• The Open University

Digital Photography: Discover Your Genre and Develop Your Style

Take the next steps in your photography journey by exploring different genres and finding your photographic style

715 enrolled on this course

A man holding a camera, photographing a landscape

  • Duration

    10 weeks

  • Weekly study

    10 hours
Overview
Requirements
This course is part of the Digital Photography: Discover your Genre and Develop your Style program, which will enable you to explore different photographic genres, styles, and approaches.

Explore different photographic genres, styles, and approaches

Created in collaboration with the UK’s leading photography organisation, The Royal Photographic Society, this microcredential will give you a broad overview of a number of photographic genres and the knowledge, skills, and techniques to create better photographic narratives.

Build your photography skills and learn how to work to a brief 

This course will encourage you to explore different areas of photography to help you identify where you want to develop your creative photography skills, confidence, and knowledge.  Some of the subjects covered in this course include: 

  • ‘Things’ – including product and food photography 
  • ‘People and events’ – exploring portraiture, sports, and photojournalism  
  • ‘Environment’ - looking at wildlife, buildings, architecture, and landscapes

You will learn how to work to a brief and how to prepare and take images to create a body of work within these subjects that tell a visually cohesive story for different audiences. You will discover how your approach to taking or displaying an image can affect how they are categorised and explore the conventions related to particular genres.

Develop a digital photography portfolio project that realises its intent

Building on your basic photography skills, you’ll start to understand what it means to be an “intentional photographer” as well as how to think about and write a statement of intent that explains the purpose and objective of your portfolio.      This course is delivered on the FutureLearn platform and you will also access a third-party image sharing site. This site is used to share your images with fellow learners and develop your photographic eye by learning and practicing how to give feedback on each other’s images. 

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

Who is the course for?

This microcredential is designed for competent photographers who have had some prior learning on the basic technical skills needed to take photographs, either from a formal qualification or from practical experience.
  This microcredential is not suitable for complete beginners who need to develop basic technical skills and understanding of photographic theory.  Beginners should consider completing an introductory course, such as Digital photography: creating and sharing better images.

As part of this microcredential, learners will use a 3rd party site to share images, at no additional cost.

What software or tools do you need?

To study this microcredential, you should be able to operate a camera in semi-automatic or manual mode and will have a solid, theoretical, and practical understanding of the basics such as ISO, shutter speed, exposure and depth of field.

You should have access to a camera where you are able to take pictures in a manual settings mode. You can use a smartphone, providing you have an app that allows you to take manual control of the camera’s settings.

It is expected that you will have an intermediate level of understanding of a digital photography workflow and intermediate photo editing skills.

Who developed the course?

The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

  • Established

    1969

  • Location

    Milton Keynes, UK

  • World ranking

    Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn