Photography degree programs are available at colleges and universities worldwide, covering various subjects such as photojournalism, commercial photography, and fashion photography. Basic certificates cover exposure, image composition, and darkroom developing, while private institutes offer four-year bachelor’s degrees with emphasis on specific areas. SLR cameras are still used for beginners to learn the basics.
There are various types of photography degree programs available at colleges and universities across the world. Although most people think of photography as simply taking pictures, the study of photography involves many subjects, and most institutions offer degree programs for each. As technology has grown, photography has shifted from a film-based medium to one based on digital computing. Photojournalism, photography as art, commercial photography, fashion photography and photo processing are all degree programs offered at colleges and universities, or at professional schools dedicated to the craft of photography. Some photography degree programs are basic, covering only the essentials for beginners, while other photography degree programs delve considerably deeper during the course of study.
Although the rise in importance of digital photography has diminished the popularity and usefulness of film photography, most beginning students begin their photographic studies using SLR (single lens reflex) cameras. These non-digital SLR cameras give photography students a tool that cannot easily be set to automatic, requiring them to learn the basics of setting aperture, f/stop, and shutter speed under various lighting conditions. From there, a photography student can participate in one of several types of photography degree programs.
The most common degree in photography programs is the basic photography certificate that a student can obtain through a community college or professional or adult education center. The basics course expands a bit on the fundamentals of exposure, then moves on to image composition, the rule of thirds, staged lighting, proper use of reflectors and filters, as well as the ability to fade into developing film in a darkroom. . Requirements for earning a certificate in photography differ depending on the program, but typically involve successfully completing a basic, intermediate, and advanced photography course, and completing courses in studio portraiture, photojournalism, or photography technology. The number of credit hours varies, but generally consists of no more than 15 credit hours.
Several private institutes, such as the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California, offer a complete four-year bachelor’s degree program in photography, which guides students from the basics through all possible facets of the media. As at other universities, a photography student at one of these private institutes selects an emphasis at the beginning of the program, such as commercial photography, fine art photography, fashion photography or photojournalism. Usually, admission to such an institute is highly competitive and a potential student should already have a basic familiarity with photography. Brooks, along with several other similar schools, offer job placement services to graduates of their degree photography programs.
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