Join us for a photography workshop focused on putting you in control of your camera and exposures - and which will free you up to design great photographs and have fun with photography.

We'll show you a simple and understandable route to process a RAW image and also to harness the awesome power of the brand new Adobe PhotoShop CS5 - and the brilliant new tools it brings to your photographic design intentions.

Mastering digital photography can be a daunting undertaking.  There are so many modes and options, so many new terms, buttons that do things that you've never heard of, and lots of ways that your camera promises to do it all for you.  And the photo magazines and web sites are full of "experts" telling you how the latest feature in the newest camera will take away your need to do anything at all in order to take fantastic images.

This classroom session will take the voodoo out of digital photography, help you navigate among the many options today's cameras throw at you, give you a strategy that you can depend on whatever photographic challenge comes your way, and make photography understandable and fun.

We’ve designed this workshop to teach you our system of exposure.  We’ll help you learn a system that will ensure that you have all the control you need to leave a scene assured of a quality exposure and composition.  And we'll show you how to bypass those "tools" that just make photography more complex.

We’ll show you why “manual” control, in a digital environment is easier to use than other exposure options.  We’ll help you simplify the process of setting up an exposure, reviewing it, refining it, and then moving to the next composition.

When you’ve completed this session, you should have your camera set up for quality digital capture (you can customize to your own intentions) and be ready to make quality decisions in the field, with a working knowledge of:

• Manual Exposure
• Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority
• Metering Approaches
• Interpreting your LCD review screen
• Understanding and using histograms
• Utilizing the aperture/shutter speed/sensitivity trade-off
• Focusing strategies and checking focus in the field
• Why RAW is better than JPEG - and easier!
• Managing white balance
• Dynamic range issues in the field
• Mastering design basics
• Managing for drama

Then, we’ll slip into a basic look at the digital darkroom of Adobe Photoshop.  We’ll pay attention to

• Calibrating your monitor,
• Protecting and managing your files
• Making use of the amazing tools in Adobe Camera Raw
• Dynamic range options in PhotoShop
• Protecting drama
• A pathway through the PhotoShop maze to make basic moves
• Opportunities and risks with various formats for saving files 
• The new features in PhotoShop CS5 - and what they could do for you

We'll also look at new developments in Digital Photography Technology - and help you think through what those developments mean to you.  You'll come away knowing what you can do with your present equipment - and what to be looking for when you are ready to step up a level.

We’ll provide handouts, meeting space, Saturday lunch, refreshments.

Other meals and lodging will be on your own.  We may all decide to dine as a group, but at our own expense. 

To participate in this workshop, you’ll need:

• A digital SLR camera capable of full manual control
• A notebook computer with a recent version of Adobe Photoshop or Elements
• Plenty of memory
• A card reader
• A “ready to learn” attitude