Many students who take this program enroll in more extensive NYFA photography programs, such as the 1-Year Photography Certificate. NYFA also offers the possibility to learn photography from anywhere through a variety of online photography workshops.

To learn more about the 4-Week Photography Workshop, see NYFA’s Course Catalog or request more information.

Photography
This Area of Study encompasses lecture, demonstration, critique, and shooting assignments on location or in the studio. Students learn the components of exposure and mechanics of cameras and lenses. They are taught to be aware of the unique characteristics that light can take: direct, diffused, reflected and/or tempered by atmosphere.

Imaging
An intensive introduction to Adobe Lightroom as a RAW digital editing and image library management system. Students will immerse themselves in Adobe Lightroom, and will acquire key digital darkroom techniques from nondestructive editing to unparalleled color and tonal control over their own images. They will also learn the entire process of digital workflow, from RAW processing through output for a web page and print. Along with lectures and demonstrations, Imaging I allows plenty of lab time to practice and perfect their image-editing skills.

Ways of Seeing
Intensive study, analysis, and critique of the work of master photographers, their techniques, aesthetics and
approaches help to equip students to choose the most effective means of realizing their own projects. The history of photography is studied from its beginning through 1960. Students are guided to analyze the cultural and societal impact of photography, and the evolution of the medium from the original assumed veracity of photographs to the exploitation of a viewer’s acceptance of the photograph as “truth,” given the use of modern photographic manipulation with tools such as Photoshop. Additionally, students become intimately familiar with a particular photographer’s body of work through written research projects.
Discussions include composition, traditional and non-conventional framing, color theory, design, semiotics (signs and symbols), the effect of technological changes on photography, the surprisingly long history of using viewer assumptions to distort the truth, and the use and limitations of photography as a documentary and personal record.

Vision & Style
This course teaches students critical thinking skills, the visual language of photography, and pushes them to explore their personal interests in photography as they conceptualize, execute, refine, and critique. Students will define and develop a personal, iconic visual style and specific area of interest, studying master bodies of work across both genres as examples. The primary focus will be on still photography, but the use of moving images will also be explored through in-class assignments. Students will become familiar with principles of graphic design, composition, color, editing, sequencing and presentation. Through writing, journaling, drawing, research and photographic assignments, students will gain a level of self-awareness necessary to understand the most salient origins for their ideas, and conceive how their work might fit into the context of current practices and attitudes.

Shooting Lab
A unique, hands on opportunity for the student to develop core professional skills and techniques during weekly in-studio and on-location photo shoots with real-time guidance. Covering a wide range of genres along with aesthetic, logistical and technical challenges, the student will have the opportunity to work directly with their instructor, applying new skills in still photography across a range of assignments of increasing complexity.

Gallery Tour
Students will be taken on a weekly guided tour of current gallery and museum exhibitions of photo-based work and studio visits, becoming familiar with current curatorial standards and practices. They will browse exhibition catalogues, and become acquainted with print prices and editioning as a key factor, while taking advantage of opportunities to directly meet with and hear from exhibition curators and artists. Students will see firsthand the true finished product of the medium, using a diverse array of substrates, mounting and framing techniques and sequencing and presentation ideologies. Instructors lecture and lead guided discussions about artistic practices and bodies of work both contemporary and throughout the history of the medium

NYFA also offers the possibility to learn photography from anywhere through a variety of online photography workshops.

To learn more, see NYFA’s Course Catalog or request more information.

History of Fashion Photography
Just as an artist must study art history, a photographer should have a working knowledge of the history of fashion photography. The practitioners who have gone before us developed themes, narratives, and iconic tropes that remain relevant today and consistently cycle back into style. Art directors and clients refer back to iconic moments in fashion photography when communicating their needs and expectations to the photographers they commission. It is important to understand the roots of the language in order to expand on the conversation. A review of prominent figures in fashion photography helps to develop students’ sense of storytelling, light, and style. Through examination of what’s gone before us, students will establish a context for current fashion related practices. Through lectures, research, and analysis, students incorporate an understanding of historical approaches to photographing fashion into their own process.

Pre-Production
There is a lot of planning that goes into a successful shoot. In this class students brainstorm, visualize, and
storyboard their ideas so that everyone on their crew is on the same page. Students research and book models, design and hunt down needed props, wardrobe, and sets, sketch out lighting ideas and create mood boards. With the help of feedback from instructors and classmates students attend to all other details, large and small, to ensure they have all the tools they need on set for their shoots.

Fashion & Beauty Retouching
Editing, developing, and retouching are an integral part of creating the final image. Detail, aesthetics, personal taste, and restraint will be discussed and analyzed to help students reach their personal vision for their images. Practice and repetition are required for a competent understanding of the process. This course explores developing and retouching for the fashion and beauty image. In order to stay current with today’s standards, students will learn color correction, toning, and color grading as well as advanced methods of beauty and skin retouching. This class includes lecture, demonstration, and time for students to edit their own images under the guidance of expert faculty. Some prior knowledge or experience with post-processing is assumed.

Studio Practice
The practice of fashion photography at the professional level is a demanding and complex role. Photographers must combine technical fluency with creative intelligence and aesthetic awareness by developing a unique balance of science, technique, art, creativity, and performance. Fashion images are created in a time sensitive environment and in fast paced circumstances where the photographer must create on the spot results while working collaboratively with a team. Practice and experimentation is essential to the development of this uniquely challenging skill set. Every aspect of producing fashion images is broken down and practiced in a hands-on studio setting.

Fashion Location Shoot
Fashion imagery does not solely take place in the classroom. This is a unique, hands-on class in which students are able to feel what it is like to work on a set in an exciting location. Students implement skills learned in posing, lighting, and knowledge of fashion into their shooting days. Students apply techniques they have learned throughout the rest of the workshop.