Dabney S. Lancaster Community College is offering a full slate of non-credit photography courses this fall at the DSLCC Rockbridge Regional Center in Buena Vista, VA, with professional photographer Chuck Almarez, owner of Fire and Light Gallery in Clifton Forge, VA, as the instructor. Each course includes four class sessions and will be held in Room 907 on Thursday evenings from 6-9 p.m. Beginning Digital Photography (Sept. 22 - Oct. 13) will familiarize students with the features and capabilities of modern digital cameras, including hands-on explanations of lenses, shutter speeds, apertures and ISO settings and how each can affect the final image. Students will have a good understanding of how to use their camera controls for best results, especially for exposure, and how composition plays a critical part in art and photography. Tuition is $90. Intro to Adobe Lightroom (Oct. 20 - Nov. 10) Lightroom is an organizational tool with significant editing and output capabilities. It has become the industry standard for serious photographers from around the world. Students will learn how to import, organize, rate and tag images and then output them in a variety of ways: print, slideshow, books and web galleries. By the end of this course students should understand how to import their images into Lightroom; how to edit, refine or get creative using Lightroom tools; and how to output images from Lightroom to a variety of destinations. The tuition fee is $180. Beginning Photo Editing (Nov. 17 - Dec. 15, no class Thanksgiving) will familiarize students with image editing and refinement techniques using Adobe Photoshop Elements. Students will understand how the camera captures a digital image, how that image is processed in-camera, how to output the image to a computer for further refinement and processing, and the various methods for processing using Elements. Output and sharing options are also covered including output to print, slideshow, books and email. Tuition is $90. Intermediate Photo Editing (Jan. 12-Feb. 2, 2017) provides students an in-depth look at the tools needed to create realistic photo compositions, how to restore damaged or faded photos, and how to colorize a black and white photo. In addition to understanding and using layers, masks, and modes, students will also learn to use the various methods of selecting elements from one image and introducing them into another. In order to be successful in this class, students should have a good working knowledge of basic Photoshop functions including opening, closing, and saving a file. Completion of the “Beginning Photo Editing” course is strongly recommended. Tuition is $90. Students are asked to bring their own cameras to class, as well as a laptop. To register, contact Doug Jones, programs coordinator, at 540-863-2870 or djones@dslcc.edu. For information about the courses, contact Almarez at fireandlight@ntelos.net.
