Still Life Photography

On this course, you’ll explore storytelling through different compositions and learn how to work with props and lighting to entice the viewer.

You’ll approach photography from a fine art perspective, giving your work a creative outlet that will appeal to a range of audiences.

On this course, you will:

·         improve your understanding of digital photography and the manual settings of your camera.

·         learn about studio lighting.

·         discuss the still life work of photographers and artists through history and into contemporary culture, and look at how they may inform the direction your work takes.

·         experiment with abstract shapes, colours and textures through compositions and framing.

·         use editing tools such as Photoshop to enhance and manipulate your images.

·         develop a personal style to your photography.

·         take part in regular individual and group critiques for your own development.

·         create inspiring still life images that have both an aesthetic and technical quality.

What will you gain?

By the end of the course, you’ll have a portfolio of unique fine art images, the knowledge and experience of how to plan a shoot in a studio setting and ideas about how to continue your still life photography in the future.

Level: Beginner

Entry requirement: You should have some knowledge of using your digital camera in manual mode.

Where you'll learn: You will be based in the School of Art and Design on the City Campus.

You’ll find full-size photography studios, equipped with backgrounds and Profoto lighting, and comprehensive Mac editing suites with software for photography editing including Adobe Creative Cloud.

You’ll also have access to our library to use outside of your short course; whilst you can’t reserve or take away books, you are welcome to use them as a resource for research and referencing.

Tutor profile: Paul Witney has been a professional photographer for over 30 years and teaches on the degree programmes at NTU.

He’s British Institute of Professional Photography qualified to Associate Level, and has worked in such diverse places as Kabul, Afghanistan and Glaciers in Iceland.

He’s had an impressive list of commercial clients including Royal Ordnance, Texaco, Local Councils, British Aerospace, Heckler and Koch, Jane’s Defence review (small arms), Mercedes-Benz UK, Thomas Cook and Nottingham Forest FC.

For eleven years he was also the Head of Photography and Video for a small government organisation.