This half day course is designed to help participants who need to write or revise policies and procedures for their organisations. It will help them to develop effective structures for the writing and design and ensure that they meet key legal and good practice requirements on some of the most important policies such as health and safety, equal opportunities and financial procedures. It will also look at the process of consultation and implementation so that the policies obtain “buy-in” and commitment from staff and volunteers.
This half day course is designed for new treasurers, general trustees and management committee members or staff who work in smaller organisations to understand the basics of how to manage the finances within a voluntary or community organisation. It covers all the essential issues ranging from drawing up a budget to ensuring that the organisation has sound financial procedures.
Adobe Lightroom Classic helps solve two of the main problems that afflict digital photographers: how to organise all your files, and how to edit them without spending all of your spare time at a computer screen. Lightroom Classic is a convenient and flexible desktop programme that helps you to organise and sift your photographs into collections, and also gives access to a powerful set of tools that edit, enhance and export your pictures. You can use intuitive pre-set tools, you can create your own favourite adjustments, you can edit large numbers of images with one click of a mouse, and you can fine-tune your image-editing by selectively working on parts of a picture. And you can experiment, secure in the knowledge that you are working in a non-destructive environment and that your pictures are safe. This practical short course will introduce you to the principles of file organisation and image-editing, giving you the knowledge and confidence to choose when to work with this convenient and flexible programme, and whether or not you need the full power of Photoshop Creative Suite. Sample picture files will be provided for you to work with, or you can bring a selection of your own. If you work in RAW, please also bring JPEGs on a memory stick, external hard drive or cloud storage such as Dropbox. Please note this course does not cover the new version of LightRoom CC (which is specifically designed for mobile devices) and only uses the most recent version of LightRoom Classic. Morning You will get to know the Lightroom layout and workspace, importing a set of files into the catalogue and starting to organise the files into collections and adding useful file information. You will explore the opportunities for viewing and aids for analysing the pictures. You will start to use the convenient ‘quick develop’ editing tools. We will then explore the digital image-editing workflow. The usual flow is to correct and optimise before we enhance, interpret or exaggerate. The basic areas to consider are cropping, cloning, colour and tone. Taking each in turn, we will correct and clean up the pictures in a measurable and controllable way. We will investigate techniques to control digital noise, colour distortions and lens corrections. We will work on individual files and also start applying corrections to batches. We will create and apply pre-set corrections. Afternoon Having corrected and optimised the picture files, we can start interpreting, enhancing and exaggerating – the fun part of image-editing! We can try colour to black-and-white conversions, using the many pre-sets to guide; we can selectively boost or restrain colours; we can add grain and textures, vignettes and split tones; we can mix and match these effects and create and save our own favourite effects. We can apply adjustment effects to selected picture areas. Image editing is all good fun, but how do we know where to start? Or when to stop? We‚’ll have a look at some photographic styles and techniques from photography’s rich history to give us some ideas and then try to replicate them. We will discuss ways of using the programme and the technology to develop photographic projects. And we will look at how Lightroom can help us to export those projects as books, prints and slideshows. Designed for those who are already familiar with some digital photography processes but who want to pursue a particular aspect and develop skills in a specific genre. This course is the perfect follow-on from our Digital SLR training courses and will support you in building upon your existing knowledge of camera skills and allow you to work confidently on your own projects. Some prior digital SLR photography experience is therefore recommended. Courses are subject to minimum enrolment. Please register early, within five days of the start date, to reduce the likelihood of course cancellation. Please read our cancellation policy before booking. Students, anyone over the age of 65, and those in receipt of any form of benefits can claim the concessionary price, offering a 10% discount on the full course price. Valid proof of eligibility must be produced on the first day of the course. Please use the code CONCESSION when prompted at checkout.
This half day course is designed for new treasurers, general trustees and management committee members or staff who work in smaller organisations to understand the basics of how to manage the finances within a voluntary or community organisation. It covers all the essential issues ranging from drawing up a budget to ensuring that the organisation has sound financial procedures.
This half day course is designed to help participants in the voluntary and community sector to monitor and evaluate the work of their organisation effectively and ensure that their working practices are robust and fit for purpose. It can also be relevant to those staff in statutory agencies who work on community projects.
This half day or whole day course is designed around a project planning workbook that will provide participants with questions and practical advice to ensure that a project is well thought-out and practical, with clear aims and objectives. It will also help to ensure that if you are applying for project funding that you have answers to all the likely questions you will be asked. The half day course will cover the basics and ensure that the most important areas of project planning are addressed. The course could be extended to a whole day, covering all the areas and offering time for participants to complete the majority of the work book. The course would be suitable for anyone who is planning a project or who needs to re-focus a project that is not working effectively.
