Course Summary
Learn the fundamentals of photography, including camera settings, composition, lighting, and editing techniques. This course will help you improve your photography skills and take better photos.Key Learning Points
- Learn how to use your camera settings to take better photos
- Understand composition and how to use it to create visually compelling images
- Explore different lighting techniques to add drama and interest to your photos
Related Topics for further study
Learning Outcomes
- Understand camera settings and how to use them to take better photos
- Improve composition and create more visually compelling images
- Master lighting techniques and use them to add drama and interest to your photos
Prerequisites or good to have knowledge before taking this course
- Access to a camera (DSLR or mirrorless recommended)
- Basic computer skills
Course Difficulty Level
BeginnerCourse Format
- Online self-paced course
- Video lectures
- Quizzes and assignments
Similar Courses
- Digital Photography
- Photography Basics and Beyond: From Smartphone to DSLR
Related Education Paths
Notable People in This Field
- Chase Jarvis
- Annie Leibovitz
Related Books
Description
Taking, sharing, and viewing photographs has become second nature for many of us. Given our near-constant engagement with images this course will help you dig into the meaning of pictures and reconsider photography’s role in our visual culture. This course aims to address the gap between seeing and truly understanding photographs by introducing a diversity of ideas, approaches, and technologies that inform their making.
Knowledge
- Understand artists’ processes and the choices that inform a photograph’s making, including experimentation and responses to technological innovation.
- Learn how context influences the production, circulation, and reception of photographic images.
- Understand the relationship between a photograph’s subject and meaning, and the differences between photographs as objects and photographic images.
- Gain confidence in looking at and talking about photography, and find inspiration from photographs all around you.
Outline
- Introduction to Seeing Through Photographs
- Seeing Through Photographs
- Sarah Meister Introduces the Course
- Marvin Heiferman on “Photography Changes Everything”
- Welcome to Seeing Through Photographs!
- Getting Started: How Does This Course Work?
- Optional Discussion Forum Prompts
- Optional Readings and Resources
- Pre-Course Survey
- One Subject, Many Perspectives
- Vik Muniz on Photographing the Familiar
- Early Photographs of the Moon: Surface, Scale, and Technology
- Eugène Atget. Pendant l'éclipse. 1912
- Liz Deschenes on Tilt/Swing (360º field of vision, version 1), 2009
- New Perspectives: Man on the Moon
- U.S.G.S. and NASA, Surveyor III. Surface of the Moon, Day 319, W-F. 1967
- Vernacular and Fine Art Photographs of the Moon
- Ansel Adams. Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. 1941
- Introduction to This Week
- Artistic Equivalents
- Moons and Moonlight
- Photographs by NASA
- Who Does the Moon Belong To?
- Moon Phases
- Optional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges
- Optional Readings and Resources
- Practice Memory Check
- Documents and the Documentary
- Sarah Meister on Documents and the Documentary
- Zora J Murff on At No Point in Between, 2018–19
- Mike Mandel on Evidence, 1977
- Thomas Demand on Room (Zimmer), 1996
- Dorothea Lange. Migrant Mother. 1936
- Dorothea Lange. On the Road to Los Angeles, California. March 1937
- Sarah Meister on Documentary Photography
- Introduction to This Week
- Facts and Fictions
- Fictions and Facts
- Artist Spotlight: Dorothea Lange
- Artist Spotlight: Gordon Parks
- Arbus, Friedlander, and Winogrand
- Optional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges
- Optional Readings and Resources
- Practice Memory Check
- One and Another
- Sarah Meister on Photography and Multiplicity
- Frances Benjamin Johnston. The Hampton Album. 1899-1900
- Nicholas Nixon on The Brown Sisters, 1975–Present
- Sohrab Hura on Snow, 2015–ongoing
- Irina Rozovsky on Miracle Center, 2019–ongoing
- Iñaki Bonillas on Marginalia, 2019–ongoing
- Introduction to This Week
- Artwork Spotlight: Frances Benjamin Johnston's The Hampton Album, 1899-1900
- Photo Books
