Digital Photography in 2 Days with Sam Oster - 2026 Workshop

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY in 2 days - with sam oster

‘Digital Photography in 2 Days’ will teach you the essentials of how to use your digital camera in a fun and hands-on 2-day session. The workshop is geared around getting familiar with the most important of all those knobs, buttons and menu settings to take control of your image-making and allow you to be more technical and creative with your photography.

This is a 2-day workshop and we will jam in as much as possible , including photography excursions around the beauitiful town of Macclesfield. Your digital camera is a beast with many more features than you will actually need, but we will highlight the most important exposure and image quality settings that you need to get comfortable with as you develop as a digital photographer. This is a small group workshop, so once we cover the essentials we can also work with your individual needs and curiosities to get more confident with the particular elements you need to understand for your own work.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

We will provide tea, coffee and biscuits for our regular breaks throughout the day. We have a small fridge for you to store your much if needed. Please bring the following along to each day of the workshop:

* Your digital camera & lens – this could be a digital DSLR or a mirrorless camera with any lens – but your camera MUST have manual settings and preferably the ability to change lenses (even if you only have the one lens)

* Any other lenses you may have

* A tripod if you have one; if not we can supply one for you to use

* A notebook and pen

* Your camera instruction manual if you have it

* Your battery charger and any other accessories (including a camera bag if you have one)

* Lunch – we will have a 45-minute lunch break each day so there will be time to drive or walk to the Macclesfield General Store for lunch if you prefer

* Suitable clothing and footwear (closed-toed shoes) for the weather on the day so that we can go outside for shoots (hat / sunscreen / raincoat / umbrella etc)

– If you have any questions about the suitability of your camera please email Sam

Day One :: Tues 12th MAY '26, 10.00am - 5.00pm

On Day One we will tackle the major concepts of photographic exposure, and how your camera interacts with light to control both the image exposure and the ‘vibe’ of the shot. We will cover the following topics:

* The exposure triangle

* Understanding ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed numbers

* Exposure modes, including Manual exposure and the various priority modes

* Exposure compensation

* Lenses – focal length and what various lenses are used for

* How the light meter works, and managing tricky and deceptive lighting conditions

* Practical exercises as we go to get comfortable with changing the settings

Day Two :: TUES 19TH MAY '26, 10.00am - 5.00pm

Day Two will provide an opportunity to problem-solve any issues you may have encountered in your homework shoots during the week. We will review everything from day one and go out on a field trip around the historic town of Macclesfield to practice capturing a variety of subject-matter like architecture, landscape, portraits and still-life. You will learn to work with a tripod and will shoot in RAW to control image quality. We will expand on the menu settings to get comfortable with where to find particular setting controls in your camera.

* Image size & quality settings and pixel-related stuff

* shooting in Raw

* Manual white balance

* Practical excursions

* Individual Q&A to address your particular interests

* Tips & tricks, and much more

About Sam Oster

Your tutor has over 30 years’ experience as a professional photographer, and has been teaching this workshop since the early days of Lightroom!

Sam has been using Lightroom since version one (OMG!) and has made every single mistake possible as she tried to navigate the program for her professional workflow. She finally mastered the program after reading a brick-sized text book and has since scrambled to constantly upgrade her knowledge with each new Lightroom Update.

Sam runs Watermark Crossing and Cog Creative Space and has over 30 years’ experience as a working freelance photographer. She runs Silvertrace, servicing arts & entertainment clients (film & TV, dance, theatre & music clients) as well as commercial clients (product, event, schools & corporate photography). She also runs Headshot Laboratory, specialising in actors headshots and corporate headshots, both in the studio and on location. Sam has a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours, Photography Major), as well as a Diploma in Photoimaging and a Certificate IV in WorkplaceTraining & Assessment. She has been teaching for over 20 years’, has taught extensively at the Centre For Creative Photography, The University of South Australia, and TAFE SA.

Contact

> Email Sam Oster

Visit Watermark Crossing

74 Venables Street
Maccelsfield, South Australia