The late summer course offerings have been update on the courses page — don’t delay, register now!

For those of you who have taken my classes in the past, you have more than likely either seen or heard me talk about the FREE PhotographyBB.com e-zine.  This month’s issue has a lot of great information including an article on my favorite subjects : backups and organization.  There is also a travel article on Belize which I wrote.  So if you’re interested in learning a little more about your camera, improving your photography or getting ideas about your next vacation – download a copy of the latest magazine!  Don’t forget to look through the archives here : http://www.photographybb.com/magazine/.

The editor , Dave Seeram, is always looking for new material, so if you have some great photos or an article you’d like to share, release your fears and take the first step!

You can obtain the article directly from here :
http://www.photographybb.com/PBB_Magazine/issue_15/PhotographyBB_15.pdf

Spring is here!  What better way to take advantage of all the blooming going on than to blow that winter dust off your camera and get in class to kick off a colorful shooting season just in time for the blooming trees and flowers.

There is a little something for everyone here!

Colorado Free University Courses

Note : All CFU classes will be held at the 1st & Quebec Campus
Registration information can obtained by calling (303) 399-0093 or directly at CFU’s website.

Migrating to Digital Photography

ONE offering of our “Migrating” class :

1. Meets Three Thursdays, 6:30-9 pm : 5/28

Beyond the Snapshot : The Digital Journey from Workflow to Masterpiece

ONE offering of our “Beyond” class :

1. Meets Two Tuesdays, 6-9 pm : 5/19; Skips 5/26

NEW! Digital Camera Quick Start: Learn to Use Your Point and Shoot

ONE offering of our New “Point and Shoot Quick Start” class :

1. Meets One Tuesday, 6-9 pm :5/12

NEW! Digital SLR Quick Start Essentials: Hands On DSLR Workshop

TWO offerings of our New “Digital SLR Quick Start” class :

1. Meets One Tuesday, 6-9 pm :5/5
2. Meets One Wednesday, 6-9 pm :6/3

2009 is right around the corner, and what better way to get over the winter blues, than get started in one of the several upcoming classes we’ll be teaching.

From basic to advanced, quick camera start to organizing and editing software, you’ve got many shots to take advantage of in the coming months. Here is complete listing of course offerings through May 2009.

Colorado Free University Courses

Note : All CFU classes will be held at the 1st & Quebec Campus
Registration information can obtained by calling (303) 399-0093 or directly at CFU’s website.

Migrating to Digital Photography

We have one offering of our popular “Migrating” class throughout the Winter :

1. Meets Three Tuesdays, 6:30-9 pm : 1/6
2. Meets Three Thursdays, 6:30-9 pm : 4/30
3. Meets Three Thursdays, 6:30-9 pm : 5/28

Beyond the Snapshot : The Digital Journey from Workflow to Masterpiece

Two offerings of our “Beyond” class :

1. Meets Two Thursdays, 6-9 pm : 1/22; Skips 1/29
2. Meets Two Wednesdays, 6-9 pm : 3/18; Skips 10/25
3. Meets Two Tuesdays, 6-9 pm : 5/19; Skips 5/26

NEW! Digital Camera Quick Start: Learn to Use Your Point and Shoot

Six offerings of our New “Digital Quick Start” class :

1. Meets One Wednesday, 6-9 pm : 1/21
2. Meets One Wednesday, 6-9 pm : 2/4
3. Meets One Thursday, 6-9 pm : 2/19
4. Meets One Tuesday, 6-9 pm : 3/3
5. Meets One Tuesday, 6-9 pm : 3/17
6. Meets One Thursday, 6-9 pm : 4/2

Front Range Community College Courses

Note : All classes will be held at the Westminster Campus
Call (303) 404-5465 to register.

Introduction to Photoshop Elements and the Digital Workflow

1. Meets Three Thursdays, 6:00-9:00pm : 1/8-1/29, skips 1/22 – Register Here
2. Meets Four Thursdays, 6:00-8:00pm : 3/5-3/26 – Register Here

UPDATED! Advanced Photoshop Elements for Digital Photography

1. Meets Four Tuesdays, 6:00-8:00pm : 2/3-2/24 – Register Here
2. Meets Four Tuesdays, 6:00-8:00pm : 4/7-4/28 – Register Here

Though the reality has yet to set in, but August is almost here, which means the Summer will soon give in to the Fall. This doesn’t have to mean that the fun has to end, since we will remain busy through the Fall months teaching a host of classes in and around Denver. Here are our offerings through the rest of the year!

Colorado Free University Courses

Note : All CFU classes will be held at the 1st & Quebec Campus
Registration information can be found directly at CFU’s website.

Migrating to Digital Photography

We have three offerings of our popular “Migrating” class throughout the Fall :

1. Meets Three Tuesdays, 6:30-9 pm : 8/5 – 8/19
2. Meets Three Thursdays, 6:30-9 pm : 9/25 – 10/9
3. Meets Three Tuesdays, 6.30-9pm : 11/4 – 11/18

Beyond the Snapshot : The Digital Journey from Workflow to Masterpiece

Two offerings of our “Beyond” class :

1. Meets Two Thursdays, 6-9 pm : 8/21; Skips 8/28
2. Meets Two Sundays, 1-4 pm :10/19; Skips 10/26

Front Range Community College Courses

Note : All classes will be held at the Westminster Campus
Call (303) 404-5465 to register.

