Extreme Ireland Photography Weekend

Do you want to improve your photography skills? Whether you're an absolute beginner with no experience, or you've been photographing for years, we at Extreme Ireland are going to bring to you years of experience from some of the finest photographers in Ireland. From understanding how to use your camera effectively to seeing and capturing beautiful light, these weekend and longer tours will leave you exhilarated and wanting more and more time out and about.

< Our weekend workshops in Wicklow are geared towards two levels: Beginners and Mixed Ability

Our philosophy about these weekends is very simple:

This is an opportunity for you to get away from the city or where you live, feel and breath the fresh air and open your mind.

We believe that you can optimise your potential with exposure to the outdoors.

The hills are so good for your body, mind and soul.

We know for a fact that when you go for a walk on the hills, you feel better for days after.

You are in a better mood, your body feels good.

We need to learn new things all the time or our mind will become dormant.

We as humans love learning new things and our brains get stimulated leading us to a natural more happier outlook.

With these weekends away, we believe that we have the perfect mix of learning and the outdoors, that you will leave radiating and full of energy

We think the best way of learning is having a controlled structure to your weekend with us. There will be a beginning, a middle and end to the process of the weekend and we will take you through this at your own pace, getting lots of opportunities to apply what you learn on the theory side into practice in the outdoors. You will have some indoor theory on the first and second day as well as exhibiting your work to the class in the evening. We will be using a projector and laptop to highlight peoples work and techniques to use.

"Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man."

'Learning to See' - Beginners Weekend

The basis of these weekends away is to have fun, connect with nature and of course learn the basics of photography.

Weekend programme:

We will meet everyone at 8:00 a.m. in Laragh on Saturday, for a briefing and a run down of what will happen over the next 2 days. The first exercise will involve no camera as we feel the most important part of being a nature photographer is to connect directly with nature without a camera so that you are really seeing! Try to just enjoy your surroundings and to let the beauty flow through you. Now, you will have a couple of 'L' shape 'framers' to help you compose directly what you see. So if you see something you'd like to capture, hold up the 'framers' and see if you like it. Make a mental note or jot it down in your notebook.

We will discuss this exercise over some breakfast and then we will go through the basics of photography and how they all inter-relate.

After this we will be heading outside again where you will practice what you learnt this morning. We will be going for a short walk around the Laragh region where there is unlimited opportunities for landscape and abstract photography.

That evening we will come back to our workshop where your guide will run through with you all what you did today and take some examples and put them on the laptop.

On Sunday morning you will be rising early, to see if we can take a dawn shoot before breakfast.

Following on from the second day's morning shoot, we will once again have an indoor session to review any outstanding issues you would like clarification on, as well as further practice in basic post-processing techniques.

Synopsis of subjects that will be covered

Outdoors:

Good Exposure

ISO, Shutter Speed

Understanding lens aperture and depth of field Basics of good composition

Photographing panoramas

Shooting technique and how to eliminate camera shake and vibration

How to use RAW mode to maximise your image's potential

Indoors:

Optimising your image in Photoshop and Lightroom
Understanding RAW capture and how to convert your images Other software packages that are available to use, free and paid

The aim of the improvers workshop is to expand on the fundamentals that you learnt in the beginners workshop or you have already. We will go more into detail on the more esoteric and technically challenging aspects of photography. This is run on the same timeline as the beginners and you can all meet up in the evening time to talk about what you have covered.

Neutral Density Filters
Technical optimization of exposure
Abstract Composition
Advanced use of depth-of-field
HDR shooting and processing
Advanced use of filters
Using perspective creatively
Composing images more effectively
Kelvin Scale or White Balance

This course is aimed at people who have already completed the beginners course, has some experience under their belt and now want to take it to the next level. Any questions you have will be answered by your instructors.

Accommodation and Food for Weekend:
Accommodation will be single room or double/twin if asked in Failte Ireland guesthouse or Hotel in the Laragh region.
Transport can be provided from Dublin if required, otherwise we will be meeting in Laragh village at 8 a.m. on first day
This if a full board package. You will receive one breakfast, two lunches and a 3 course dinner.

Equipment Needed for Weekend:
Your camera
Spare batteries
Raingear and Walking Boots
Hat and Gloves
Willingness to 'let it go' and leave the city behind

Cost and What you get:
The total cost is €350.00 for the whole weekend
Includes all food, accommodation, transport
CD with all your photos on it at end of weekend
Framed photo of one of your pictures of the weekend to be delivered to you within 10 days of completion of course
Trial version of Photoshop
A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety