You don’t need to be a shutterbug to take interesting, even stunning   pictures. With some essential tuition you needn’t feel so awkward around your 'black  box', and armed with information about what the marketplace is looking for, you can be in a position to provide excellent quality images to newspapers and magazines.

This session cuts through the rich veins of misinformation surrounding cameras and photography, and describes in practical terms how to tailor your photography to the particular needs of the print media.

The print media is very visual. It leads with pictures. Often pictures are given greater priority than the written word, and publications often pay more for pics than for words.

Accordingly, this section gives great emphasis to the methodology of photography as it applies to Editorial work rather than the more general overviews afforded by many other photography courses.

Just as with travel writing, photography for the print media needs to be tailored, quality-controlled and packaged in an appealing format for the various publications out there. Thus, this session is specifically aimed at photographers and photographers-in-training who are shooting for the print media.

Photographs must reflect the style and content of the publication in question, indeed photographs should be taken FOR a particular section of a magazine, otherwise the photographer might well end up having a vertical shot where a horizontal was needed, or vice versa.

The flavour of any title has to be taken into consideration. You wouldn’t shoot flippant, politically incorrect images for a serious scientific magazine, and you wouldn’t aim thoughtful, reflective images at a humorous column in a men’s magazine.

No matter how elegant your writing might be, good photographs provide an essential window on the world you travelled through and more importantly, how you saw it. Far more than merely providing illustrations to accompany text, travel photographs should have a meaning and a life of their own; an ability to convey powerful messages about a location or a people.

This course will show you how to communicate your own visual viewpoint while keeping your work relevant, saleable and on-target.

Over 40,000 words of text and hundreds of images and diagrams will instruct how to optimise all elements of a scene; Light, Composition, Perspective, Colour/Contrast and The Seized Opportunity.

Additionally, you will learn what types of shots (telephoto, intermediate, wide angle, close-up) to employ for which situations and how to tell a complete story with your photography.

You will learn to think way beyond the 'expected' shots and how to place your subjects in the appropriate context. You will also learn to shun the hackneyed and undesirable aspects of photojournalism, portrait photography, holiday and tourism industry photography.

The course explains technical aspects like aperture, shutter speed and creative effects in practical, no-nonsense terms, packaged up in a format that has been tested and proven in the field. Similarly, detailed notes are provided on film types and handling; how to pack and carry your equipment; what accessories to use and when to use them.

There are detailed files on travel photography subjects and how to get the most out of each category, from People, Landscapes, Architecture, Wildlife, Food and Action.

Since photography is essentially the study of light, great emphasis is given to the various types of light and how best to exploit each one - from harsh, direct light to soft, diffuse light and all the directions of light: Front Lighting, Top Lighting, Side Lighting and Back Lighting.

The colour of light is discussed extensively, as well as which filters to use to correct unwanted colour casts or to introduce creative effects. The course will also show how to make the most of flash photgraphy and shooting in 'tricky' light; night time, sunrises/sunsets, fireworks and lightning and indoor photography.

We offer tried and tested overviews of camera lenses; their functionality and application as applied to travel journalism - giving you valuable insight and information about the best lenses for the job. Additionally, the course reveals how to use various camera lenses to alter perspective and depth of field, and to engineer the best creative effects.

The camera body is given similar scrutiny and advice is given as to the ideal features to look for in a travel camera.

The state of digital camera technology is dissected, and the suitability of digital units for travel use is discussed. This session features an up to the minute, step-by-step digital image scanning, manipulation and output tutorial, aimed at demystifying digital imaging as it applies to supplying high-resolution for-print images and low resolution sample images. Students will also have access to the updates section of our website, ensuring that their course notes will always be current.

Included in the course is an introduction to selling pictures via stock photography libraries and agencies. Additionally, we offer tips on how to approach corporate assignment photography and how to make sure you are charging enough for your services.

We also offer an introduction to the world of book publishers and how to fulfil their photography requirements. This is your way into selling images to the likes of Lonely Planet and also coffee table-style photo book publishers.

Yes, we can offer you the final solution to all that mess - a foolproof method of keeping all your photographs (film or digital) in order and indexed for speedy retrieval.

Stephen Rothwell will offer hard-learned tips on how to source images from governmental and private bodies, as well as advice on teaming up with other professional writers/photographers.

OVERVIEW

THINK BEFORE YOU SHOOT!

THE MISSION

SUMMING UP - THE ESSENCE OF TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY

VITAL PHOTO STATISTICS

TYPES OF SHOTS

TELL A COMPLETE STORY!

THE CHALLENGE: THE LIMITATIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

GET IT IN CONTEXT

EASY ON THE MOOD

SHOOTING FOR THE PRINT MEDIA

TARGETING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY TO PARTICULAR MAGAZINE SECTIONS

SOME TECHNICAL ASPECTS

FILM

COMPOSITION

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY SUBJECTS

THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S PALETTE - LIGHT

FLASH

LENS

CAMERA

HOW TO CARRY YOUR CAMERA GEAR

SHOOTING FOR THE PRINT MEDIA

WHAT ABOUT DIGITAL?

IMAGE SCANNING & MANIPULATION IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP (THE MOST USEFUL TOOLS)

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND… DOLLARS?

ON ASSIGNMENT: HOW ABOUT MY FEES?

BIG SUBMISSIONS: BOOK PUBLISHERS

GET YOUR PHOTOS OUT OF THE CUPBOARD

OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS: PHOTOGRAPHY: SESSION TWO
Unlike most wide-appeal photography tuition, this session zooms in on what is required to shoot travel photos for the print media - encompassing methodology, matching of style to publications and their particular sections and equipment required to effect successful and cost-effective image supply solutions.