Hi Nikki... I'm glad you are taking this class as one of your last classes... you might discover that you are a very creative person~! 

Welcome!

Self Protrait

Hello,

My name is Nikki.  I am a senior and this is actually one of my last classes to take to obtain my Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.  I have worked as a paralegal for 20+ years and finally decided to further my career.

I have always envied creative people and people of the arts.  It amazes me how they are able to bring the images that are in their mind to fruition so that others can see what was in their minds.  I look forward to bringing out my creativity and at the same time capturing some beautiful images and memories.

Hi! I'm Kim!

Hello Everyone!
My name is Kim and I am a senior here at Albertus Magnus College.  I am finishing my degree in General Studies right now after transitioning to distance learning after being a traditional day student for 3 semesters in 2015-2016. I currently live in New Hampshire 6 months out of the year, and Wellington FL the other 6 months of the year. I move for my job which I am a Veterinary Practice Manager and Equine Veterinary Technician. I have two dogs and a horse, and enjoy taking photos of them. I am very interested in this class as I feel with the new skills I learn I will be able to assist my practice with better PR pictures. I'm very excited to see how this MOD goes! I can't wait to see everyones work.

Hi,my name iis Patricia Robinson. I live in New Britain with my husband and three boys. I ‘ am going for my  Bachelors in Human Services. This is my second year of school at Alberta’s College. I work at Quest Diagnostics as a phlebotomist for over seven years. I look forward to learning new things in this class.

Hi class and professor Nevins. My name is Andy Geltman and I'm very excited about this class. I've always enjoyed taking photos and I'm thrilled to learn how to use Photoshop. I'm somewhat familiar with Lightroom but always shied away from Phtotoshop feeling a bit intimidated by all of the complicated features. Anyways I'm back at school pursueing my Psyche degree with a focus in Child Development and jumped at the chance to take this as an elective. I completed a Business Management degree last year as well. Going to school at Albertus Magnus works well for my day job at Sikorsky Aircraft where I'm a Senior Electrican on military helicopters. I've been there 11 years and it has really flown by. I'm not sure if I'll ever leave there after I complete my Psyche degree but if an opportunity arises I would certainly consider it. I'm happily married to my beatiful wife Michelle and we have an amazing son named Ayden. He's 12 and plays hockey and lacrosse. I live in Milford CT right near Gulf Beach which will probably serve as the backdrop for some future photos that I will share. I look forward to learning more about photography and sharing some experiences I've had with my Canon 6D.

- Andy 📷

Hello, my name is Maxine Sanchez and I am 21 years old. I am a current senior at Albertus as well as a two-sport athlete: Basketball and Softball. I was born and raised in Queens, New York...go Yankees (not Mets)! I come from a home of hardworking Dominican parents and I am a sibling of an older brother who graduated from Yale University and is now completing his residency (family medicine) at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. I've recently became intrigued in photography because I love doing "photoshoots" in different places with different scenery. With the new IPhone camera quality, I feel eager to take beautiful pictures of everything, especially nature. I want to learn how to use several photography programs to enhance my skills in this class. I wish to utilize these skills in the future and really experience the beauty of the world through photography.

Introduction

My name is Elena Rodriguez. I am 37 years old latina women.
I have lived in the Hartford, CT area my whole life.
I am the mother of 2 children. Boy and girl.
My son is 10 and my daughter is 14. I am the oldest of 3 children.
My parents have been married for 39 years and were born in Puerto Rico.  I am a dog lover.
I love vintage and tried to make my self-portrait picture look that way.
When asked to take someone's picture I never volunteer.
I am terrible at taking pictures and because of that, I shy away from taking pictures of people I love,
events or places I have been that would leave me lasting memories.
I am hoping that this class will give me more confidence to take pictures and
will teach me how to edit to be able to make the pictures I take look beautiful.

Welcome to Digital Photography I

Welcome to the Digital Photography online class.  Digital Photography is a natural to offer as an online class because of the ease in creating and posting your work electronically.  I find eLearning to be cumbersome in general and have decided to publish the course syllabus on my own website, http://jnevins.com, and run the entire experience using the web, a blog, and a public hosting site. Blogging is easy and intuitive.  If this is your first time posting to a blog, please click the link in the upper right side of this page titled, "How to post to the blog".

Class runs from Aug. 27thth until October 20th. All work needs to be completed by then.

There are three elements we need to juggle in order for this to be a successful experience for everyone...

1.  The class syllabus... here are all the assignments and links to readings that you will need to work through the problems for each week of the class. The syllabus is found with this address:  jnevins.com/digitalphotographysyllabusonline.htm or click here.While you are at it, browse around the rest of my site to get to know me better.  I have posted a portfolio of my photography, links for finding galleries and museums online, my teaching philosophy and more. The assignment for each week is posted on it.  Read it carefully and work to incorporate the main idea into your work that week. Visit the syllabus for each new assignment and click on the links which serve as your readings for the class.

2.  The Class Blog.  This is where we will build a sense of community.  It is important to post examples of your work each week as well as comments about your images to accompany the images posted as well as comment on the work of others in the class... you can ask questions to me personally anytime via email, but here is a public place to offer suggestions, ask questions and just generally where we can create a class environment.  Blogger is very easy to post to...

Your grade is based on your posts to the blog and more importantly your portfolio of photographs, illustrating your understanding and completion of the assignment for each week.  The expectation is that you will post 6 - 10 of your best edited pieces each week... To get strong enough work that you can be proud of, shoot at least 50 images for each assignment and only choose the strongest ones to post.

3.  Photoshop... The latest version is available as a free download at http://adobe.com/downloads and after the trial, offered on a subscription basis for $9.99/month to students.  You need either a Windows or Mac... Chromebooks don't run Photoshop.  Alternately, you can get an older version of Photoshop, CS2... This is available free with a lifetime serial number as Adobe no longer wants to officially "support" it.  You can do everything for class with this version. First create a free login at Adobe then click:  http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/  Be sure to copy the serial number and observe if you are downloading the Windows version or the Mac version. Taking the picture is just the first step!  You need to edit each picture you care about for light, focal point, contrast, color balance, etc.  I have videos linked in the upper right hand side of the blog to show you how.

Me photographing on the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland, May 2018

Click on image to expand to full size.

Students who are shooting with a phone camera can edit with Photoshop (best) or the very professional Google offering, "Snapseed" offered in the App store for your phone.  Snapseed is free.

This first week, we must iron out all of the technical issues to be sure that everyone is up to speed.  I have asked for you to post a creative self portrait and to tell us something about yourself.  This is an art course and its primary focus will be on your portfolio as the basis for your assessment.  Study the syllabus to get a sense of what I will be looking for.  Links I have posted to visual images and readings are an important component of the class... I'll be looking at how you are in dialog with the images and ideas linked in the syllabus as a component of your grade.  Also important is that I get a sense of your  spending time at the assignments and are growing in the medium of photography as the course unfolds.

Only new work counts towards your grade.. Images of your trip to Puerto Rico last summer don't count!

Any comments, suggestions, or observations as to how I can smooth the way for you as we get going will be welcome.  My goal is your success and your feeling that this was well worth your time.

Looking forward to launching this new class!

Best wishes,