Photographer capturing a scenic landscape

Online Bachelor’s Degree Digital Photography

Make Your Passion Your Profession with an Online Photography Degree

Kick-start your career in the arts or blaze a new professional trail with a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Photography from Southern New Hampshire University. The online bachelor's program provides a strong footing in the technical skills of digital camera operation, lighting and post-production image editing while refining your visual literacy and laying a foundation in the humanities - all at a fraction of the cost of comparable programs.

In addition to a solid grounding in the liberal arts, this unique online photography degree also delves into the business, social media and brand-building aspects of the profession to help you differentiate yourself in a competitive marketplace. Throughout the program, you'll also develop a professional portfolio for both career advancement and personal fulfillment.

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See Yourself Succeed with an Online Photography Degree

Photographers apply their technical expertise, creativity and composition skills to produce and preserve images that tell a story or record an event. Today, most photographers use digital cameras instead of traditional film cameras. Some photographers own and operate their own business, which comes with additional responsibilities. Some teach photography classes or conduct workshops in schools or in their own studios.

In SNHU's online BA in Digital Photography program, you'll learn how to:

Market and advertise services to attract clients
Analyze and plan the composition of photographs
Use various photographic techniques and lighting equipment
Capture subjects in commercial-quality photographs
Enhance the subject's appearance with natural or artificial light
Employ the latest photo-enhancing software
Maintain a digital portfolio to demonstrate your work

As a private, nonprofit university, SNHU has one mission - to help you see yourself succeed. The benefits of pursuing your online photography degree at SNHU include:

Affordability. Take advantage of some of the most affordable tuition rates in the nation.
Convenience. Attend class when it's convenient for you - online education means 24/7 access.
Efficiency and flexibility. Complete your undergraduate degree at your own pace, over six 8-week terms per year.
Expert instruction. Learn from instructors with relevant, real-world experience.
Networking. Tap into our nationwide network of alumni for internship and career opportunities.
Simple application process. Just fill out an online undergraduate application, and we'll retrieve U.S. transcripts from your previous institutions and automatically complete an official credit evaluation. Plus, there's no application fee.
Student support. Count on the ongoing support of dedicated academic and career advisors specialized in your area of study.
Transfer-friendly enrollment. Transfer up to 90 credits toward an undergraduate degree.

Career Outlook

While photography degrees alone give you a competitive advantage, the best candidates have multiple talents and related skills such as picture editing and capturing digital video. For specialties like photojournalism and industrial/scientific photography, a bachelor's degree is often a must.

Once you complete the online BA in Digital Photography program, you'll have a skill set directly applicable to a number of fields, including:

Portrait Photography
Commercial and Industrial Photography
Aerial Photography
Scientific Photography
News Photography
Fine Arts Photography
University Photography

Curriculum

The bachelor's online photography degree is taught by industry-leading faculty. In addition to learning the most advanced camera, lighting and editing technology, you'll enjoy a robust feedback process to enrich your learning experience. Coursework includes classes in the humanities as well as the business aspects of professional photography.

Courses To Prepare You For Your Career

SNHU's bachelor's in digital photography program includes:

General education
Degree-specific courses

General Education Program

Our programs are designed to equip you with the skills and insights you need to move forward. In recent years, employers have stressed the need for graduates with higher order skills - the skills that go beyond technical knowledge - such as:

Writing
Communication
Analysis
Problem solving

All bachelor's students are required to take general education classes. Through foundation, exploration and integration courses, students learn to think critically, creatively and collaboratively, giving you the edge employers are looking for.

View Full Curriculum in the Catalog

BA in Digital Photography

Courses May Include

COM 130 Media Communication and Visual Literacy

Examine the concept of media literacy. Practice deconstructing media messages to recognize their potential effect. Understand how media literacy is associated with an individual's role as a consumer of and participant in media.

COM 310 Social Media

Twitter, Facebook, blogs, podcasts - the possibilities of social media today are countless and ever-changing. This course is a broad approach to the history, theory, technology, impact and strategic uses of social media. These tools are relatively inexpensive and accessible technologies that enable anyone to create, publish, edit and access messages intended for the smallest to the largest of audiences. Students will examine the strategic uses of social media for community building, civic and political participation, advertising, marketing, public relations, and journalism. This course provides hands-on experience with the most current technology.

FAS 226 Digital Photography

Photography as a visual medium is integral to the study of contemporary communication. This course introduces students to the history and practice of producing photographic images. The course is a combination of lecture and the hands-on practice of both the analog and digital methods of photographic image-making. The traditional darkroom is dispensed with, giving over to the computer the role of dark- room, with the student using Adobe Photoshop and other image editors to process traditional film and digital image captures. The student is taught to use various digital cameras techniques to capture, process, and print a portfolio of several original photographic images. Lectures on pictorial composition, subject matter choice, and methods of presentation display will accompany hands-on technical exercises.

