Mastering Photography: The EVERYTHING guide to photography!

In this lecture, we will look at all the external controls of a modern DSLR camera that are common amongst many different models. This will be an overview using a Pentax K1, not going too in-depth until later on in the course. If you already are familiar with camera layout, you could technically skip this lecture if you chose to.

In this lecture, we will talk about the two most common sizes of sensors in modern digital cameras, the Full Frame and APS-C. I will show you some comparisons between the 2 and give graphic examples of what the "Crop Factor" actually means and how it affects your image capture.

Hello, In this video, we will be exploring all of the elements that make up setting your exposure. ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, with many examples of how these settings affect the look of your image.

In this lecture, we will be going over the majority of the buttons, shooting modes, and dials that will be common on most camera bodies. Remember all camera models will be slightly different, but it will be a good introduction to how digital cameras work by seeing these controls on any model. We will also go over some old school tricks that still can be used today.!

In this video, we will check out what settings can be changed to make the LCD screen display more useful information to help take better photos, including focus peaking, highlight alert, compositional aides and much more. We will also look at many of the internal menu options that will be common and not so common on other camera models.

In this video, we will look at numerous lens types and discuss what features you should be aware of when making decisions about what types of lenses you want to add to your kit. We will also see a few lens accessories that can improve or enhance a lens's functionality.

  In this lecture, we will check out a number of filters that are commonly used in all kinds of photography. However, We will focus on the most important 3 for most of the discussion, the UV filter, The ND filter, and the all mighty Polarizer filter.!

  I will also show you some filters that can be used as an alternative to a macro lens and show some tricks to keeping price down when starting to build your filter collection.

In this video, we will look at a bunch of different options for tripods. We will see some of the different types of models available for both the legs and the heads and talk about Arca Swiss compatibility, your best friend for attaching gear to tripods.!

In this video, we will look at some of the more common Compositional "Rules". These "Rules" should be viewed more as guidelines to help you make a decision about how you want to frame your subject, but they can always be broken.!

In this quick video, we will look at the basic setup that you need to do in order to successfully capture images to be used in image stacking, like lightning photography. This is just about the setup to capture the source images, we will do some lightning stacking in an upcoming video.

In this lecture, we will go over the steps needed to capture a series of images to do focus stacking. This allows you to get extreme sharp focus anywhere you want in your image, including the entire image.! Make sure you download the image files in this lecture to use later on in the software section when we go over how to do this image editing technique.

In this lecture, we will look at some example images of panoramic stitching, and go over everything you need to know to setup your camera to capture your own source images to stitch. We will see what accessories you need and show examples of how to locate the right spot in your lens to use as the rotation point to minimize parallax.

  In this video, we will go over some of the most basic concepts of digital image editing. This lecture is intended more for people that have not done any type of image editing before, so if you already have experience in a layered image editor, you can decide if you want to watch or skip this lecture.

  Make sure to download the sample image for this lecture if you want to try some of the basic edits shown in this lecture. I am not watermarking this image, just remember any images provided in this course are for your EDUCATIONAL purposes only.

  In this lecture, we will see a quick and easy method to fix distortion when using wide angle lenses and photographing parallel vertical lines. This can come up rather often depending on where you are shooting and it is a good trick to know. We will also show a few quick tricks for cloning areas of an image to fill in empty areas, which can result after perspective correction and even correcting your horizon line.

Make sure to download the image in the resources so you can try this out on your own.

  In this quick lecture, we will see how to use software, specifically Affinity, to create a focus stacked image. It is very simple to do focus stacking with modern applications and this process can give you results that can not be achieved with a single photographic exposure.

  Many applications will allow you to do focus stacking, so if you do not have access to Affinity, you can use the source images I give you in any application that has focus stacking abilities.

  In this lecture, we will go over the simple process of creating a stacked Lightning image. This is a commonly used technique and can produce incredible images that are truly stunning. I will give you a set of images ( with watermarks ) you can use to try this out for yourself if you do not have any in your image collection.

  We will see how to do this in both paid software, Affinity, and a free software application, Gimp. This is a technique that can be done in any layered image editing software.