Introduction to Photoshop Elements and the Digital Workflow

Meets Four Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30pm : 9/2-9/23

Advanced Photoshop Elements for Digital Photography

Meets Four Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30pm : 10/7-10/28

Managing your images in PS Elements 6 is very easy. This simple tutorial will show you how to get started and get you started on backing up your images, storing them offline and beginning the process of reclaiming precious disk space on your local hard drive. Watch this short screencast to find out just how easy going offline with your images can be!

[ Flash Movie / 00:06:36 ]

Sorry about the clicking audio … I’m working on finding and fixing the problem soon!

Sunday, June 8, we’re going to be offering our first in a series of “Mini” Workshops digging into specific issues we’ve had requests for by students in classes over the years.

This first workshop is designed to get Canon DSLR users more familiar with the powerful features of their camera. Unlike our other longer courses, this mini workshop is designed as a quick hit of hands-on instruction mixed in with actual shooting. Our objective is to make you more familiar with the camera in a short period of time. To do this, we’ve restricted the class size to 5 students, and we’re going to get it all done in ONE session.

Date/Location/Time:

Sunday, June 8
Panera Bread Restaurant Conference Room – 13th & Grant, Downtown Denver

Capitol Heights
1330 Grant Street
Denver, CO 80203
(303) 830-7101

1.30PM – 5.30PM

Cost:

$69 / payable on the day of class

Registration:

Use the contact form here.

Workshop Overview:

First half [90 minutes]:

• Introduction and quick review of basic controls
• Accessories (lenses, flashes, etc.)
• Indoor photography review and practice (focusing on ISO, practicing with the flash, practicing with the lenses at wider apertures, WB, etc.)

Lunch/Snack Time [30-45 minutes]:

• Bathroom break
• Grab some lunch
• Informal Q&A with the class about specific issues that they’ve seen in their work or even in the indoor section

Second half [90 minutes]:

• Outdoor review and practice (ISO, fill flash, focus point, etc) on-the-spot questions about specific shooting issues

Prerequisites:

You should already have a basic understanding of the controls of your camera and what they do, we will only review how to access them.

Cameras Covered:

Canon Rebel XT, XTi, Xsi
Canon 20D, 30D, 40D
Canon 5D

We will also be bringing in lenses for people to play with. We’ll talk about when to use certain lenses and the usefulness of some lenses over others.

Lenses/Accessories Covered:

Canon 50mm/1.8
Canon 100mm/2.8 MACRO
Canon 24-104L/2.8 USM IS
Canon 550EX Flash

* There will be other lenses we’ll cover based on availability and interest.

We talked about it in WW4 – now we’re going to show you how to use the FREE third party tool Bulk Rename Utility to get more control over your image file names.

[ Flash Movie / 00:07:05 ]

In the last WW we talked about physical file organization, file renaming and metadata tagging. Most people are probably familiar with basic file organization concepts – making directories, sub-directories and moving files around between these directories. But few people are probably more deeply familiar with file renaming and metadata tagging.

We’re going to begin with some groundwork, then move into 2 screen casts showing you how to do these things.

Renaming Within The Operating System

When in comes to file renaming, we’re going to talk about 3 options available. The first option is renaming directly within the operating system. If you’re using Windows XP or even Windows Vista, you may not know it, but there are some file renaming tools built into the system that you can take advantage of.

Using A Renaming Tool

The second option is to use a renaming tool. There are a lot (repeat a lot) of tools out there, but there is a tool we’ll talk about here that really stands out. Not only is it free (though the creators would love to get donations if you find the tool useful), but it is one of the most useful, stable and robust renamers I’ve seen. While the options may be daunting at first, the tool does show you a preview of the final renamed file so you can make sure it looks the way you want it to before you commit.

Since there are so many options, we’ll give you a guided tour of the basic options available, then let you decide for yourself if the tool is for you or not.

Bulk Rename Utility by Jim Willsher
Windows XP/Vista
http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php

Using PSEs Renaming Feature

File renaming in PSE is actually rather convenient, and there are two ways to do it. The first way is to actually rename files upon import. If you decide to follow the file renaming guidelines in the WW#3, you may have a little trouble keeping the original name of the file and instead may have to adopt a renaming scheme that includes the date as suggested, but then instead of retaining the unique name the camera gave the file, you will have to use a new random numeric name or some other value to your choosing. We will show you how to do this so that least your file names are numbered in order. Since the file renaming is occurring at import, you’ll have no problems following the suggested workflow step of backing your files up immediately, since from that point forward, all your edited files will have the new name.

The second way is to rename your files from within the editing tool of PSE. We’ll show how both of these methods can be used to achieve the same basic result.

Which is best?

Understanding which option to use is no simply choice. It will depend largely on how whether you want to use one or more tools outside of your primary editing and organizing tool (like Photoshop), or whether sticking with a single tool for everything is more important to you. Since I tend to have a more complex naming scheme, I am comfortable using additional tools that provide features not part of my editing and organizing tool. The choice will be largely dependent on your preferences and needs!

Look out soon for the two screencasts that explore the options available to you!

We are gearing up for a busy sprint and summer of fun and photography!

Check out our offerings and join the fun!

Colorado Free University Courses

Front Range Community College (Westminster Campus) Courses