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UtahWest Photographic's Free Basic Photography Series

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Introduction

     Welcome to UtahWest Photographics' basic photography course. I hope you will enjoy this time of learning and photography. This course has been taught many times using a hands on approach. Students gathered with the instructor at beautiful locations to learn how to become better photographers. It has now been decided to put the course on the Internet, free to anyone who would like to learn more about photography. This course has benefited many new, aspiring photographers and I hope it will be a benefit to you too. With each lesson, there will be assignments. To get the most out of this course, follow through with the assignment and get someone knowledgeable of photography to critique your work.

     In this course, we are going to discuss the different types of films offered to the average photographer and show you the advantages and disadvantages of the different speeds of film. We will also be learning the four basic elements to a successful photograph. Learning and applying these elements will allow you to create photographs that properly convey the mood you sense at the time the photograph is made. Proper planning is essential for consistent quality in your photographs although planning does not need to be laborious or time consuming. Once these principles are learned, they can be quickly and naturally implemented into the successful photograph. These principles apply to all kinds of photography and all formats used whether it be 35mm, large format or even digital photography.

     Ansel Adams, an excellent photographer and inventor of the Zone system, taught and spoke much about the ability to see what the finished photograph would look like before it was actually made. Previsualization, as he called it, allows beautiful photographs to be the rule, rather than the exception.

     The four basic elements to a successful photograph are:

          Subject

          Lighting

          Composition

          Exposure

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