Photography Course for Beginners: Get Off Auto (South Melbourne)

Most people buy a decent camera and spend the next year on Auto, wondering why their photos don't look the way they imagined. This three-hour course fixes that in one Saturday morning.

We teach the three controls that decide every photograph — shutter speed, aperture and ISO — live on the big screen, then you use them: freezing motion and blurring it on purpose, throwing a background out of focus, shooting a dark corner cleanly without a flash. Then we get you sharp (focus modes, focal length, white balance, RAW versus JPEG, reading the histogram) and teach you to read light: window light, a reflector, and one studio strobe switched on so you can see where our Studio Lighting Course goes next.

The second half is portraits. You photograph each other in pairs on the studio backdrop — composition, headroom, eye contact, how to direct a person — and we finish with a group photo and everyone's best frames on the screen, plus a ten-minute phone-editing demo.

It runs inside a working commercial photography studio in South Melbourne, taught by the photographers who shoot in it. Eight people maximum. Bring any camera with a manual mode, however basic — or use one of our studio cameras at no extra cost. You keep every photo you take.

What you will learn

• Shutter speed, aperture and ISO, and how to balance them by eye
• Manual mode: setting all three and reading the meter
• Focus modes, focal length, white balance, RAW vs JPEG, the histogram
• Reading light: window light, reflectors, and a first look at a studio strobe
• Composition and directing a person for a portrait

What you get

• Three hours hands-on in a working commercial studio, eight people maximum
• Portraits in pairs on the studio backdrop, and a group photo to finish
• Your own photos from the session, yours to keep
• A one-page cheat sheet to take home
• A discount on future studio hire

Who it is for

Anyone who owns a camera and still shoots on Auto. No experience assumed, no question too basic.

What to bring

Any camera with a manual mode — DSLR, mirrorless or an advanced compact — with a charged battery and a memory card. No camera? Come anyway and use one of ours at no extra cost. Wear comfortable clothes; you'll be on your feet.

When

Second and fourth Saturday of the month, 10am to 1pm. It runs whether two people book or eight: we don't cancel for numbers.

Ready for studio lights afterwards? Our Studio Lighting Course runs on the first and third Saturday.