Classes At A Glance

Free 90-Minute Camera Workshop

This energetic lecture is often imitated but never equaled. Richard's weekly free 90-minute workshop was designed a few years ago to teach people about their cameras. Starting each Sunday and select Saturdays at High Noon (12 PM), this 90-minute workshop will keep your attention. A free notebook is provided for you to take notes. We include Photographic Thinking in all of our programs; the only accent here is on learning.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: How to Start a Photography Business

I have a friend who has earned millions of dollars from his photography over the years. And during the last two years with photographers going out of business weekly his workload has almost doubled. What sets him apart from many of the other photographers is that he knows how to do business, he understands how imagery is used by businesses (and how to produce it), he understands "Photographic Thinking" and moreover he understands the discipline of doing business.

Lightroom Boot Camp

So know you have Adobe Photoshop Lightroom installed and running on your computer.  You are so looking forward to using the various tools to process your RAW files and enhance your images. One of the more powerful aspects of this tool is how it helps photographers with digital asset management. That is the fancy way of saying "how to keep up with your files and quickly locate specific images you need.

One-Day Digital Boot Camp, Minimum 8 Hours

This Boot Camp is for people with a DSLR camera who do not have the time for full seven week classes, but have a desire to at least get started. If you don't have a camera, we will provide you with a Nikon D-70 (or better) and a fast lens (you will learn what that means). These cameras have a Depth-of-Field preview button and a lens with a Depth-of-Field Scale. These two vital features are what you need in order to be sure you have in focus the parts of your image you want in focus.

Photo I: A Seven Week Class

Photo I is a comprehensive class about the fundamentals of photography. You will attend once a week for class and once a week for a computer lab. While digital imaging is new to photography, "digital" refers only to the way the image is captured and stored. Digital chips replace film. Most of the other facets of photography are more than 150 years old. You'll discover the meaning of shutter speeds and f-stops and how to stop motion or let a "subject's motion" blur in just the right way.

5-Week Close-Up Photography Class

Richard has been teaching this class only twice a year for more than 15 years. The flexibility of this class allows for instruction and assignments to be tailored for each student's individual needs and level of experience. The Close-Up class will take four or five hours of your time, each week, for five weeks. This includes two hours of lecture/class time, and two to three hours for planning and shooting your assignments. Each class will have a lecture by the instructor with a relevant shooting assignment for the next class. Shooting assignments may be completed at any location.

Detachable On-Camera Flash

This challenging hands-on class will give you a comprehensive understanding of Flash Photography. This difficult and widely misunderstood tool will be demystified. From Flash Guide Numbers to Balanced Fill Flash, and use of multiple Flashes, with our weekly assignments and expert tutelage, Flash Photography will be demystified. 

Light and Lighting: Taking Control

During the first four weeks of class, we will focus on lighting problems and their solutions. Our subjects will vary, including reflective surfaces, rectilinear objects, cylindrical objects, transparent objects and others the students may suggest during the course. The last three class sessions will be devoted to low-light photography, including one class in the field recording images in various lighting conditions.

One-Day Macro Photography Workshop

Join a one-day intensive workshop to learn the ins and outs of macro photography. Taught by Rick Katz, who also teaches Photo I and Lighting classes for Chicago Photography Classes.

Photo II

Digital Photo II  continues photographic thinking beyond regular through the lens (TTL) metering to learn methods that are more precise with exposure and color. Much of the curriculum will focus on techniques to improve technicallly. Histograms, grey cards, color temperature, white balance, and light meters are just some of the lessons we will cover in Photo II.

Photo III

Students in Photo III start to pull together the cumulative knowledge and experience gained thus far from Photo I and Photo II classes. Students will pick a theme or subject that will be the basis of the assignments and apply photographic skills to it during the seven week class. The goal is to continue development as a photographer with special emphasis on the creative and critical eye, including a round-table analysis, review, and critique in class.

Portraiture and Lighting

Portraiture and Lighting is a seven-week class intended for students with some previous experience in photography. Concepts of aperture, shutter speed, film ISO, etc. should be mastered prior to enrolling. But lighting is only a part of the intricate puzzle. Each week, students are given an assignment that deals with a particular technical variable. The class examines the details in all aspects of portraiture, and we ask questions about much more than technical issues.

 

Show Class

What we say around here is, "If you come to class once a week for class and once a week for lab, in nine months you'll be on the WithInSight Gallery Walls." Part of the nine months is this 14 week Show Class.

Free Professional Photo Critique

David Joel has critiqued hundreds of students' photos professionally. His comments are never judgemental, but rather full of visual and technical information. And maybe info on how to make some money with your photography (or at least try).

Saturday Date Night Photo Class

Are you thinking about moving from your mobile phone or point & shoot camera to a DSLR? Starting a family? Baby on the way? Winter vacation coming up? Thinking about a gift of a camera for someone special but not sure which one would be right for them? Maybe you would just like to know a little more about DSLR, "digital" photography?  This just might be the evening for you. This class is designed to be fun and social as well as instructive.