Learning & Leadership › Women’s Academy › Entrepreneurship & Business › Product Photography with a Phone › Course Materials
In online selling, the product photo takes the place of seeing and touching the item. This course teaches lighting, background, composition, angles and simple editing using a phone and inexpensive household items.
Course page on the learning platform
Course details
| Level | Beginner |
| Estimated duration | 6 hours of study and practice |
| Prerequisite | A phone with a camera |
| Language of instruction | Farsi-e-Dari (with key terms in English) |
| Fee | Free |
| Assessment | A quiz after each section and a final exam; pass mark 70%; certificate issued after Academy approval |
After this course you will be able to
- Use natural light for bright, true-to-life photos
- Create a simple, professional background and set with household items
- Choose the right angle and composition for each type of product
- Edit photos with a free app without changing how the product really looks
- Build a consistent set of photos for a catalogue
Course outline
- The phone camera
- Focus and exposure
- Keeping the lens clean
- Window light
- Low-cost reflectors
- Avoiding shadows
- Simple backgrounds
- Composition
- Showing scale
- Main photo
- Details
- Product in use
- Honest editing
- The right size
- A consistent set
Week-by-week learning path
With about 30 to 45 minutes of study and practice a day, you will complete this course in 6 weeks:
| Week | Topic | Weekly output |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | The basics | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 2 | Light | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 3 | The set | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 4 | Types of photo | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 5 | Editing and publishing | Lessons, practical exercise and short section quiz |
| Week 6 | Final project and final exam | Completed project and a score of 70% or higher |
Final project
A set of eight professional photos of two products (main photo, details, in use) with a consistent background and honest editing, ready for an online catalogue.
Project assessment criteria:
- Lighting and sharpness
- Composition
- Consistency of the set
- Honesty in editing
Key terms
Exposure
Focus
Composition
Background
Reflector
Angle
White balance
Catalog
Assessment and certificate
- After each section: a short quiz (70% recommended before moving on)
- Practical exercises in each lesson: for learning; send your questions via Questions
- End of course: final exam (pass mark 70%) and submission of the final project
- Digital certificate after review and approval by the Academy: Request a certificate
Teaching method
Each lesson includes learning objectives, explanations with real examples and images, key terms in Dari and English, common mistakes, a practical exercise, a self-test and a summary. In every lesson you can put questions to the instructor using the Questions button. The courses are impartial, free and open to all young people.
Get ready now
- Take three photos of one product in different parts of your home and compare them
- Prepare a large sheet of white paper and a board for the background
- Clean your phone’s camera lens
Free, reliable resources
These resources were selected by the Academy team. Most of them are in English; you can also use the Translate option in Chrome to read them in other languages. Large files (books, exercise files, videos) will be placed in the Academy’s official Google Drive folder when the course goes live and linked from this page.
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Help and questions
Questions about this course: [email protected] · All courses: Online Learning Centre · Active course: Computer & Internet Basics
Women’s Academy, Afghanistan Youth Parliament · Free and open to all young people