Alien spoons? Well, only because it is a memorable name and some of the knife grasps feel a bit alien to start with. You will soon get to grips with them and the focus of this workshop is learning to use safe and efficient carving techniques with hand tools - the axe, straight knives and hook knives... maybe also a drawknife on a shave horse. By following good technique you will avoid injuries and with regular stretching this will help you to look after your body as well as the tools. You should leave with the knowledge and confidence to carve safely at home. The tools are relatively cheap and easy to use in a small space. You will have access to a range of tools, but primarily use the Mora wood carving knives (106/120/164s) and be shown traditional designs for optimising strength and utility. Using these traditional tools you will make a spoon from local and sustainable fresh cut green wood - starting with a log and leaving with a spoon. From the initial splitting of the log with a froe or axe, trimming this down with an axe, and on to carving finer details and decorations with knives. Additional skills in building a shave horse and other green wood working can also be taught. This course is run from close to central Edinburgh and is accessible by public transport. Depending on the weather it can be inside or outdoors in the wildlife garden. Courses can also be arranged to suit your availability! Please get in touch to discuss your requirements, discounts are available for small groups or multiple days. Course numbers are usually limited to five or less; individual training courses can also be arranged. What's included in the price? Tea, coffee, light lunch of bread and soup and snacks - All vegan Professional training in the use of a range of traditional tools. Advice on tool care and sharpening. Fresh cut (green) wood for carving. Some tools available for sale at competitive rates. Summary of course information emailed to you after the workshop.
As phone and tablet cameras continue to improve and App developments become more advanced, mobile photography – previously considered only suitable for quick snaps and throwaway selfies – is more and more becoming recognised as a legitimate photographic medium. And anyone with a phone or tablet can do it! This course will explore the concepts of digital camera photography (and all that it entails) but through the medium of your own mobile device. Through a mixture of discussion and practical work this course will help you to push the limits of what your phone camera can do. As well as exploring the creative side of photography, we’ll break down some of the technical elements to get a better understanding of photography in general and learn how to achieve similar results using your phone or tablet. We’ll explore useful Apps to help get the desired output from your device and spend time looking at postproduction techniques that can improve and enhance your camera photos beyond a casual snapshot. Some of the Apps we will be looking at include Slow Shutter (iOS), VSCO (iOS/Android), Snapseed (iOS/Android), Adobe Lightroom for Mobile (iOS/Android) and Manual Camera (Android). You do not need to have all these downloaded in advance and, please be aware that depending on the capabilities of your phone, some of the features of these apps may not be available to you. This course is suitable for beginners and requires very little technical knowledge – just an enthusiasm and interest in photography and how to get a little more from your device. Please bring comfy weather-appropriate clothing as there will be some time spent outside shooting. Please specify the Make and Model of your mobile device when booking, so that the tutor can provide specific information tailored to your device wherever possible Courses are subject to minimum enrolment. Please register early, within five days of the start date, to reduce the likelihood of course cancellation. Please read our cancellation policy before booking. Students, anyone over the age of 65, and those in receipt of any form of benefits can claim the concessionary price, offering a 10% discount on the full course price. Valid proof of eligibility must be produced on the first day of the course. Please use the code CONCESSION when prompted at checkout.
I often buy clothes and accessories spontaneously. This results in a wardrobe full of pieces that don’t pair with anything. “I have nothing to wear….” I hear you say. A handful of treasures just hanging in there before progressing into a charity giveaway bag. Not if you know your true colours that will elevate your look and mood as well as save money and the environment. Based on this colour analysis we can create a capsule wardrobe using your existing pieces and follow your colour chart to purchase matching items in future. Whatever fashion dictates, buying less and more consciously will reduce waste, save money and creates a wonderful wardrobe you can be proud of! The analysis is based on inherited tones as well as personality. Based on 4 seasons: spring and autumn being warm and summer and winter cool in the colour spectrum.
When the sun sets it doesn’t mean that you need to stop taking photographs. The Night Time Experience is designed for photographers who understand the fundamentals of exposure and now want to explore creativity in a different way. A tripod is a must for night-time photography as we look at different ways you can use the available light from the street, vehicles or even the stars to illuminate a scene and create a terrific image that you would want to share. The workshop is very much reliant on the dry weather as we will usually be working with long exposures and some aspects, such as star trails, require a cloudless evening so whilst the agenda for the session isn’t fixed, the techniques you will learn can be applied to many other forms of low light photography. To get the most benefit from this workshop you will need to understand how to use the manual functions on your camera. If you are unsure, we would recommend you attend the Switch to Manual session first. About Ideal if you understand how to set the exposure of your camera manually. Look at different ways of using light to make exciting and interesting photographs as the daylight disappears. Experience level - Intermediate What to Bring You will need a camera that you can set the exposure manually A good sturdy tripod. It is helpful to have a wide-angle lens and a long zoom, although if you only have a kit-lens then that will still be fine for this workshop The timing for this workshop is flexible on the conditions, it will last somewhere between 3 and 4 hours. Ensure your camera batteries are fully charged and consider having a spare An empty memory card, we’ll take about 150 photographs during the session.