Unlock the potential of your camera and produce high-impact digital images
10 weeks, excluding
orientation
7 hours per week,
entirely online
Weekly modules,
flexible learning
1
The technical skills needed to successfully operate a digital SLR camera.*
2
Insight into current digital photography trends and best practices, delivered by a leading professional photographer.
3
Knowledge of basic digital photo-editing techniques.
4
Proof of your digital photography expertise, and a valuable addition to your CV, in the form of a digital certificate from Africa’s leading university.1
*Students require their own digital SLR camera to complete this course.
1QS Top Universities (2023).
Over the duration of this online short course, you’ll work through the following modules:
MODULE 1 Getting to Know Your Camera
Get to know your digital SLR camera.
MODULE 2 Aperture
Learn how to use aperture priority to create depth of field.
MODULE 3 Shutter Speed
Learn about how shutter speed affects motion blur and motion freezing, and about picking up camera shake in your images.
MODULE 4 ISO
Discover the ins and outs of using ISO to manipulate light.
MODULE 5 How Your Camera Understands Light
Discover how your camera understands light, and its ability to record it.
MODULE 6 How to Make Use of Your Flash
Learn how to remedy bad lighting by making use of your flash.
MODULE 7 Composition
Discover the elements you should take into consideration when composing an image.
MODULE 8 Portraits
Discover how to apply all the skills you have learnt so far to portraits.
MODULE 9 Landscape
Learn how to take stunning landscape photographs.
MODULE 10 Basic Photo Editing Techniques
Learn basic digital editing techniques that will help you improve the overall quality of your images.
Please note that module titles and their contents are subject to change during course development.
Dr Ian-Malcolm Rijsdijk
Senior Lecturer, The Centre for Film and Media Studies, UCT
Alongside his role as senior lecturer, Rijsdijk is also an associate in the Environmental Humanities South programme at UCT. He teaches widely in the areas of film history and theory, and screenwriting, specialising in South African cinema and film and the environment. His research on the filmmaker Terrence Malick (the subject of his PhD) has been widely published, as has his work on South African film. He is a passionate birder and a registered contributor to the Southern African Bird Atlas Project. In 2013, he received a Distinguished Teacher Award from UCT, and in 2014, was recognised with a national award for teaching excellence from the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa.
This UCT online short course is delivered in collaboration with online education provider GetSmarter. Join a growing community of global professionals, and benefit from the opportunity to:
Gain verifiable and relevant competencies and earn invaluable recognition from an international selection of universities and institutions, entirely online and in your own time.
Enjoy a personalised, people-mediated online learning experience created to make you feel supported at every step.
Experience a flexible but structured approach to online education as you plan your learning around your life to meet weekly milestones.