Digital photographers are always looking to improve their skills behind the lens. Anyone can point and click, but what does it take to take a picture with real depth, meaning, and intrigue? What does it take to move from taking a vacation photo to capturing a moment in time? The following open courseware collections aim to help students move from just playing around with a digital camera to creating works of art.

1. Introduction To Photography

Introduction to Photography is an essential beginning class for any digital photographer. You begin learning about the basic philosophies of photography. It focuses on digital photography, capturing black and whites images, lighting, exposure, film development, and printing. This all-around basic course in the fundamentals of photography will help to get any digital photographer started and will give any photographer a firm grasp of the basics.

2. Photography And Truth

Photography and truth is an open courseware collection that teaches how photography is used as a method of communication. The meaning can be communicated through the photograph as an artistic tool or through a research tool. Photos are meant to capture life, meaning, and substance. This class in photographic truth is an excellent addition to any digital photography course of study.

3. Language Of The Image

Language of the Image is the class to choose to work on making your photographs tell the story that you want. Transforming a photo from an image into a storytelling device is the aim of this class. Anyone can take the picture but it takes a skilled photographer to complete a story in one still image.

4. Stories Without Words: Photographing The First Year

Stories Without Words: Photographing the First Year is a class that teaches you to explore a new place through photography. Exploring new environments is often a goal of photographers as they learn to develop their skills, and this collection of learning tools will help any photographer to achieve that end.

5. Picturing The Family

Picturing the Family is a class that discusses historical family photos. This niche includes the cultural history not only of the family but of older photographic techniques as well.

6. Reading Visual Images

Reading Visual Images is an open courseware collection that teaches the scientific and historical implications of photographs. They can be used as sources of sociological data. When you think of time periods of historical significance you probably conjure up images of photographs that capture these time periods. This is their significance.

7. Audiovisual Production Learning Club

Audiovisual Production Learning Club is a class collection that educates students about the production and distribution of visual media. Once you begin producing your digital images, you will want to learn methods for distributing them and this is a great place to begin that education

These 7 excellent open courseware collections for digital photographers offer a well-rounded education regarding photography and digital photography in general. Whether you are an experienced digital photographer or if you are just beginning to explore this visual medium, you can improve your craft with all the information included in each of these collections.

Thomas Rheinecker is a freelance author and writes about education topics, such as how to research online university rankings accreditation, and more.

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