Target Audience
Returning students who completed Digital Photography I and were ready to move from technical fundamentals into specialization, experimentation, and the early stages of building a professional practice. Smaller class sizes (typically 10–15 students) allowed for deeper individual mentorship.
Course Context
A 3-credit upper-level course in Arts and Communications at SUNY Orange. Taught in-person and as a fully asynchronous virtual course during COVID. Built as a true sequel to DP1 — assuming technical fluency and pushing into advanced techniques, professional workflow, and self-directed creative direction.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Utilize the advanced functions of a digital camera, including long exposure, HDR, and product/still life setups.
- Perform image manipulation using channels, masks, and layers for compositing and restoration.
- Demonstrate an advanced understanding of color theory, color profiles, and printing workflows.
- Critique the techniques and final work of classmates and professional digital artists with technical specificity.
- Interact with working professionals in the digital imaging field.
Learning Design Approach
The DP2 curriculum traded DP1’s broad survey for depth in specialized techniques: long exposure, GIF and moving image, HDR photography, product photography, still life, cinemagraphs, and photo restoration. Each module combined demonstration files, technical reference docs (HDR Instructions, Color Profiles, Image Optimization), and an open creative prompt.
The course’s distinguishing feature was the Theme Photographs assignment — an extended sequence where students chose a personal theme and shot to it across multiple weeks, simulating the iterative work of a professional photographer pursuing a long-form project.
Group work was reintroduced through a collaborative tutorial assignment, where teams researched and presented a technique to the class — flipping students from learners to teachers.
Guest speaker Q&A sessions with working photographers were built into the syllabus to give students direct exposure to professional practice. The two-part final project asked students to define their own brief and execute it.
Key Outcomes & Impact
- Successfully scaled the course from in-person to fully asynchronous virtual delivery during COVID without sacrificing the critique and mentorship that defined the experience — translated peer review into structured Blackboard discussion threads with required artist statements and peer responses.
- Several DP2 students went on to internships, paid client work, and BFA programs in their final year of the SUNY Orange program.
- Course consistently produced student work that anchored end-of-year department art shows.
Project Deliverables
- 10 Specialized Projects
- Theme Photograph Series
- Group Tutorial Presentation
- Guest Speaker Q&A Reflections
- Two-part Final Project
- Print-ready Portfolio
Related Skills
- Advanced Photoshop
- Color Management
- Specialization Pedagogy
- Asynchronous Course Design
- Professional Practice Integration