Art Club hosted a Digital Photography and Editing Workshop on Monday Feb. 22 in Milne Library. Former Lamron assistant photo editor and current campus photographer Keith Walters ‘11 instructed the workshop using his experience and skill in Photoshop to teach students about photo editing. The workshop featured an intimate group of students learning how to edit a photo of a snowy landscape through Walters’ instructions and tutorial. Initially, he showed the students how to adjust the different colors, midtones and shadows of the photo. He also explained the use of layers within the picture, as well as specific tools that are helpful in perfecting a photo.
There was a lot of trial and error amongst the students in attempting to obtain a flawless image, but Walters offered individual help to students throughout the process. This helped participants better understand the program and create an overall better photo.
Walters explained to the students that he usually works on Photoshop with raw photos that he takes himself. According to Walters, his goal was to teach the students his own technique of “painting the pictures,” which enhances the image by adjusting its color and brightness.
He also aimed to show the students the basic tools and mechanics of the program so that in the future, participants will be able to navigate the initially confusing and overwhelming software. His overall goal was to give students more control and flexibility with Photoshop.
Apart from working at The Lamron during his time as a student at Geneseo, Walters also worked for the Office of College Communications and Publications. Walters still works in the same department and has held his position of campus photographer for the past four years.
Walters explained that he is self-taught in Photoshop and has used it for the past six years. In addition to holding workshops similar to this one, Walters has been progressively working in more and more workshops for the Photography and Art Clubs.
In the past, the Art Club hosted a basic photography class where students simply learned “how to take a good photo,” according to Art Club vice president senior Amy Liang. Other workshops included figure-drawing taught by professor of art history Tom MacPherson. Last semester, Art Club offered a water coloring class and they will soon hold a ceramic workshop.
Liang explained that the club strives to cover a wide range of mediums. Each workshop ranges from different areas of art—such as hands-on activities like drawing and charcoal—to more technical activities like graphic design and photo editing. Liang added that each workshop is designed for all skill levels, so a student can either learn more or practice and expand on what they already know.
Liang expressed her delight that Art Club has gotten significantly more materials and art supplies, allowing members to work and practice more with these mediums in an informal setting.
Thanks to Art Club, workshops like this can help students to refine their skills in specific areas of art to use for fun or even in a professional manner.