• What next
  for you?
  • Courses
  • Life at Ravensbourne
  • Money / Support
  • Fees & finance
  • Accommodation
  • Learning experience
• Why choose
  Ravensbourne?
• What does
  industry say?
• What next
  for students?
• International
  students
• Showcase
• Apply

Your Selection

• FdA Editing and Post Production: Industry Practice
• BA (Hons) Animation
• BA (Hons) Architecture
• BSc (Hons) Broadcast Audio Technology
• BSc (Hons) Broadcast Information Technology
• BSc (Hons) Broadcast Technology
• BA (Hons) Design Interactions
• BA (Hons) Design Products
• BA (Hons) Digital Advertising and Design
• BA (Hons) Digital Film Production
• BA (Hons) Digital Photography
• BA (Hons) Editing and Post Production
• BA (Hons) Fashion
• BA (Hons) Fashion Lifestyle Products
• BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion
• BA (Hons) Graphic Design
• BA (Hons) Interior Design Environment Architectures
• BA (Hons) Motion Graphics
• BA (Hons) Music Production for Media
• BSc (Hons) Outside Broadcast Technology
• BA (Hons) Sound Design
• BA (Hons) Web Media

Other Courses

Go back to...

• Further Education
• Undergraduate
• Postgraduate

What next for you? > BA (Hons) Digital Photography > BA (Hons) Digital Photography

BA (Hons) Digital Photography

Photography is one of the most compelling and authoritative forms of visual communication, challenging the viewer and demanding an emotional response.

The BA (Hons) Digital Photography course at Ravensbourne provides graduates with the knowledge and skills appropriate to a range of career outcomes in digital photography.

The course provides a stimulating education in the broader areas of digital photography practice and a substantial grounding in the principles and methods in emerging areas of commercial practice. The course is underpinned by the creative use of digital technology. Emphasis is placed on vocational working, and embraces theory, research and analysis of project work. You will be encouraged to develop your individual creative ability and support this with the development of a high level of technical skills.

This course builds upon the facilities and knowledge base, which Ravensbourne has in cognate and complementary areas to make a unique offering to students. There are significant opportunities for collaboration on the course, with students collaborating with other students from graphic design, motion graphics, broadcasting, animation and fashion.

The course employs a variety of practicing industry professionals, who understand the diversity of the photographic industry; which means you will learn in a ‘real world’ environment and tackle project work, which is both experimental and based on industry practice.

Level 1

Level 1 deals with the fundamental photographic principles and skills including studio lighting and the basic principles of digital imaging. Units are used to build knowledge and skills and to acquire confidence to enable you to challenge pre-conceptions of the scope and nature of photographic practice. Alongside key technical skills, you will be encouraged to develop and exchange ideas through a process of group critique.

At Level 1 units you will study the following subject areas:
contextual studies: theory and context; opportunities, trends and ideas; professional context; communication and visualisation; introduction to studio photography; applying digital technology 1 and 2; narrative and mixed lighting; and layout and graphic systems.

Level 2

Level 2 focuses on interpretation, experimentation and collaboration, as well as developing awareness, knowledge and understanding of the multiple roles of photography and improving skills with digital image management. You will consolidate previous learning by tackling a variety of briefs within a diverse range of industry and/or arts based subjects.

At Level 2 you will study the following subject areas:
contextual studies: debate and polemic; contextual studies: dissertation preparation; marketing strategy; advertising and promotions; documentary photography and photojournalism; advanced commercial photography; motion photography; genres 1 and 2; and human and inanimate form.

Level 3

Level 3 focuses on your own aims and ambitions, which reflects your personal and professional career planning, knowledge and skills required to work as a practitioner with communication skills as well as an understanding of the context and market for the photographer’s work. At this level, knowledge and understanding of the medium will be advanced alongside evaluative skills that enable students to reflect on and critique not only their own work but also the work of others.

At Level 3 you will study the following subject areas:
contextual studies: dissertation; enterprise and entrepreneurship – making it happen; major project report; location and studio; live project; and major project.

Programme Specification

Click here for the full programme specification.

Contextual studies, and enterprise and entrepreneurship

The adaptability necessary to succeed as a design or media specialist comes not only from deep disciplinary knowledge. Graduates also need a breadth of knowledge and skills which some commentators have referred to as being ‘T-Shaped’. These additional skills include the ability to work with and increasingly work across disciplines, entrepreneurial attitudes and a knowledge of the business contexts in which they will operate. All undergraduate Ravensbourne programmes incorporate curriculum and learning activities designed to develop these skills in our students. Cross-disciplinary collaborative projects offer students the opportunity to work in teams with other disciplines.

The course structure draws on the creative synergies and frictions of the different disciplines at Ravensbourne and provides physical and intellectual opportunities for students to meet, learn and work together with students from different disciplines.

Students study subject specialist units, shared units and core units. Subject specialist units focus on subject specialist methodologies, technologies and processes and offer project-based learning that simulates contemporary professional practice.

Shared units are units which bring together courses in analogous specialist subject areas and allow students to gain skills common across these specialist subject areas, or to develop skills complimentary to those of the other specialisms and to work together on collaborative projects in the kinds of interdisciplinary teams common in industry. They therefore begin to introduce students to the real world context of specialism, a world where inevitably specialists work in inter-disciplinary teams.

Core units provide fundamental knowledge, skills and contexts which we believe are necessary for all the creative professionals who graduate from Ravensbourne and set students up with a model of the types of knowledge they will need continuously to update throughout their careers. Core units equip students with the ideation, visualisation and communication skills required in the creative process characteristic of design and media industries and common across our disciplines. They also provide the conceptual skills, theoretical frameworks and professional contexts necessary for students to position their work and develop their professional identity. Additionally, they ensure that students gain the promotional, marketing and enterprise skills necessary to make success happen in the real world.

Three years full-time

Ravensbourne’s BA (Hons) Digital Photography course is available as a full time three-year course.

Assessment

You will be continually assessed through preparation of written and project work. Assessment in the final year is through dissertation and portfolio.

Learning and support

You will study through a mix of practice and theory-based learning. This will include lectures, seminars, workshops, individual tutorials, self-directed study and projects. You will be supported by well-qualified teaching staff, sessional staff and visiting professionals who will bring an industry perspective to the course.

Laptops

You are required to own or have access to a laptop from the beginning of your studies. Laptops are an essential tool to support personalised learning and give you access, when and where you want it, to many of the creative tools and educational resources you will encounter during your studies.

Laptops are used extensively in all of our courses. You will need one to access our network, and to research, communicate and collaborate during your studies.

Career prospects

Graduates will be prepared for employment across a range of industries in areas such as photojournalism, editorial, documentary, portraiture, advertising, fashion, music, architecture, newspaper, picture research, museum curatorial, gallery, project management, technical support and PR.

You could become a...

View >Studio Photographer

View >Fashion Photographer

View >Editorial photographer

...and many more!

See life as a student

“I did my Foundation course at Ravensbourne, and have progressed onto the BA degree in digital photography – I’m really enjoying it. It has a very practical and entrepreneurial focus, and is very forward-thinking.

“I work part-time in a bar, doing a lot of late shifts, and it can get on top of me. But I get a lot of…