AT WHAT LEVEL ARE THE PORTRAIT COURSES?
CAN I USE THE IMAGES TAKEN ON THIS COURSE FOR MY OWN PERSONAL MARKETING?
HOW LONG IS EACH DAY?
HOW MANY GUESTS ARE ON EACH COURSE.
I AM REALLY KEEN ON GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE DIGITAL SIDE - HOW MANY SHARE A WORKSTATION?
MY PARTNER WANTS TO COME ALONG BUT IS NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER AND WISHES TO PURSUE HIS/HER HOBBY DURING THE DAY. ARE THEY WELCOME?
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU HAVE IN THE PORTRAIT STUDIO?
WHAT EXACTLY IS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE?
WHAT TIME DO WE ARRIVE ON THE FIRST DAY?
WHAT WILL I LEARN ON THE 1 DAY PORTRAIT AND 2 DAY PORTRAIT & DIGITAL IMAGING COURSES?
WHY CHOOSE THE PEAK DISTRICT PHOTOGRAPHY CENTRE?
WILL I BE USING MY IMAGES TAKEN TO PROCESS UP IN PHOTOSHOP ON THE COURSE?
WILL I GET TO POSE THE MODELS MYSELF ON THESE COURSES?


AT WHAT LEVEL ARE THE PORTRAIT COURSES?

These courses are designed for photographers who already understand how to use their camera to their full capability, are familiar with the use of f-stops, apertures, depth of field, white balance settings, reading histograms etc. Hence the courses appeal to the keen amateur, the semi-professional as well as the professional photographer that has turned digital.



CAN I USE THE IMAGES TAKEN ON THIS COURSE FOR MY OWN PERSONAL MARKETING?

You will sign a Copyright form on the course which will bind you into an agreement to ask the permission of Simon Watkinson in such instances.



HOW LONG IS EACH DAY?

Each day starts at 9.30am and we break for lunch at approximately 1pm. We resume at 2pm and continue until 5.00 – 5.30 pm on each day.


HOW MANY GUESTS ARE ON EACH COURSE.

During the studio portrait part of the course, the maximum number of guests is 7 to one tutor.

I AM REALLY KEEN ON GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE DIGITAL SIDE - HOW MANY SHARE A WORKSTATION?

Each guest has their own workstation as we feel that 'hands on' experience is the best way to learn. We do not believe that sharing workstations like many other courses offer is the right approach on ANY course! We have 9 workstations plus digital projector facilities in our digital suite. We also have Photoshop CS3 on every machine (where applicable we will point out the difference for those using Elements),

MY PARTNER WANTS TO COME ALONG BUT IS NOT A PHOTOGRAPHER AND WISHES TO PURSUE HIS/HER HOBBY DURING THE DAY. ARE THEY WELCOME?

They are most certainly welcome; all they need to do is pay the accommodation fee and you can both join the rest of the group for evening dinners if you wish. Being based in the beautiful Peak District National Park, there are plenty of stunning sites to see and activities to keep them amused during the day.

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?

It is essential to bring your own digital SLR camera with appropriate lenses covering ideally the focal range of 18mm - 100mm (eg. a 17mm - 40mm wide angle lens and a 28mm - 100mm lens). However many guests do come with just the one lens (eg. 17mm – 40mm) and this is fine. Remember to bring a fully charged spare battery. You do not have to bring flash equipment nor your own tripod as we are sponsored by Manfrotto can loan one. Warm clothing and weatherproofs for outdoor 'on location' work is a very good idea and any prints/images on CD for discussion (not essential).

WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU HAVE IN THE PORTRAIT STUDIO?

The studio consists of, 5 professional flash lights - 3 elinchrom (500J), 2 prolincas (400J), 2 one metre square softboxes, Octabox, 40 cm2 soft honeycomb with barn doors, honeycomb hair lights, boom stands, a range of lighting umbrellas, black and white colorama backgrounds, G5 imac for use in assessing images at point of shoot.?



WHAT EXACTLY IS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE?

The prices for the 1 and 2 day Portrait based courses include all tuition, accommodation and breakfast (for 2 day courses), lunches, materials used in the studio and a print of your work (for 2 day courses). Exclusions are evening meal and alcoholic drinks. The daily rate for those more local (without accommodation) includes all of the above apart from the accommodation and breakfast.

WHAT TIME DO WE ARRIVE ON THE FIRST DAY?

We aim to start the course at 9.30am for all Portrait based courses. Coffee/tea and biscuits will be served on arrival. Many of our guests arrive the night before as they may be travelling some distance.

WHAT WILL I LEARN ON THE 1 DAY PORTRAIT AND 2 DAY PORTRAIT & DIGITAL IMAGING COURSES?

These one and two day courses are designed to teach the keen amateur or semi-professional how to set up studio portrait lighting in various configurations to give different lighting effects. We teach you how the portrait lighting equipment works, the various set ups, all the essential digital tips and tricks as well as posing and composition with a model(/s) on hand. Most of our guests are keen to undertake child and family portrait sittings and we cover this area thoroughly in terms of posing, lighting and ‘how to conduct’ the sittings. You will come away with a clear idea of what studio kit to invest in, how it works, how to conduct the sittings as well as a whole array of your images that you have taken of our model(/s).

On the 2 day Portrait and Digital Imaging course, the 1st day is followed by a day in Photoshop in our digital suite, learning all the Photoshop steps required on the portraits that you have taken on the first day. The content is described in the ‘More Info’ section.




WHY CHOOSE THE PEAK DISTRICT PHOTOGRAPHY CENTRE?

What other training centre can you attend that has gained approval for their courses from the British Institute of Professional Photographers, as well as Skillset (the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries).
Simon Watkinson is a professional portrait and wedding photographer with years of experience in the digital world.



WILL I BE USING MY IMAGES TAKEN TO PROCESS UP IN PHOTOSHOP ON THE COURSE?

After posing the models yourself and taking your own images, you will be downloading these images and the best ones will be selected to work on in the Photoshop part of the course.



WILL I GET TO POSE THE MODELS MYSELF ON THESE COURSES?

Yes, there will be opportunities throughout the course to pose the model(/s) yourself and take your own images.