Blue Mountains Photography Course

■ Learn how to use your digital camera properly

■ All your camera's buttons, functions, menus & set up

■ Understanding composition, light, viewpoint, angles, lens perspective

■ Aperture, shutter speed, depth of field, file sizes RAW and JPEG

■ ISO setting, white balance, exposure compensation, basic editing

■ Portraiture, landscapes, still life, motion, architecture, nature

■ Leura with a focus on shooting architecture, quaint shops and cafes

■ A diverse range of photographic subjects and most of the time is spent in non touristy areas.

■ Historic and scenic Leura photographing village life, nearby waterfalls and 'close ups' of nature.

■ Capturing the bygone era of the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba & the Hydro Majestic

■ Shooting the towering crags which form the Three Sisters & looking across the Jameson Valley

■ Learn how to use every feature on your digital camera to the full

■ Covers lens and linear perspective, depth of field

■ White balance & filters, balancing interior/exterior light, flash tips

■ Capturing motion, unusual viewpoints & tilting

■ Portraiture, landscapes, still life, motion, architecture, nature, wildlife

■ Reflections, heat & dust, snow & cold, the essence of a region

■ Post-production tips, how to create montages and an e-book

■ No previous photographic experience required

■ A smartphone, compact, mirrorless and/ or a DLSR camera

■ Memory Card(s): we recommend at least a 8 GB card for each session of shooting

■ Charged camera battery and a spare if you have one

■ A wide-angle is useful for landscapes. A telephoto for wildlife

■ Your travel itinerary and camera instruction book

Time	10am to 5pm
Location	Everglades Gardens , 37 Everglades Ave, Leura NSW
Meeting Point	Everglades Gardens - (outside main entrance of the gift & ticket shop)

Why do this Blue Mountains Photography Course?
■ A must for the traveller, this travel photography course is designed to inspire you and deliver the skills you will need to develop a beautiful and stunning reportage style & the art of storytelling.

■ You want a fun yet informative learning experience in the camaraderie of fellow travellers in one of the world's most photogenic cities. Over two days you will get to photograph some of Sydney's most photogenic locations including wildlife at Taronga Zoo

■ You want to get more out of your camera's features and learn more about photography in general. You learn much faster with 'hands on' instruction from a professional photographer & tutor

■ You need to learn how to use your camera properly before hitting the road or getting on a plane. How various settings and modes will deliver the results you want. Fast moving wildlife is ideal in Shutter priority mode, Aperture priority is essential for macro and landscape photography. You need to know about exposure compensation in white, bright snow & beach scenes, about focussing points to isolate a monk in a crowded market scene. A quality smartphone will deliver outstanding results and be unobtrusive in a crowded Indian market, a drone is perfect for capturing Australia's stunning coastline.

■ Integrity: compiled by working professional travel & tourism photographers. We are authoritative, consummate professionals in both shooting and teaching travel & tourism photography - NOT 'armchair' experts

■ Experience: this one day course has been created by Andrew & Serena who have trained tens of thousands of students through their one and two day Travel Photography courses running in throughout Australia. They are also authors of the worldwide selling Online Travel Photography course. Andrew & Serena have racked up 112 joint countries they have travelled to and photographed. They are consummate travel photography experts

■ Knowledge is power. You are spending a huge amount for a trip of a lifetime - a cruise to Antarctica, an African wildlife safari, a cultural tour on the Silk Road. You have some good gear. Its not good to not know the essentials about travel photography and more about the conditions you will encounter - the weather, restrictions & local laws, the best time of day, an idea of what you want to photograph. This course will fast track you into the world of travel photography

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Is the course suitable for me?
■ Suitable for everyone. For any traveller at whatever skill level they are at. The detailed notes are pertinent for any traveller. The practical workshops at various location demonstrate various tips such as reflections & starbursts. The tips on light and composition are relevant for any photographer.

■ People who want to earn money as a freelance travel photographer

■ Experienced photographers who want to learn new skills, about new imaging technologies such as drones, about the specific scenarios they will encounter on their travels

■ You should be physically able to walk 4-7km on this course. Talk to us about anyone with special needs and we will try to accommodate them.

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How many people will be on my course?
■ A maximum of 8 persons for a highly personalised learning experience. This ensures plenty of one on one attention.

■ However we do cater for larger groups bringing in other tutors and splitting the groups into teams. Talk to us about your special requirements such as a 'team building' Travel Photography course for a government organisation or company.

