This class is a follow-up to Seán's popular Real World Digital Photography I workshop. Designed to take up where the previous class left off, this course is a combination of presentation, exploration and discovery that concentrates on more advanced topics and projects relating to photography with digital SLRs and improving or enhancing images with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Camera work focuses on exposure and image quality control in a variety of challenging lighting situations, including creative use of both on- and off-camera flash units, using portable fabric reflectors for portraiture, light painting, and creatively dealing with "bad light".

In the digital lab, students use Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS4 for exploring the many subtleties and nuances of the digital imaging workflow. Students delve deeper into topics such as tricky color correction of problem images, advanced masking techniques for creating precise masks of complicated edges, combining multiple images for contrast control or creative effect, non-destructive editing, getting the most from Raw files, essential retouching strategies, and pushing the boundaries of creative image exploration.

The class is geared towards photographers using digital SLRs that are capable of capturing RAW images. A digital SLR camera is required for this course.

Camera/Photography Topics:

• Recognizing Exposure Problems Before You Take the Photo
• Recognizing Post-Capture Exposure Problems and How to Fix them in
• Camera Exposure and image quality control in a variety of challenging lighting situations
• Expose to the Right for the best raw histograms
• Exposure technique for High Dynamic Range (HDR) Composites
• Creative use of both on- and off-camera flash units
• Balancing flash with ambient light
• Light Painting Using portable reflectors for portraiture
• Creatively dealing with "Bad Light"
• Diptychs, Triptychs and Sequencing
• Cleaning the sensor

Digital Darkroom Topics:

• Beyond Basic Raw: Processing for Creative Interpretations
• Creating Presets in Lightroom and Camera Raw
• The many subtleties and nuances of Adobe Photoshop CS4
• The Master Image: Non-Destructive Editing Color Correction of Problem Images
• Making the most of Layer Masks for flexible "dodging & burning"
• Advanced Masking techniques for creating precise masks of complicated edges
• Object Removal & other essential Retouching Skills
• Combining Multiple Images for contrast control or creative effect
• High Dynamic Range Compositing with Merge to HDR
• Beyond HDR: Finishing the HDR image in Photoshop
• Interpretive Transformations
• Making the Fine Print