as possible and take the picture.

So, if you are interested in taking large vista type shots of the wilderness then a wide angle lens is your answer. This piece of equipment will ensure that everything will be sharp and crisp.

About the Author

Al Sanchez has a great program that teaches you how to take better photos. He also teaches people how to sell pictures online.

First off, I want to ask you how you usually take pictures of people? Now I want to ask you how the picture of you or a family that’s hanging in your wall is oriented. Vertically oriented people pictures are usually what the professionals do. But when it comes to people taking pictures we usually take horizontal pictures. Taking vertical shots of people can make your photos much better. It’s also much better suited for how us people have our bodies oriented. Of course, if you’re taking a picture of a person sitting down and from the side a horizontal picture will most likely work better.

Many people take very formal pictures of people. These types of photos are great to take and can make for some really nice photos to hang up on the wall. However, do not limit yourself to those formal pictures. Try taking photos of people in action doing specific things. For example, take a picture of a friend while they’re playing cards, running, smoking, laughing with friends, or flushing the toilet. Try to set up a situation and take pictures of your models when they don’t expect it.

When composing pictures of people you should try to put the person at the most interesting area of the picture. Rather than putting your model dead center try moving it around and putting your model to the left, right, or somewhere besides the center. Also, be sure to leave some head room for your model. If your model is looking to the right give some space to the right. Don’t cut off their face on the side they’re looking towards.

About the Author

Al Sanchez has a great program that teaches you how to take better photos. He also teaches people how to sell pictures online.

When the digital cameras reduce the noise themselves the result can make for blurrier photos. Many people will try to get rid of this blur by sharpening the image. However, when sharpening the image the noise that was reduced from the camera will become much more obvious. That’s why sharpening the image can make the image much nosier.

Fortunately, there is a rather simple way to sharpen photos without actually sharpening the noise that the picture has. The way we do this is through the color modes in a photo editing software, preferably Photo Shop. There are various color modes. For digital images the main mode used is RGB or red, green, and blue. For print the color modes used are CMYK. If you are going to print your image you should try sticking with CMYK. Another color mode that you can use is the LAB mode. The lab mode has three different aspects to it. The first aspect is the lighting. The second is the green and red parts of the photo. And the last aspect is the yellow and blue parts of the photo. This means that you can adjust any one of these without affecting the others. You can adjust the lighting without affecting the colors.

What you can do with this special mode is choose to make the light mode sharper and not make the color channels sharper. This will sharpen the noise of that specific node but the others won’t be sharpened.

Of course, many special techniques for digital photos won’t work if your photo is too noisy to start with. So the best thing to do is to take the best picture possible at the start.

About the Author

Al Sanchez has a great program that teaches you how to take better photos. He also teaches people how to sell pictures online.

The depth of your image is based on a lot of things. It can be affected by various things such as using the zoom button on your camera or changing the lens to a different type. The depth is influenced mainly by the lenses focal length, the aperture of the lens being used, and how far the subject being photographed is from the camera.

The depth of area in focus can be manipulated by you as a photographer. You can choose to make it very large and have everything in focus or have a small area of the picture in focus. The lighting and the aperture of the lens will make a great impact on the depth that the photo has. A smaller aperture f-stop will make you have a much larger depth range whereas a larger aperture will give you a smaller range of area in focus.

If you want to have a shallow depth of field then use large aperture numbers like F/2.8. This will make the subject in focus but everything else very out of focus. A large aperture like this will make very extreme blurred backgrounds that are unrecognizable. You can also make it slightly out of focus by using something a little smaller.

An expansive depth can be achieved by using a smaller aperture like F/16. This will give you a picture where mostly everything is in focus. Be sure, however, when taking pictures like this to bring a tripod. Many landscape photos do require tripods since they use very small aperture values that require longer exposure times.

About the Author

Al Sanchez has a great program that teaches you how to take better photos. He also teaches people how to sell pictures online.