https://www.facebook.com/groups/digitalphotographycourses

Welcome to the DPC Newsletter for July 2020

This Month -
Can you believe we are half way through this craziest year, already?

• Covid 19 Update
• Which Live Course Would You Like First?
• Picasa Masterclass
• Lightroom Updates Course
• The July Project is “Glass”

Leicester in Lockdown

We had hoped to restart live courses in early July but this news will certainly put us back by a couple of weeks at least. I know that our premises are outside the restricted area but a lot of my customer base live within the boundary and I would certainly not encourage anyone to risk spreading the virus wider afield.

We haven’t started running live courses yet but I feel doubly sad for businesses that had already re-opened and now have to close again. My worry is that if I take future bookings, then get contacted by the track and trace system, and I’m told that I need to self isolate. This would mean postponing courses even if I’m not sick and none of my students are sick? This is something that concerns me a lot as I hate letting people down.

Which Courses Would You Like First?

I would like to start running outdoor type courses again, as soon as it is safe to do so, as it pains me to watch the summer drift by without being able to get outside and meet you all again.  Initially, this is likely to be an Intermediate Course and a Macro Course. So I can plan which courses to run first I would like people to let me know which courses they would like and what precautions they feel comfortable with? See below.

The Covid Course Proposal

This is the proposal for when we can start running courses again with added precautions. We’ll run with a maximum of three people, rather than six, but the price will remain the same at £135.

We’ll aim to run them outdoors as much as possible and maintain 2m social distancing. When, and if, we do need to come indoors we will use the same 2m social distancing plus face coverings will be required. I will provide a face mask for anyone that does not have one but I understand you may prefer to bring your own and that’s fine.

To reduce surface contact as much as possible we will be asking students to bring a packed lunch and I will provide pre-packaged bottle water for everyone. Boards and pencils will be sterilised before arrival and pencils will be attached to the boards to prevent swapping and cross-contamination.

There will be hand sanitizers readily available and paper towels will be provided for the loos. Some interior doors will be left open to prevent cross-contamination on door handles.

We need to work together for the health and safety of everyone so if anyone should come down with Covid symptoms, be tested positive, or be asked to self isolate then please let us know ASAP.

This is a two way street and it needs to be understood that if I, or Jacqui, have any of the above symptoms, or need to isolate, I may need to cancel at short notice.

This is actually my greatest concern as I would normally plough on regardless if I felt unwell but in this case that is not a safe or sensible thing to do.  For this reason I do not recommend anyone paying out for a non-refundable hotel stay.

The most up to date information is on the Facebook Group but you can drop me an email or Facebook message, to let me know which courses you would like and how you feel about the safety precautions we have laid out above.

Stay safe and well, keep positive and I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.

Virtual Picasa 3 Hour Masterclass on Zoom - £30 Date TBC

Many of my students are still using Picasa for their photo editing even though it’s been discontinued for some time. I can’t say I blame them as it’s an excellent program but it can get a bit cranky with later editions of Windows 10 and the Mac. Sadly, I can’t get it working on the latest Macs but it is possible to resolve a lot of the issues with Windows 10.

I suspect most people are probably only using the basic features are not using it to its full potential. If you would like to continue using Picasa, or start using it for the first time, this masterclass will recap on the basics, delve into the many other features and cover troubleshooting to keep it working.  The cost  

As we still have a lot of Picasa users who would be interested in a 3 hour Picasa Masterclass where I’ll show you how to get it working properly or reinstall it, if you are having problems, plus I’ll show you some of the tricks of the trade I’ve learnt over my years of using Picasa.
I’ll explain what every menu item does and demonstrate areas where I still use Picasa in preference to Lightroom and Photoshop. For instance I use Picasa for all my handout screenshots, collages, prepare images for the calendar and to add text to my 52 Week images.

This 2-3 hour course will cost only £30 per person and be at a time to suit the majority of attendees.
Drop me an email or message if you would be interested so I can arrange a date.

Virtual Lightroom Update Masterclass on Zoom - £60 – Date TBC

This half day course is intended for people who have been using Lightroom for a while but we’ll be looking at the many new features that have been added since the start of the CC version. I will also explain how to move images to an external hard drive and how to manage your catalog and save space.

• Setting the best preferences
• New Import options
• Improved Healing Brush
• HDR and Panorama Merge options
• Luminosity and Colour Range Masking Tools
• New Multiple Batch Export
• New Crop Overlay options
• New Adjustment Brush features
• The Texture, Clarity and Dehaze Sliders
• New Hue and Saturation Slider
• ISO adaptive presets
• Filter Folders and Collections
• Fill Panorama Edges
• Customize Panel options

The July project is “Glass”

This could be anything made from the see through stuff including windows, ornaments, glasses or even mirrors.  

Don't forget to post your images on the DPC Facebook Group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/digitalphotographycourses/

Cheers
Glen, Jacqui and Misty.