Mike MacDonald is an internationally published, professional photographic artist, specializing in the rich nature, wildlife, and landscapes of the Chicago area. His work has been published extensively in Chicago Wilderness Magazine and his photographs and how-to articles have been featured nationally in Petersen's Photographic Magazine and in Outdoor Photographer.

Located in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, all of our beginning photo classes are perfectly suited to learning photography, no matter what your favorite subject matter may be. As a nature photographer, Mike concentrates his efforts on natural lighting situations, and this applies to just about everything: children playing, travel photography, special event photography, sports, closeups of flowers, architecture, cityscapes, landscapes, wildlife, you name it.

Mike's approach to teaching photography is to offer training that goes beyond the mere fundamentals: to help you discover and develop your creative eye as a photographer and to superimpose your personal style onto the image.

However, to start with, we offer a series of beginning photography classes on such topics as how to use and overcome the fear of your digital camera, how to make more creative pictures through good photographic composition, how to make consistently good exposures, and many other basic photography techniques and skills. These hands-on photography workshops allow the student to learn the fundamentals and techniques, and put them into action.

What's more, our beginning photography courses are designed to address the big issues. Instead of taking years of classes and struggling with the same problems over and over again, Mike's hands-on photography classes are geared to concentrate on and resolve the most important and confusing topics. This will then free you up to focus on what's most fun: being creative!

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If you have further questions about Mike MacDonald photography courses and workshops, just email or phone 630-852-8448.

Chicago Photography Classes, Digital Photography Class, Workshops, and Courses that serve the Chicago and the Chicago, Illinois suburbs.

Photography Techniques and Topics Include:
Beginning Photography: Photography Exposure, Photography Composition, Digital Photography, How to Use Your Digital Camera, etc.
Digital Photography: Using the Histogram, Exposure, Metering, Digital Printing, File Formats RAW, TIF, JPG, etc.
Nature Photography Techniques: Creative Use of Natural Light (in the Landscape), Landscape Photography, Hyperfocal Distance, Fundamentals of Exposure, Perfecting Exposure, Exposure Compensation, Light Metering, Spot Metering, How to use Split Grad Filters, Controlling Contrast, Exposing to the Right of the Histogram.
Digital Darkroom Techniques: Digital Printing, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Photoshop: Curves, Layers, Layer Masks, Adjustment Layers, Selections, Selective Color, Shadow/Highlight Filter, Color Management, Color Profiles.
Creative Photography Techniques: Telling the Story, Putting Your Feelings on Film or Senses on Your Sensor, Finding Your Own Personal Style (your Creative Eye), Advanced Composition, Restoring the Third Dimension, Creating Order from Chaos.