Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - FE670: Expose the Dog

Course Details

What Settings Should I Use?

Of all the questions I get asked as a photographer, this one is the most common. Knowing how to pick your settings to use on your DSLR or mirrorless camera can make or break your photos. This class will give you strategies to help you select the appropriate settings for the exposure (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO), as well as some of the other settings buried deep in your camera's menus.

This class is not a series of "recipes" of settings for taking photos. Instead, you will learn how to "read" the light, as well as the situation, to make a good guess at what the settings should be. You will learn how to use Histograms to evaluate your choices and decide if you need to refine your settings for a better image. You will understand the characteristics of light and use them to create a photo that communicates the story you are trying to tell.

This class will consist of one Skills Lab and one Creative Lab each week. The skills labs will help you understand the skills presented in the lectures. Creative labs are designed to let you apply the skills in your own way with your own choice of subject.

The Skills Labs are all designed to be completed indoors with artificial light. Creative Labs can be completed outside or in.

There are no FDSA class prerequisites for this course, but students who enroll at Gold are expected to have a basic understanding of the elements of exposure and to have at least some initial experience using manual exposure mode on the camera. Students who have taken Shoot the Dog, Chase the Dog, or any of my other photography classes are qualified to take this class.

If have not taken any other classes with me but want to take this one, email me at amy@greatdanephotos.com and we can discuss it further!

Teaching Approach

Lectures are released 1-2 times a week, along with a corresponding assignment that follows the lecture material. Gold students can submit images for each assignment as directed, as well as additional submissions with revisions to your images based on instructor feedback.
Some assignments include step-by-step instructions to follow to demonstrate that the student understands a skill. Some are more open-ended, leaving more of the choices for the student to make in how they complete the assignment.
Lectures are primarily written, with supplementary videos from a variety of sources on YouTube. Some videos may have subtitles, but it varies depending on the source.
This class will have a TA in the Facebook study group if it sells out at Gold.

Instructor: Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson (she/her) is the official show photographer for many of the premier agility events in the United States, including the AKC National Agility Championships, AKC Agility Invitational, USDAA Cynosport World Games, UKI US Open, and NADAC Championships, as well as numerous local trials, regional events, and breed national specialties. She has photographed a wide variety of dog sports, including agility, obedience, rally, and conformation. (Click here for full bio and to view Amy's upcoming courses.)

Syllabus

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As with all my classes, the syllabus is somewhat fluid. This is a broad overview of the topics we will cover and approximately when they will fall within the course.

Week 1:
Learning to see light
Review of Manual Exposure and the Limiting Factor Method
Using Histograms and "Blinkies"

Week 2:
Definitions of the characteristics of light
Front Light
Expose for the Highlight

Week 3:
Back Light
Expose for the Shadow

Week 4:
Side Light
Creating depth with side light
Deciding whether to expose for the highlight or shadow

Week 5:
Strategies for exposing challenging subjects
Catchlights

Week 6:
Shooting in RAW vs. JPG
Introduction to ETTR (Expose to the Right)
Final Project

Prerequisites & Supplies

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Prerequisites

Students who have taken Shoot the Dog, Chase the Dog, or any of my other photography classes are qualified to take this class. Students who enroll at Gold are expected to have a basic understanding of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO and to have at least some initial experience using manual exposure mode on the camera.

If have not taken any other classes with me but want to take this one, email me at amy@greatdanephotos.com and we can discuss it further!

Supplies

Camera and lens

DSLR or mirrorless camera body and at least one lens. If you were in Shoot the Dog, the same equipment you used for that class will work for this one.

Other equipment

For the Skills Labs, you will want a standalone light such as a shop light or an unshaded table light. It should be something free-standing, not a flashlight that requires you to hold it. But it should also be portable and have the ability to move around a (small) subject. If you are buying something, look for one that uses LED bulbs to minimize the issue of heat.

This is not a fancy photography light. We are not doing studio lighting in this class. You simply need to be able to control the direction of the light for the Skills Labs. Something like THIS is perfect.

You will need the following items to use as your subjects for the Skills Labs:

Eggs (standard white Chicken eggs, not brown)
If you don't want to keep eggs around for a few weeks, you could get a ceramic one, like THIS.
Two small stuffed animals, one white, one black. They should have glass or shiny plastic eyes so that they can reflect light. Eyes made from fabric or thread won't work as well.
Suggestions for animals:
- Black - https://amzn.to/3v3PTzs
- White - https://amzn.to/3odOJOh

Sample Lecture

As a photographer, the most frequently asked question I get is:

What settings are you using?

I’ll be at the ring at an agility trial and someone will see my camera (or, to be more accurate, they’ll see my ginormous lens) and inevitably they will ask what settings I’m using. I sometimes rattle them off and sometimes I waffle a bit and give them a vague answer. It just depends on how generous I’m feeling that day. <grin>

The problem with this question is that the answer is really meaningless. Yes, you can set your camera to the same exact settings I use and get a photo that is exposed the same way mine is. But unless you are bringing a lot of other skills to the table, you still aren’t going to get a good photo of a screaming fast dog on the agility course.

My other issue is that a list of my settings tells you nothing about *why* I selected them. The looks I get when I say that I’m using an ISO of 40,000 ranges from confusion to amusement (as if I’m pulling their leg), to outright disbelief. If you understand how and why I chose my settings, then ISO 40,000 is completely reasonable. But no one wants a lecture when all they’re expecting is a “recipe” for how they should set their camera.

In this class, there will be no recipes. I will share my settings of course, but more importantly, I will share my strategy for picking those settings. My hope is that you will leave this class with a solid understanding of the process for picking your settings for *any* situation you want to photograph. (And you’ll learn when you should just put away the camera and be present in the moment.)

