Ready for something new and different? Have lots of photos that you donít know what to do with or how to make them look better?
The UMaine Hutchinson Center is offering a Digital Imaging course, ART 272, Digital Imaging, this spring on Wednesday evenings, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. taught by Jennifer Smith-Mayo. Learn how to manage images using Lightroom, Photoshop, and InDesign to get the most out of your photography and pictures. This course is offered both as an undergraduate and graduate level 3-credit course through UMaine Hutchinson Center.
The instructor, Jennifer Smith-Mayo, is a professional photographer and co-author with her husband, writer Matthew P. Mayo, of the recently published book, Maine Icons: 50 Classic Symbols of the Pine Tree State. Her work is regularly featured in Down East Magazine and has also appeared in Big Sky Journal, Western Art & Architecture, National Geographic, the New York Times, and Wine Spectator.
What is Digital Imaging? Digital Imaging is a hands-on, studio-or workshop-based course with several objectives that include: improving one's photography skills, learning image management through Lightroom, practicing image editing with Lightroom and Photoshop, improving ways of looking at and judging pictures, scanning images, combining type and images in Photoshop and InDesign, and creating web ready images, PDFs, and prints. Through demonstrations, short lectures, field work, exercises, and assignments, you will improve your digital imaging skills. Youíll also explore the basics of digital photography, including: composition, framing, and exposure techniques, shooting strategies, and white balance.
The primary digital editing programs will be Lightroom and Photoshop. Lightroom is a state-of-the-art digital image management and editing program used by professional photographers. It offers a “non-destructive” environment, which means that even though you make adjustments to an image, you do not alter the original. You can choose to reverse your editing steps or restore your image to its original state with the click of a button, any time.
You will use Lightroom to import images, add captions, descriptions, and metatag information. Then youíll begin to work on and experiment with your images in Lightroom, using some techniques similar to those in the traditional darkroom. Youíll make adjustments to exposure, contrast, brightness, color, noise, and white balance, and youíll use Lightroom's editing tools to crop, remove red-eye, dodge and burn, stamp out dusties, and much more.
You will use Photoshop to do more intensive and refined work on our digital images. Youíll learn how to make selections, work with layers, use adjustment layers and masks, use the rubber-stamp tool, work with type, and more.
You will use InDesign to experiment with combining images and text in a layout environment. You will learn how to export a PDF of our layout for print and web publishing. You will also use Lightroom and Photoshop to export images in various resolutions for web and print publishing.
One of the objectives of the course is to help you improve your ways of looking at and judging images. At first glance, an image might seem fine, but by making adjustments and examining the differences in variations, you might begin to see changes that improve the picture. Various exercises will be aimed at developing finer discriminations and these will allow you to make more critical judgments of your images.
The course is structured around a studio workshop environment. Classes will be a combination of lectures, demonstrations, discussions, critiques, and field and classroom exercises. Each class will build on the following and several activities will interweave. Students will be responsible for completing a final project of their own choosing.
To register or to make an appointment to meet with an advisor, call the Hutchinson Center at 207-338-8000. Academic and financial advising is available as well as scholarships.