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What happens if it's raining?
■ We do not give refunds for inclement weather

■ Bring a raincoat and/or umbrella as some of the best photos are taken in the rain

■ The only exception we would make ( it rarely happens) if their was a severe storm or cyclone. We would defer the course to another time

■ If you are an out of town attendee we will run this course regardless with two days shooting indoors. If we call the course off due to a severe storm you can 'gift' your credit voucher to a friend or whomever

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Do I have the right camera gear for my forthcoming travels?
■ This course is suitable for amateurs and hobbyists to serious semi-pro photographers alike  

■ Any full or cropped frame DSLR camera, mirrorless camera, quality compact or smartphone is ideal. Full frame cameras with their bigger sensors will give better results if for instance you are on a Namibian landscape oriented holiday 

■ A wide angle lens eg 16-35mm (on a full frame camera) ,10-22mm (on a cropped sensor camera); a telephoto lens e.g. 70-300mm or 70-200mm; a mid range lens e.g 24-105mm or 28-70mm

■ A 50mm f1.8  is small, cheap and great to have in your kit. Although lenses like the 18-270mm appear to be good as an all-rounder travel lens they can be soft at the wide angle end

■ An on-camera flash unit is useful if you are travelling light

■ You do not need an external flash for this course. If weight is not a problem such as in a 4WD Outback adventure - then throw in an external Speedlite flash and your heavy lenses. If you are travelling around Europe and want to travel light - take a quality compact and/or a lighter mirrorless camera system

■ We highly recommend you bring a smartphone on this course. A perfect travel companion to grab those impromptu shots or to take great images in their own right. We can also share images around using Bluetooth

■ You do not need a tripod for this course. On the road take a lightweight tripod, beanbag or a Gorillapod 

■ Memory Card(s): we recommend at least an 8 GB card for this 7 hour course (on the road take lots of memory cards)

 

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Can I rent a camera? Buy SD cards?
■ Yes - we have cropped DLSR Canon and Nikon Cameras for rent. The fee is $40 ( payable on the day via card or cash) Your camera will have a standard 18-55mm lens ( or equivalent)

■ Quality 32GB SD cards are available for purchase for $24 per card ( or bring your own SD card)

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What are some of the places we photograph?
■ Our day program starts with the beautiful Everglades Gardens renowned for their year-round beauty - glorious rhododendrons and daffodils

■ A short drive brings us to historic and scenic Leura photographing village life

■ After lunch we capture the bygone era of the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba, an old spa hotel and a wonderful example of 1920's opulent grandeur

■ We then photograph the towering crags which form the Three Sisters

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Thanks again for your work at our conference. We were all very pleased.

Got back to the office yesterday and we received via Dropbox all the amazing photographs you took. You captured everthing- the keynote speakers, the sailing events, the party. We will definitely be using you again when we are next in Australia

-- Karen Seidman

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A great weekend and I learnt heaps - hope to do it again sometime.

--Sue Morris

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Thank you for photographing or 43 staff members over the quoted 7 hours. You must be exhausted . Everyone seemed very happy and liked how you showed them the head shots as you were shooting. Can you get them to use by Thursday please? Talk soon

--Irina Fedorova

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Thanks for the email Andrew And yes Mate - loved the photos making me look 5 years younger. The make up artist was a good idea.
Been busy pitching new business all week.....have some time tomorrow to have a proper look at all the photos but lots to choose from.

--Craig McCann

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I have known Andrew for 25 years now and he is always willing the go that extra mile and is a talented photographer. We share a common love for India and travel in general. Over the years Andrew has been the judge for the Australian newspapers regular travel competitions and we love his enthusiasm and commitment.

--Susan Kurosawa / Travel editor

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Hi Andrew,

It was great to catch up with you this afternoon. I feel that doing your course was extremely beneficial and since then, using your tips, my confidence and ability with my camera has increase exponentially. Thank you so much for the information on the Indian photo processing lab. I hope that I'm able to get good at Photoshop and Lightroom but it's good to have them there as a back up just in case.

--Katrina Price

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Thank you for one of the best 5 days ever. Lots of laughs, learn a huge amount, great group, food was fab, and eating out cheap. Super cooking class, brilliant photography with masses of variety each and every day. A highlight for me was the Full moon festival. Amazing! A memorable adventure. Sign me up for your Cinque Terre course in October! Cheers

--Samantha Knight

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Great to meet you. Christie and I love your work. We think that the 4 attached, at this phase of our project would fit well and we would be keen to see if any of these would be able to be blown up to a large wall art format.

--Kate Hopwood | Head of Design

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