Foundational or Manual DSLR Photography Class for One or Two at PIXEL Connection (Up to 69% Off)
Reservation required. Subject to availability. Merchant's standard cancellation policy applies (any fees not to exceed voucher price). Limit 2 per person, may buy 3 additional as gifts. Valid only for option purchased. Bring Your Camera (Must be DSLR, Mirrorless or Point-and Shoot). Camera will be provided if needed, additional fee may apply. May be repurchased every 30 days.
Courses teach basic principles of photography and foundational techniques, or how to create stunning portraits in manual mode
Choose from Four Options
- $30.38 for Foundations of Photography Class for One ($100 value)
- $70 for Foundations of Photography Class for Two ($200 value)
- $55 for Moving to Manual DSLR Photography Class for One ($130 value)
- $102 for Moving to Manual DSLR Photography Class for Two ($260 value)
The Rule of Thirds: Squaring Away Visual Imbalance
When you study photographic composition, you’ll likely hear mention of the rule of thirds. Read on to get a head start.
When you first pick up a camera, you might naturally be tempted to take aim dead center at your subject. But pro photographers would advise that you first carve the visual field before you into nine equal parts, dividing it into thirds both vertically and horizontally. The intersections—or power points—of these lines should pinpoint the image’s action: a striking land formation, the corner of a smile, the beak of a bird feeding its babies pancakes. An off-center—but still balanced—focal point draws the eye across the image, introducing a sense of movement and dynamic tension. Major vertical or horizontal lines should follow this guiding grid as well, such that a horizon line will typically mark off the top third or bottom third of the image.
Why do images composed this way have immediate appeal? Mathematicians and artists have wondered for centuries. Some have theorized that it’s because it approximates the golden ratio, which reappears, mysteriously, throughout nature. The seeds in the center of a sunflower, the spirals on top of a cauliflower head, or even the proportions of the human body—they all boil down to a set of numbers known as the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number after 0 and 1 is generated by adding the two previous numbers. Divide each number by the preceding one and you’ll approach an irrational limit of approximately 1.618, the golden ratio.
Continually dividing a rectangle into a set of shrinking squares whose sides maintain this relationship to one another, you’ll begin to see a seashell-like Fibonacci spiral suggested by the corners of these boxes. Superimpose the rational, much more easily constructed rule-of-thirds grid over this graceful shape, and you’ll likely conclude that it’s a good-enough approximation, its lines just a little off from those of the larger Fibonacci squares. What this means is that even in this straightforward rule there’s some wiggle room—and after all, famous scrapbooker Ansel Adams once remarked, "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
Get this Deal