"No photographer is as good as the simplest camera." -Edward Steichen

News

Just Added: Fundamentals of Photography
Thursdays in June, Carmel, IN Enroll now!

Photography Attire
You’ve taken the classes, now show off your time and effort:
I’m An IPC Photographer!

Studio Lighting
IPC now offers studio lighting private lessons in Westfield. Enroll now!

Leaving On Vacation?
Brush up on your vacation photography skills with a private lesson!

Next Social Shoot: June 10th, Downtown Indy
If you’re a current or past IPC student, look for an email with details soon!

Featured Class: Fundamentals of Photography

There is a lot of science that goes into photography… don’t let it scare you! Depth-of-field, shutter speeds, F-stops, film speeds, lenses, just to name a few aspects. This class is designed as a "crash-course" to help you understand these complex topics, along with some hands-on time shooting outdoors, practicing learned skills.

During these 4 weeks you’ll gain confidence and abilities to improve photo-taking of your favorite subjects. Please bring a SLR or dSLR camera to the first class. After these 4 weeks, the Level 2 "Experience Booster" class is designed to follow-up and expand the knowledge gained and promote further learning through experience.

Enroll now!

Weekly Group Assignment: Surprise!

The theme of this weeks assignment is "surprise" in whichever form you choose to represent it.

Surprise could be deride from a person, event or many other things. Use your own creativity to capture an image that represents the word to you.

Assignment:

There are no specific rules to follow other than it must be a picture taken after this was posted.

Written by Trevor Warren

To Participate in Photo Assignments and Receive
Tips Like This Join Our Flickr Group!

"To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photographs,’ I respond, ‘There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.’"
-Ansel Adams

News

Just Added: Fundamentals of Photography
Thursdays in June, Carmel, IN Enroll now!

Photography Attire
You’ve taken the classes, now show off your time and effort:
I’m An IPC Photographer!

Leaving On Vacation?
Brush up on your vacation photography skills with a private lesson!

IPC Student, Serge Melki, To Be Featured At The IMOCA

Serge has been a student of IPC’s Experience Builder class, HDR workshop and several other events. In an exhibit opening in June, he will be featured alongside world-renowned photographers displaying the architecture of Evans Woollen.

Click Here to Learn More

Featured Class: Fundamentals of Photography

There is a lot of science that goes into photography… don’t let it scare you! Depth-of-field, shutter speeds, F-stops, film speeds, lenses, just to name a few aspects. This class is designed as a "crash-course" to help you understand these complex topics, along with some hands-on time shooting outdoors, practicing learned skills.

During these 4 weeks you’ll gain confidence and abilities to improve photo-taking of your favorite subjects. Please bring a SLR or dSLR camera to the first class. After these 4 weeks, the Level 2 "Experience Booster" class is designed to follow-up and expand the knowledge gained and promote further learning through experience.

Enroll now!

Photo Software Tip: Using Layers

One of the most powerful features available in photo editing software is "Layers" and for many it is also one of the most confusing. A Layer function is available in nearly all commercial image editor as well as some free and web-based image editors*. Usually they all have the same Layers window as in Figure 1 (click to enlarge):

Fig. 1 – Photoshop CS4	Fig. 2

A analogy to how photographers use Layers imagine three pieces of paper stacked together, a black sheet on the bottom, a red sheet in the middle and a blue sheet on top. That would be the equivalent of what you see in Figure 1 above.

The blue layer would be the top most sheet. In Figure 1 you might’ve noticed a white rectangle just to the right of the blue rectangle. That white rectangle is what’s called a Layer Mask. A layer mask allows you to specify how much of the Layer shall be visible. Whichever parts of the Layer Mask that are white, you will see that portion of the image. Wherever you see black that area will be invisible (see figure 2).

Going back to the analogy of the stack of paper, drawing a black circle on the blue Layer Mask is like cutting a whole in the blue sheet of paper, which would reveal some of the red sheet of paper directly below it.

Fig. 3

In Figure 3 we’ve inverted the blue Layer Mask so only a small circle is visible and we’ve "punched out" part of the red Layer Mask revealing the black bottom Layer. You could accomplish something similar to this effect by simply erasing portions of the blue or red Layers. The beauty of Layer Mask’s is that unlike the Eraser tool, you’re not actually changing the original image, you’re just telling the software not to show that part via the Layer Mask.

There are some incredibly complex things you can do with Layers but you now know the fundamental principal behind them so you can start experimenting on your own!

Written by Trevor Warren

To Participate in Photo Assignments and Receive
Tips Like This Join Our Flickr Group!

On June 4th, the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) will be exhibiting photographs of architect Evans Woollen’s work in Indianapolis.  Woollen is best known for his architecture design in Clowes Hall, the Minton-Capehart Federal Building and the recent expansion of the Indianapolis-Marion County Central Library.

Serge Melki has been a student of IPC’s Experience Builder class, HDR workshop and several other events.  During the HDR workshop, he captured the below photo inside the Central Library.  Serge’s photo has been selected to be displayed at the iMOCA among world-renowned photographers, featuring Evans Woollen’s architecture.

Congrats Serge!

IPC is looking for part-time (40-50 hrs/month) administrative help with the possibility of working from home.

Tasks include but not limited to:

• Answer customer emails & phone calls
• Customer service
• Schedule private lessons
• Send Thank You cards
• Track referral programs, gift certificate redemption, etc.
• Fulfill orders and create shipments
• Various other tasks TBA

Requirements:

• Excellent written & spoken English
• Motivation to work unsupervised
• Past experience with photography, or possess photography knowledge
• Flexible schedule, including availability between 5:30p – 6:15p most weekdays
• Impeccable organization skills
• Internet access, home phone (or cell phone)
• Demonstrates the ability to learn complex organization software quickly.
• Availability for training 4-6 weeknights during first month.

If interested, email a resume or brief list of previous work experience, and a few references to: resume@indyphotocoach.com

"It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need
less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things.
But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of
looking before you learn to see the ordinary." – David Bailey

News

Mother’s Day May 9th
Give her a photo class or a lesson

Just Added!
Fundamentals of Photography in Indy on Wednesdays in June. Enroll now!

Photography Attire
You’ve taken the classes, now show off your time and effort: I’m An IPC Photographer!

Last Call!
Filling Up! June classes are open for registration! Enroll now!

Featured Class: Beyond the Fundamentals

This course is designed for students who have taken the IPC Fundamentals of Photography class who are interested in learning more advanced techniques.
Using the our hands-on teaching technique, you will cover:

• Manual mode and advanced exposure techniques
• Artificial lighting with off-camera flash and wireless sync-ing "speedlight" flashes
• Posing and lighting portrait subjects, using a model
• The basics of post-processing in Lightroom and Photoshop

*Next Class Starts May 11th

Click Here for More Details

Weekly Group Assignment: Motherhood

"Because I feel that, in the Heavens above, The angels, whispering to one another, Can find, among their burning terms of love, None so devotional as that of Mother."
- Edgar Allen Poe

This week we are going to pay tribute to motherhood in all it’s forms.

Assignment:

1. Take a picture that symbolizes motherhood to you.

Written by Trevor Warren

To Participate in Photo Assignments and Receive
Tips Like This Join Our Flickr Group!

Next Week’s Assignment: The Cheap Lens Challenge