- Photo Series
- One from Many
- Optional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges
- Optional Readings and Resources
- Mid-Course Survey
- Practice Memory Check
- Constructing Narratives, Challenging Histories
- Hank Willis Thomas on the Role of Advertising Images
- Carrie Mae Weems on From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, 1995–96
- Walid Raad on My neck is thinner than a hair: Engines, 1996–2001
- Harrell Fletcher on The American War, 2005
- Iñaki Bonillas on Constructing Identities
- Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Stills. 1977–80
- Dionne Lee on True North and AA O KK, 2019
- David Alekhuogie on To Live and Die in LA, 2019
- Introduction to This Week
- Artwork Spotlight: Hank Willis Thomas's UNBRANDED series
- Constructing History
- Challenging History
- Constructing Personal Narratives
- Optional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges
- Optional Readings and Resources
- Practice Memory Check
- Pictures of People
- Katy Grannan on Taking Portraits
- Susan Meiselas on Carnival Strippers, 1973–75
- Akram Zaatari on After They Got the Right to Arms. Fourteen young men posing with guns, early 1970s/2006
- Stephanie Syjuco on Cargo Cults, 2013–16
- Tina Barney on Sunday New York Times, 1982
- Deana Lawson on Roxie and Raquel, 2010
- Maria Antelman on Hall of Mirrors, Self Stranger, and Puzzlers I and II, 2020
- Introduction to This Week
- Artwork Spotlight: Katy Grannan's Portraits
- Exploring Agency
- Self-Possession
- Performing Identity
- Loved Ones
- Optional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges
- Optional Readings and Resources
- Practice Memory Check
- Ocean of Images
- Sarah Meister on the Ocean of Images
- Gertrudes Altschul. Lines and Tones. c. 1952
- Robert Heinecken. Are You Rea. 1964–68
- Martha Rosler on House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home, 1967–72
- Carmen Winant on My Birth, 2018
- Thomas Ruff on jpeg msh01, 2004
- Anouk Kruithof on Subconscious Travelling, 2013
- Lucas Blalock on Strawberries, 2014–15
- David Horvitz on Mood Disorder, 2015
- Özlem Altın on Topography (of time, of body), 2019
- Introduction to This Week
- Before the Digital Wave
- Appropriating Mass Media
- Born Digital
- Optional Creative Challenge
- Optional Readings and Resources
- End of Course Survey
- Practice Memory Check
- Final Assignment (Required for Certificate)
Summary of User Reviews
This photography course on Coursera has received positive reviews from users. Many users praised the course for its comprehensive and practical approach to teaching photography techniques.Key Aspect Users Liked About This Course
comprehensive and practical approach to teaching photography techniquesPros from User Reviews
- In-depth and practical course material
- Great instructor
- Good for beginners and intermediate level photographers
- Engaging assignments and quizzes
- Excellent production quality
Cons from User Reviews
- Limited feedback from instructors on assignments
- Some topics may be too basic for experienced photographers
- Lack of interaction with other students
- Not enough emphasis on post-processing techniques
- Some technical issues with the platform
Sarah Meister
4.8 Raiting
Seeing Through Photographs
- 4.8
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Taking, sharing, and viewing photographs has become second nature for many of us. Short texts and readings from MoMA publications provide enhanced context for the works in the course....
Phantom & Mavic Filmschool 3 - 3D models, Focus, Follow
- 4.4
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Master new editing skills, flying skills and learn new applications like Large format panos & 3d models with your drone Michel Rivet...
Lightroom CC MasterClass
- 4.6
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Master the industry-leading photo editing and cataloging application. Take your DSLR / mobile photos to the next level! Are you fascinated by photography?...
Photography 101: Composition from a different perspective
- 4.1
-
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
A theoretical masterclass that challenges you to a different approach on Photography I'm challenging you to a different mindset on how to perceive the visual world around you....