FAS 235 Photographic Practice in the Digital Age

As the practice of digital photography leverages new technical skills through software programs and digital editing, it is critically important that practicing photographers gain a greater understanding of emerging methods for producing, editing, and distributing photographic works. This course provides an intermediate experience in the process of generating portfolios of digital images for presentation, distribution, or exhibition. Key to this experience is a broad understanding of design concepts that lead to decisions in coloring, resolution, formatting, and so on to produce high quality images that reflect a creative point of view. Students are exposed to advanced techniques using industry standard software to manipulate digital works for print and digital output, including color theory, management, calibration, and standard file formatting.

FAS 240 The Business of Photography

This course serves as an introduction to the business practices of photography, focusing on the legal, marketing, and entrepreneurial aspects of the highly competitive photography industry today. Students gain valuable exposure to best practices recommended for working with clients and agencies, setting up an entrepreneurial business, developing appropriate contracts, licensing works, setting a pricing structure, model and property release forms, and managing overhead costs, among other topics. This course culminates in students determining their next steps in their professional development, including how to drive their personal vision and brand as a practicing photographer.

FAS 255 Lighting for Photography

The act of photography inherently depicts how light reacts and reflects its subject matter, while also communicating different emotions, moods, and feelings to the audience. This course serves as a comprehensive introduction to how light is used and manipulated for different purposes and effects. Topics covered include using ambient light versus flash or studio light for different subject matter (portraits, editorial work, fine art, etc.), angle of light and how it influences the look of the subject matter, using a single light source versus multiple light sources, how to blend ambient light with strobe lighting, using long exposures and film speed to manipulate the look of your imagery, along with other purposeful techniques for manipulating the aesthetics of light.

FAS 360 Innovations in Digital Imaging

Numerous advancements in digital imaging have created an exigent need for working professionals to remain on the cutting edge of these practices. This course provides students with an opportunity to research advancements in digital imaging and digital photography techniques with the intent of enhancing their own photographic practices. Students are expected to apply a selection of these emerging techniques and articulate the process, creative choices, and outcomes produced in their work.

FAS 375 Photographic Aesthetic Concepts

This course explores various aesthetic theories of photographic practice and the evolution of photography as a respectable fine art medium available to contemporary artists and subject to critical inquiry. Students learn how photographic images shape our understanding of both the past and present as well as the very nature of photography as an art form and how this has changed over time. Besides theory, students also explore through hands on practice the methods and techniques for developing one's own aesthetic characteristics and personal style in photographic work.

FAS 400 Digital Narratives and Documentary

Participate in an advanced exploration of the concepts of narrative and linear vs. non-linear imagery. Research the history of documentary photography, focusing on how creative works produced as professionals can be used to make an impact on communities and audiences. With an emphasis on storytelling through creative imagery, develop a digital narrative showcasing advanced techniques in camerawork, lighting, and other pre- and post-production skills.

FAS 485 Digital Photography Portfolio

The digital photography portfolio course provides students with a comprehensive development opportunity to showcase their professional work, establish a branded identity as a working professional, and engage in peer and professional critiques of design work in preparation for formal employment and contract interviews. Students create both digital and print-ready portfolios that demonstrate their competencies in the digital photography program outcomes.

GRA 220 Introduction to Digital Imaging

Using industry standard image editing software software, this course is an introduction to professional computer graphics creation and to the software and hardware typically used in the graphic design, video, photography and interactive Web/multimedia industries. Image editing and color management systems will be discussed and demonstrated. The important differences between vector and bitmap graphics will be defined, as will the significant differences in preparing images for print, broadcast and Web distribution. Students will be encouraged to experiment with their own and preexisting images using sophisticated digital editing techniques such as layering, channel masking, filtering, cloning and montaging. Special attention will be paid to copyright awareness in the age of the digital image.

Total Credits: 120

Program Outcomes

Digital Photography Technical Requirements

Students enrolled in the Digital Photography programs are responsible for ensuring they have the minimum system hardware, software, and photography equipment required in the courses. System requirements often change, so it is important that students maintain awareness of the various minimum hardware requirements for the required software listed below.

Required Photography Equipment:

DSLR (video 1080p) camera- that allows for manual and automatic operation, supports 1080p video, and can use interchangeable lenses.
Tripod
Lighting Kit

Required Software:

The full Adobe Creative Cloud Suite is required in at least the following courses: GRA-101, GRA-220, COM-128
The Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan will support most other program courses

Students may also wish to purchase (not required):

A digital hand-held light meter that can measure both ambient and strobe lighting
A portable electronic flash unit

Tuition & Fees

Tuition rates for SNHU's online degree programs are among the lowest in the nation. We offer financial aid packages to those who qualify, plus a 30% tuition discount for U.S. service members, both full and part time, and the spouses of those on active duty.

Online Undergraduate Programs	Per Course*	Per Credit Hour*
Degree/Certificates	$960	$320
Degree/Certificates (U.S. service members, both full and part time, and the spouses of those on active duty)	$675	$225

*Tuition Rates are subject to change and are reviewed annually.

Additional Costs
No Application Fee, $150 Graduation Fee, Course Materials ($ varies by course)

University Accreditation

Southern New Hampshire University is a private, nonprofit institution accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) as well as several other accrediting bodies.