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A practical course on creating professional documentary photographs with a smartphone. Participants learn the fundamentals of camera technique, composition, and subject selection and apply them directly to typical situations from their working environment.
You will learn how to photograph buildings, rooms, locations, objects, details, and people so that the images meet the technical and informational requirements of professional documentation. You will explore the capabilities and limitations of smartphone cameras, clear image composition, and the basic editing and secure archiving of photographs.
By the end of the course, you will be able to plan documentary photographs, capture technically reliable images, make appropriate adjustments, and organise the resulting files systematically.
• Recognise and apply quality criteria for documentary photography
• Control focus, exposure, perspective, and framing
• Use smartphone cameras, lens options, and suitable applications effectively
• Document buildings, rooms, locations, objects, details, and people clearly
• Select subjects deliberately and create well-structured images
• Identify and avoid common photography mistakes
• Make basic image adjustments directly on a smartphone
• Select, name, organise, and archive photographs systematically
• No previous photography experience is required
• A smartphone with a functioning camera
• Sufficient free storage space for practical exercises
• Basic confidence in using your own smartphone
*We customize the course outline and content to your specific needs and relevant use cases.
Course Outline*:
*We customise the course structure, exercises, and case studies to your specific requirements and typical documentation scenarios.
Module 1: Fundamentals of Documentary Photography
• Purposes and applications of documentary photographs
• Differences between documentary and creative photography
• Technical and informational quality criteria
• Completeness, traceability, and evidential value of photographic material
• Common mistakes and their impact on documentation quality
Module 2: Four Ways to Improve Smartphone Photographs
• Preparing the camera and lens before taking a photograph
• Setting focus and exposure deliberately
• Choosing an appropriate perspective, distance, and camera position
• Simplifying the frame and avoiding distracting elements
• Taking additional photographs to secure important visual information
Module 3: Smartphone Optics and Camera Technique
• Capabilities and limitations of modern smartphone cameras
• Selecting and using different smartphone lenses
• Digital zoom, optical zoom, and suitable alternatives
• Focus, exposure, HDR, and other camera settings
• Working with difficult lighting, shadows, and backlighting
• Stabilising the camera and preventing blurred images
• Using suitable camera and image-editing applications
Module 4: Subject Selection and Image Composition
• Capturing the essential information of a subject clearly
• Combining overview, orientation, and detail photographs
• Documenting buildings, rooms, and locations systematically
• Photographing objects and small details clearly and consistently
• Showing scale and spatial relationships
• Considering perspective, lines, backgrounds, and image edges
• Photographing people objectively, respectfully, and appropriately
Module 5: Practical Exercises Using Typical Subjects
• Preparing a photographic documentation task
• Developing a logical sequence of photographs
• Exercises involving rooms, objects, details, and spatial situations
• Taking photographs under different lighting and space conditions
• Comparing and evaluating results as a group
• Identifying and correcting common photography mistakes
• Applying the techniques to participants’ own working environments
Module 6: Smartphone Image Editing and Archiving
• Selecting suitable photographs
• Cropping, straightening, and correcting perspective
• Adjusting brightness, contrast, and colour
• Understanding the limits of editing documentary material
• Preserving the meaning and authenticity of an image
• File formats, resolution, and image quality
• Meaningful file names and traceable folder structures
• Transferring, backing up, and archiving image files
Hands-on learning with expert instructors at your location for organizations.
Master new skills guided by experienced instructors from anywhere.