  In this lecture, we will create a panoramic stitched image using Affinity Software. If you do not have Affinity, no worries, watch the video to see the process and pick up other tips and tricks that are relevant to using any software when creating panoramic stitches.

  In the next lecture, we will use free software. Make sure you download the resource zip file for this lecture, it is a big one. There are 3 sets of images, all are the same images, but one set is a jpeg version of the original RAW image data, one set are the actual RAW image files that you can pre-process to adjust exposure and color correction, and one is a jpeg sequence that has already been pre-processed that you can use if you do not want to go through the process of doing it yourself or don't have software that can work with PEF files.

  There is also a finished stitch made from the pre-processed data so you can see an example of what the images look like once stitched. This image has no other editing done, just the finished stitching. You would typically do some color correction, saturation adjustments, and possibly some contrast or gamma adjustments to call it "done".

  In this video, we will look at the simple process of creating a panoramic stitch in the free software Microsoft ICE. This software makes it about as easy as it can be to create a panoramic stitch. Microsoft no longer supports or distributes this software, but I have provided a link in the resources of this lecture that you can follow to download it off of my Google Drive.

  I have also included another set of images for you to download in the resources for this lecture, both the RAW and jpeg versions, so you can do some RAW editing if you wish prior to stitching, or you can just use the jpeg versions. We cover using a free RAW editor next, so if you have never edited a RAW image, you can use the RAW images after watching the next lesson.

  In this lecture, we will see just how versatile the RAW image format is by doing a few edits in a completely free Raw Editor, RawTherapee. I have included all images in a downloadable zip file that are used in this lecture so you can try these edits out for yourself.

  I will show you the workflow of a typical RAW edit, and then show you how impressive the RAW format is by recovering detail from images that are severely over and under exposed and we will see how those same edits applied to jpeg versions of the same images are much less successful due to the limitations of jpeg images.

  You can download the Adobe DNG conversion software with this link if you want to have the ability to convert RAW images to the more standard DNG format:

https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/using/adobe-dng-converter.html

  In this lecture, we will look at a number of different types of photographic enlargements that are available to bring your digital photos into the analog world. The main 3 we will go over are the standard paper print, the Aluminum print, and the Face mounted to Acrylic print. We will see a couple of the labs that I use and see what options they offer.

  We will also look at a few of these types of prints on samples I have had made from a few different labs and talk about the pros and cons of each.   

  In this lecture, we will talk about buying a camera body and some accessories. We will discuss what kinds of features you should be looking at for a camera body based on what type of photography you want to get into.

  We will look at some online resources to help you make a decision about what brand and model to purchase, and discuss what Gray Market camera gear really is.!

  In this lecture, we are going to go over other camera accessories that come in handy. We will briefly look at some of the ones we have already seen like mounting brackets, but I will show you the best feature only some come with, the QD point.!

  We will also see some sensor cleaning gear, methods to use a blower, various batteries and numerous bag and sling options for carrying your gear.

  In this lecture, I want to just cover a few things you should be aware of when buying photographic equipment off of Amazon. You need to be extra careful to ensure you are buying from a reputable seller and are not going to end up with a Gray Market camera body or lens or returned equipment, a problem you will almost never have when buying from an established camera shop.

  In this quick lecture, we will look at a couple of places you can go to capture images that are close by to just about anyone. It isn't always easy to get out to famous landmarks and Iconic places, but you can find plenty of interesting subjects to photograph nearby if you know where to look.

  In this lecture, we are going to talk a lot about planning for an epic photographic trip. We will cover a lot of information that helps me get ready to go out on long trips, some ideas about what kinds of things you should bring, how you can research destinations that interest you, and many other tips will be mentioned to help you out if you decide to take a photography based trip.

  Trips like these can take months to plan and cost a lot of money, so it is good to be fully prepared to go out on one of these photographic adventures.

  In this quick lecture, We will check out some social media and website options for getting your work out into the public. I will show you some business card and postcard options you can use to help promote your work when meeting people in person.

  You have made it to the end of the course.! In this very short ending video, I will just saw a few words and show you a little slide show I created of one of my most memorable photographic trips that I hope will inspire everyone to try to take one of their own someday.!