Reality Check

If you’ve taken any classes with me, you know that I try to interject a strong dose of reality to balance out the fantasyland version of what it’s like to be a photographer.

You will be learning how to think through a process for selecting your manual exposure settings. This does not mean you will always get it right on the first try and it does not mean that you won’t royally screw some things up, even after multiple tries. I have been doing this for 17 years and I *still* mess up my exposure. STUFF HAPPENS. And yes, I will show you my screw-ups in this class to make you feel better. ;-)

Let go of any misconceptions about how quickly you should be able to set your exposure. This is a thoughtful process and one that shouldn’t be rushed. Most of your assignments will involve more thinking than shooting. However, if you practice diligently, you will notice that your comfort and fluency with the skill of setting exposure will increase, even in six weeks.

The Secret to Picking Your Settings

What is this secret? It's a strategy called the Limiting Factor Method (LFM). This strategy was introduced in Shoot the Dog, so we’ll start with some review.

Galen Rowell, an accomplished landscape photographer, describes it this way:

“To shoot many different subjects in natural light, each with different technical requirements, I devised something I call the ‘limiting-factor’ method. Professional sports photographers gravitate naturally toward this way of shooting, but most scenic photographers focus on static subjects so often that they are rarely forced to organize their approach to technical problems — that is, how and in what order they adjust the camera’s settings.

“The limiting-factor method instantly streamlines and reorders my mental checklist for each photo situation. I simply think of every photo as having one problem to be solved, a limiting factor, and I begin with that. If there’s more than one, I pick the most crucial. If I can’t think of one, I know I’m in one of those rare right-place/right-time situations where I can’t miss.”

Until I read this, I didn’t even realize that this was a “thing.” However, this is EXACTLY how I approach photography. I decide on the most important problem I have to solve in the image I’m trying to create and base my settings on it. This will nail down one of the three elements of exposure. Then I decide which of the two remaining elements is more important and dial it in. By setting the two most important elements, that leaves you no choice for the third element.

In order to effectively use the LFM, it is really helpful to know what things can be fixed or altered in post-processing and which things can’t. I know we don’t do any post-processing in this class, but I’ll give you enough information here so that you’ll know how to make that determination.

The single most important thing to remember is that you cannot fix a blurry photo after it is taken. This is worth repeating, so repeat after me.

You cannot fix a blurry photo.

You must get the focus right or it’s an image destined for the trash. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Blurry image = throw it away.

What setting do we use to keep a photo from being blurry? Or to add blur intentionally? Shutter speed. In general, if you have a subject that is moving, the setting that you will prioritize is going to be shutter speed.

Another thing that you cannot change in after the fact is Depth of Field. Yes, there are tools in Photoshop and Lightroom to add background blur, but there is no substitute for the blur created in the camera with a shallow DOF.

What setting do we use to control the DOF? Aperture. In general, if you have a subject that is stationary, the first setting you select will be aperture.

There is one characteristic of your images that can be altered afterwards and that would be noise. High levels of noise can be fixed. The noise-reduction tools in both Lightroom and Photoshop are very good. There is no reason to make ISO your priority setting. EVER. ISO is used to balance the other two settings — that’s it! In my classes, you will never select your ISO first.

The way we solve our “problem” is through a series of questions about the specific situation we are trying to photograph.

What is the most important problem to be solved? Be sure to define this in terms of things that are controlled with camera settings, not problems in a broader sense.
What setting (aperture or shutter speed) do we use to solve that problem?
What is the value of that setting I will use to solve the problem?
What is the value of the other non-ISO element (shutter speed or aperture)?
What ISO will I have to use to get these other two settings?

Testimonials & Reviews

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A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...

Amy, I love your classes and your teaching style. I have learned a great deal and, while I'll always be learning and striving to get better, my photography has improved far more than I ever expected. I refer back to my lectures often and practice the skills you have taught. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise.

This is my 6th course with Amy, all at bronze, and I am more impressed with each one. each time, the students are at widely disparate stages of experience and understanding. She never makes the more advanced students feel held back, and never makes the beginners feel left behind. Good deal, but hard to achieve. Amy's lectures are clear and concise, and her labs are well designed for experimentation and discovery. I am very much looking forward, when time and schedule allow, to taking some of these classes at gold. Thanks yet again, Amy!

Amy's photography classes have been so amazing! I have learned more than I ever expected to learn and have a renewed love with photography. I thought I was was okay at taking photos before but now I know so much more! Thank you Amy! If you ever want to learn more about photographing your dogs, this is these are the courses to take!

This is the 3rd class I have taken of Amy's and anyone wanting to know more about photography would be wise to sign up. Plan on taking more with her.

I really, really loved this class. I learned more in this class than I all the classes I've taken locally in person and in all the photography books I've read. The content was challenging but broken up in "do-able" steps. Amy was really supportive and I'd love to take more classes with her. MaryE

As someone very green to the topic of photography I have found Amy to be extremely patient but firm with getting her points across. It has been a great help for me. This is a topic that made me want to put my head in the sand before...now it seems completely possible! With practice of course!

Registration

Next session starts: June 1, 2025
Registration starts: May 22, 2025
Registration ends: June 15, 2025

Registration opens at 10:30am Pacific Time.

FE670 Subscriptions

	Gold	Bronze
Tuition	$ 260.00	$ 65.00
Enrollment Limits	12	Unlimited
Access all course lectures and materials	✔	✔
Access to discussion and homework forums	✔	✔
Read all posted questions and answers	✔	✔
Watch all posted videos	✔	✔
Post general questions to Discussion forum	✔	✖
Submit written assignments	✔	✖
Post dog specific questions	✔	✖
Post videos	✔	✖
Receive instructor feedback on	Questions All videos	✖

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FE670: Expose the Dog

Course Details

Teaching Approach

Gold

Bronze