Beginners Photography Evening Course
4 week photography training course perfect for beginners
Beginners Photography Evening Course
Welcome to my Beginners Photography Evening Course. This 4 week course is perfect for beginners, young and old, who have wonderful digital cameras & want to learn how to use them.
The Beginners Photography Evening Course is a very popular course, it is relaxed, friendly & sociable therefore a perfect environment to learn. You’ll be learning alongside people with equal ability levels & a shared passion – so no feeling awkward or silly & evidently a great friendship group to support each other.
Beginners Photography Evening Course overview
Welcome to my 4 week photography evening course. This great course runs for 4 weeks and is perfect for complete beginners & amateurs (young and old) who have wonderful digital cameras and want to learn how to use them properly. This is a very popular course, it is relaxed, friendly & sociable making it a perfect environment to learn alongside like minded people of the same ability – no feeling awkward or silly.
- Learn how to take complete control of your camera to get the most from it
- Learn everything from basic camera settings, complete camera control through to creative photography and even an intro post production and editing
- Weekly practice exercises to consolidate that weeks module,
- Convenient weekday evening meeting time
- Safe classes of likeminded people- not know it all aspiring professionals
- Support & help from me throughout the 5 weeks of the training course by phone and email
- A fun relaxed and open environment, its designed to be an enjoyable course
- Full detailed notes provided to everyone, a great source to refer back to
Beginners Photography Evening Course Content
Week One - Introduction
• Learn your way around your camera
• Understand what all of the menu options and buttons do
• Set up & customise your camera settings properly, this puts you in charge of your camera.
• Image quality setting Raw or Jpeg???
• Overview of the range of shooting modes
• Automatic exposure modes & why you don’t need them any more
Week Two - Controlling Exposures
• Learn about ISO, Shutter Speeds & Apertures and how they control your Exposure
• ISO and how it works Shutter Speed, how it works & how to control it
• How Apertures work, and how you control them
• The relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO
• How to get the correct exposure
• Camera shake and how to avoid it
• Exposure Compensation
Week Three - Photographic Artistry
• Using Apertures and Shutter Speeds to control how your image looks
• How to use Shutter Speeds, both slow and fast
• The effects you can achieve using Shutter Speed control
• What is depth of field & how to control it
• The effects you can achieve by controlling your Depth of Field
• Focus, auto focus, manual focus
• How to get the autofocus to focus on what I want
Week Four - All about Light
• Learn about different natural & Artificial light – how they impact your photographs
• White Balancing to compensate for the effect of the light
• Metering, how does your camera measure & know what light there is
• Tonal Range, how your camera copes in comparison to your eyes
• HDR, High Dynamic Range photography and how to do it
• How to create Silhouettes and other great effects, with ease and on purpose
• Seeing light and using it to create effects, such as strong shadows in a portrait of someone.
What cameras suit the course?
In order to get the most out of the course, its important that you have a camera that can do what I am going to be teaching you. All digital SLR cameras, & most bridge cameras can do this, whereas the smaller point & shoot/handbag cameras tend to be more limited – yes they take a good images but they prevent the user controlling the camera. If you are uncertain in any way, then please get in touch & I can advise you
Digital SLR Cameras
Owning a Digital SLR would be perfect for this course. There are lots and lots of different manufacturer's and models of Digital SLR but they are all suitable for this training course. So if you own a Digital SLR, even if you just have the kit lens that the camera came with, whether you own a separate flash or not - it doesn't matter. The fact you own a Digital SLR means you will learn a lot on this course on how to take control of and use your camera properly
Digital Bridge Cameras
Bridge cameras are cameras which fill the niche between the single-lens reflex cameras (SLRs) and the compact (point-and-shoot) camera. SLRs normally feature interchangeable lenses, while most current bridge cameras do not. However, most newer bridge cameras now feature full manual controls over shutter speed, aperture, ISO sensitivity, colour balance and metering although sometimes through slightly more complex menus, but the fact that you can control these elements means you can still get great benefit and useable knowledge from this course
Point & Shoot Cameras
Compact cameras today take great images, and are usually very simple and easy to use. However, they don't tend to give the photographer much in the way of creative control and decision making options and therefore the amount of the course that the owner of a compact camera would benefit from is minimal.
This course is designed for complete beginners and hobbyists who want to learn the fundamentals of photography, whether using a DSLR, mirrorless or bridge camera.
No experience or prior knowledge is required. The less you know the better really, we’ll start with the basics and build up step by step.
You will need either a digital DSLR, A mirrorless DSLR or a bridge camera. The camera must allow you to control it and change the settings, so a point and shoot camera just doesn't suit the purpose of the course.
It’s a 4-week training program, with one evening class per week. Each evening is 2 hours long, so a total of 8 hours tuition.
There is a full breakdown of the course content on this page, but we will cover everything from the principles of photography, understanding your camera menus, controlling the camera settings, how to shoot in different lighting, creating visual looks and styles and even a little on editing and workflow.
To ensure personal attention, class sizes are kept small normally a max of around 8 people, meaning everyone has plenty of time for questions and recaps where needed.
This evening course runs between 7pm and 9pm
The venue changes depending on the time of year. During the summer months, when it's light outside in the evening I chose a Newbury venue that has attractive outside spaces for us to practice. During the other months, when it's dark outside in the evening, I use other Newbury venues. I always use easy to access venues, with easy, free parking and where we can grab a drink and even some food for those who choose.
Not really, apart from your camera, lens(es), camera batter all charged up and a memory card in the camera. If you have one, it can be handy to bring your camera manual.
If you miss a class, we’ll provide summary notes and exercises so you can catch up.
Yes! You’ll get fun weekly exercises to help you practice and apply what you’ve learned.
Absolutely. You’ll have access to email/WhatsApp (whichever you prefer) for questions during the course.
Beginners Photography Evening Course Start dates
I will be announcing dates & venue details shortly for one more course in November 2025 & the schedule for 2026. In the meantime, if you are interested, please register below and I will be in touch as soon as I have the details for you (it won’t be long)
Register Your Interest
My Beginners Photography Evening Course Works, Here's why
Learn From the ground
Be taught how to take complete control of your camera, from basic camera settings right through to producing stunning creative photographs. All aspects of photography are covered, gradually getting more in depth, as a result we build both your photography knowledge but also your confidence with your camera
Practice Work Set
Weekly tasks are set to help support what you learn that week, then, each following week, we discuss how you got on so we can go over any areas needed again therefore guaranteeing no knowledge gaps. Full detailed training material is provided each week which is great to refer back to during the practice work you are set
Small Classes
My photography training course evenings classes are kept small, a maximum of 8 people on each course. Consequently, this makes the classes personal & fun. Furthermore, it ensures plenty of time for everyone to be involved, ask questions & be up to to speed before we move on
Professional Tuition
I’m still a very active & busy professional photographer ourselves (as well as an experienced photography teacher). This means you’ll learn from one of the best who does this every day & loves it – you’ll feed off of my experience, enthusiasm & passion
Enjoyment
Everyone will be at equal abilities, subsequently you’ll be learning alongside likeminded people, not “wanna be” pros who think they know it all. Straightaway, you’ll feel safe to ask questions – it’s encouraged. Lastly, the course is designed to be fun & enjoyable, as a result the learning is easier
Support
I want you to succeed & I want to see your confidence & competence grow. In order to make sure this happens, you’ll have access to help & Support from me throughout the 4 weeks of the training course, by phone & email meaning you should never feel lost