GO FURTHER : COMPOSITION AND RETOUCHING

In short...

Preliminary notes: It is necessary to have followed the 4 beginner photography workshops to participate in the courses of this pack. Book the 4 beginner workshops here. These 4 workshops are also available online (live with your teacher).

In addition to certifying the 4 beginner courses (see above), this course pack will allow you to obtain the Mastering shooting and retouching certification.

This course pack (exclusively online, live with your teacher) is the ideal second step to continue your learning, after having mastered your camera. Our course on composition, as well as the workshops dedicated to retouching (via Lightroom and Photoshop), will make you a technically armed photographer, ready to develop your creativity.

Here are the main skills that will be acquired at the end of the 4 courses:

• Master the main rules of composition/framing
• Navigate with fluidity the Lightroom interface
• Select images efficiently in Lightroom
• Edit your images in Lightroom, and then export them
• Understand the interface and logic of Photoshop
• Master the basic tools of Photoshop

Composition and framing

Some photographs spontaneously attract the viewer's attention.

Some photographs spontaneously attract the viewer's attention via their structure and composition. The eye circulates through them according to a composition that establishes this invisible link between the visual path and the reading of the image, inviting us to reflect, to criticise or to dream...

The practice of photography involves a certain number of technical principles and aesthetic rules of construction. The composition of an image is the keystone of this "technical-aesthetic" ensemble.

The composition of an image will in turn determine organisational values, volume ratios and layout priorities. These choices of construction and composition play with the elements present: the subject, the context and the light.

The compositional work establishes, transforms and accentuates the relationship to reality by favouring the dynamic axes, lines of force, entrances and circulation, which will appear in the image.

We will show you how to perfect these few essential points. While going back to the fundamental principles, we will see together that a simple change of composition can radically transform the quality of your photos. The art of composition will allow you to reveal yourself in your personal practice of photography.

Note: During this course, which is held by videoconference, small practical exercises are planned. In this respect, please make sure that you have your device loaded and equipped with an empty image memory card. Your teacher will establish the practice according to the environment of the house or apartment.

Lightroom level 1: Organise and select your images (online)

The knowledge of retouching software is a necessary tool in photography: thanks to programs like Lightroom, photographers can achieve the full potential of their raw images. Adobe Lightroom Software manages all the post-production steps of a photograph; from importing and organizing images, through their retouching, to exporting for printing (print, book) or digital presentation (web, slide show).

The first level of our Lightroom training courses will familiarise you with the use of this software. This workshop will be essential for you to understand how the program works, on the one hand, and on the other hand, to learn how to effectively organize and select your images. The selection and organisation phase of images is crucial in photographic post-production work. It is during this stage that stories evolve, series are constructed and a photographer's work is structured. The images selected in this step are the images that will be retouched.

This 3h30 workshop is therefore positioned before the retouching training (which will be taught in the level 2 workshop), and is a fundamental entry point into your Lightroom training... Just as a cook must be able to choose his food with taste before preparing a dish, a photographer must be able to select their images in an efficient and thoughtful way before retouching work...

During this first level of learning, you will be taught:

-The fundamentals of the program and how it works

-The different methods of importing images into Lightroom

-Sorting and selecting images within the software

Lightroom level 2: Starting to retouch images (online)

The knowledge of retouching software is a necessary tool in photography: thanks to programs like Lightroom, photographers can achieve the full potential of their raw images. Adobe Lightroom Software manages all the post-production steps of a photograph; from importing and organizing images, through their retouching, to exporting for printing (print, book) or digital presentation (web, slide show).

The raw images that your camera is capable of producing have enormous potential, and to be able to utilise and maximise it, you need to be proficient with retouching software; adjusting exposure, adjusting white balance, tonality, contrast, correcting abnormalities are just some of the many tasks that Lightroom can do, among many other possibilities....

This retouching phase is therefore an essential part of the photographer's work. Imagine a baker not knowing how to bake his bread; his dough may have top quality dough, but if he doesn’t know how to use it his work will always remain unfinished (and inedible)... The same is true for the photographer who cannot retouch; his chain of work is cut off, he cannot perfect and embellish his work.

During this second level of learning, you will be taught:

-The different tools for image processing

-Adequate retouching formulas (practical phase of the workshop)

-The different methods of exporting images from Lightroom

-Prerequisites: you must have attended level 1 or be already familiar with the use of the software, import, sorting and selection methods

Photoshop level 1: Introduction to digital photo acquisition, development and editing (online)

The first level of our Photoshop training course will familiarise you with the software. This course will be essential for you to understand how to use the program. This course is perfect to go beyond Lightroom and is dedicated to pure photo retouching. It will teach you the techniques necessary to obtain professional quality photographic images through post-production.

Your level of photography does not need to be extremely advanced but you should already be familiar with Lightroom as Photoshop is no longer the best tool for organising your photos and is not very accessible for beginners in software, computer manipulation or photography in general. For complete beginners in these areas, you should first familiarise yourself with the Lightroom Level 1 course.

Photoshop is an essential tool for photographers in the digital age. It has infinite potential and, as such, it is important to be able to distinguish its most efficient functions in order to achieve the desired result. Through this software, you have the possibility to interpret and realise your vision as well as finalise images and prepare them for printing. This course will enable you to completely utilise your photos to their full potential and shows you the multitude of possibilities that Photoshop has to offer for improving and optimising your shots. You will quickly become familiar with Photoshop's interface, tools and functions, and learn how to solve the most common problems encountered in photography.

The teacher will help you discover their own workflow, from the development of the digital negative (raw file) to the basics of photo retouching, through image processing with a non-destructive approach. In order to allow students to better understand Photoshop's functions and techniques, the explanations are based on real examples of digital photo retouching.

At the end of this training, you will be able to:

• Understand and master the Photoshop interface
• Analyse image problems and implement the necessary tools and functions to correct them
• Correct and improve your images
• Adapt the knowledge acquired to your digital workflow
• Work with text and images
• Carry out elementary photographic montages
• Prepare an image for printing