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Explore the interaction of photography techniques and environmental factors to create powerful digital images. Students learn the fundamentals of lighting, perspective, and set-up and explore techniques for classic assignments: portraits, product shots, indoor and outdoor location shoots, and fast-action sports. Whether you're a fine artist, graphic designer, or Web developer, a mastery of digital photography gives you creative control of the medium.

LESSON 1 Beyond the Basics What does that setting do? The first lesson of this course guides you through the lighting and exposure settings that are critical to getting good results. You'll learn to work with white balance using foundation features, proof photos using a histogram, and optimize ISO settings. A case study explores creating and recreating a digital image. Your first exercise will explore white balance, histograms, and ISO parameters.

LESSON 2 Photographing People Ready to shoot the client? People are the subject in the majority of photoshoots. To get good results from candid shots, portraits, or environmental photos, a mastery of lighting, positioning, and technical issues is required. The subtle art of handling people is discussed, and case studies look at different approaches to journalism, dramatic portraits, and business assignments. Better find a willing subject, as the exercise will require you to work with portraiture in-depth.

LESSON 3 Product Photography Whether you're shooting products for a catalog or archiving antiques to sell on the Web, a good shot can make all the difference in a sale. Lesson Three looks at the lighting, equipment, and planning that must go into shooting products in close-up and getting professional results for print or Web applications. In the exercise, you'll get down to business by planning and executing a product shoot.

LESSON 4 Interiors and Exteriors Indoors or out, an architectural photograph must be handled with drama and impact. In addition to lighting and equipment concerns, Lesson Four covers ways to handle location shoots professionally and compose photos for a desired effect. You'll read a case study about interior and exterior shots at a factory, then take a trip to your location of choice for the exercise.

LESSON 5 Action and Sports Photography Fast-action photos can capture the heat of the moment or the frustration of missed opportunities. Are you on the ball? Lesson Five looks at ways to capture key moments in a sporting event and how to prepare yourself for action photography so you don't miss out on the winning shot. In the exercise, you'll play the sports photographer and capture several types of action photos.

LESSON 6 The Photo Shoot from Start to Finish There's much more to a photo shoot than showing up on-location with your camera (though it's a start). In this lesson, you'll explore working with a client, planning a shoot, preparing your equipment, and one of the toughest jobs of any photographer or designer -- selecting your best work for client presentation after the shoot. You'll wrap up the course by brainstorming, planning, producing, and editing a photo shoot of your choice.