This career-orientated course are presented by young, passionate, enthusiastic and professional career people in Stellenbosch.

What make Sips so famous ?

Seventeen years of existence, our high standards in multimedia, Photography, Video production, Graphic design and Photo -and TV make-up, keeps us up to date with technology.

Charl Best,  the founder and principal of SIPS., for the past 16 years will be your course leader.  He has done 15 international exhibitions and is still practicing professional photography in Stellenbosch. His photos are published in newspapers and international magazines. Charl did scientific photography for WNNR.,worked for naspers and perskor as a photographer and studied art at US. He did documentary films, hundreds of weddings and business product video’s.  

 YOU HAVE THE TALENT AND THE INTEREST , SIPS GOT THE INFORMATION AND INSPIRATION TO MAKE YOUR SKILLS GROW INTO A DREAM CAREER.

ABOUT THE COURSE
This is a new cutting edge photography course written and directed by some of the best working photographers in their field. The aim of the course is to provide you with the knowledge and skills required for a career as a professional photographer, graphic artist or moviemaker. This is an up-to-date and massively comprehensive course covering every aspect of photography.

This course is practical and give more meaning to the saying "There's never a dull moment". The student gets the opportunity to get al the necessary experience with hands-on corporate education in Photography and Multi media.

SIPS will expose you in all the different types of Photography, e.g. Landscape, Fashion, Documentary, Digital and Commercial photography, Studio, Pack shots, Room sets etc. At the end of your course you will have a high standard Professional Portfolio in most of the subjects that’s acceptable all over the world

Photography (“to draw with light”) is an exciting, creative way to express your feelings.  Photography makes it possible to relate to known famous people and places.  When you go to the movies it is actually photography. Photo’s plays an important part in our lives; it is hard to think that photography didn’t exist about two centuries ago. Although photography can be a wonderful challenging hobby, it can be a successful and most rewarding career. So if you have the passion and the determination this course is definitely for you. 

During the first semester you will master the technique to use your camera to your fullest advantage including colour theory, composition, equipment, digital, lenses, filters and black and white darkroom (camera obscura) techniques as well as the printing of your own photo’s.  You will also learn about the fascinating history of photography, like in 1835 Louis Jacques Daguerre discovered the magic of Photography and with further experimenting he found a method to capture an image on a copper plate with normal salt.  During this period the student will do practical photo-sessions with professional models including still lives, photo – sessions on the beach and landscapes.   The students will have the opportunity to have a group photo exhibition of all their work during this period which will go on display during June every year.  In the past we had some interesting titles eg.:  Kiddiescapes, Winescapes, Abstractscapes, Genderscapes, Facescapes and Stellenboschscapes.  In 2002 the students participated for their exhibition in a multi media production at KKNK. 

Moving towards the second semester the student will learn more advanced, specialized techniques that will prove them truly as a professional photographer.  The student will attend workshops from the best of the best photographers in the Western-Cape and visit highly equipped studios for training.   You will complete workshops in:

medical photography | digital photography | documentary photography | advertising photography | food photography | industrial photography | aerial photography | commercial photography | high speed photography | scientific photography | art in photography | landscape photography | sport photography | Photoshop, photo manipulation | fashion photography | make-up | theatre photography | photo studio management and Portfolio

At the end of this amazing course you will have a professional portfolio that will make it possible to find related work anywhere in the world.  Always wanted to see the world?  Now you can and earn vital experience and money while traveling as most of our students find jobs as photographer on the popular cruise liners in the Caribbean . Leria Brink an ex student of Sips traveled the past two years and visited 50 countries, and also did a 98 day world tour doing daily developing and photography

Come and share the magic with us, and help us to help you make your dreams come true.

If you enjoy creativity in drawing, designing logos and packaging, and are fascinated by the world of advertising and promotion, then this is the career for you.

The Graphic Design Program includes experimenting with a variety of typographic treatments, designing company logos, business cards, brands and corporate identities, brochures, posters, CD-covers, packaging, promotional literature for advertisements, magazines and newspapers and much more.

You will learn about the marketing of goods, services and information and the influencing of public opinion. You will also learn about the printing and reprographics industry. Design isn't only 2-dimensional. Promotional packaging is an important part of graphic design, as are point-of-sale displays.

This is a foundation program in Graphic Design and will empower you to understand and apply the basic elements and principles of design and to speak the language of design. To master these invaluable skills, computer training will not be offered during the first six months of the program.

Program Objectives
-to teach you how to generate creative ideas and apply them graphically
-to teach you how to manage projects and time
-to empower you to convey a specific message effectively by means of an appropriate visual medium and how to communicate concepts to colleagues and clients
-to give you a wide range of Graphic Design skills which will make you employable in industry and productive from day one. The course will be updated constantly -to meet the ever-changing needs of the Graphic Design business.

Program Structure
Each session will comprise of a theoretical as well as a practical component.
Our students work on realistic projects throughout the year, specifically aimed at developing creative and technical skills and preparing them for the real world of the design profession.

Program Content
Your program in Graphic Design is divided up and structured into nine separate study units, each covering a specific area of design. The program presents these study units in a study guide covering the following topics:
• Introduction to Graphic Design • Thinking about visual thinking • Media and techniques • Elements of art and principles of design • Typographic treatment
• Branding and identity • Layout design • Package design • Poster design • Printing and reprographics industry:

Testing Methods
Continuous evaluation will be done. This could include class tests.
Practical exercises and projects will assist you in developing the basic skills needed to create visual products using typography (lettering) and graphic media.

Basic Photoshop
Basic Photoshop is a course that aims to teach students everything they need to know to get them started in this powerful piece of software that is Adobe Photoshop. The Basic Photoshop Course consists of 10 Sections and practical assignments.
What you will learn:
* Workspace & Tools * Pallets & Menu’s * Image Adjustments * Filter Menu * Organizing files * Correcting images
* Repairing images * Retouching images * Enhancing images * Adding special effects 

Advanced Photoshop
Advanced Photoshop takes an in-depth look at the software and the advanced capabilities of the tools and functions inside of Photoshop. The aim of the course is to equip students with enough skill and knowledge to use Photoshop accurately and with absolute control. The Advanced Photoshop Course consists of 10 Sections and 10 practical assignments plus a Photoshop Portfolio Design assignment.
What you will learn:
* Blurring filters * Sharpening filters * Masking * Working with Layers * Layer Styles and Adjustment Layers * Layer Groups and Comps
* Text and Texture Effects * Understanding Blend Modes * Transformation Tools * Advanced Retouching and Creating creative backgrounds 

Web Design
The Web Design course takes a look at Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe Flash as web design applications and aims to teach the students everything from getting started to designing professional interactive websites. The course consists of 35 sections between these two powerful applications and includes 5 practical assignments.
What you will learn: (Dreamweaver)
* Getting Started * Getting to know the User Interface * Site Control * Document Basics * Linking * Understanding Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
* Working with Type * Working with Tables * Layout Design * Designing for Devices * Creating Rollovers * Understanding HTML & XHTML
* Creating Forms * Working with Behaviors * Working between platforms (Dreamweaver→Photoshop→Fireworks) * Using Templates and Library Items
* Automation Functions * Accessibility * Using Media Objects * Publishing your website

What you will learn: (Flash)
* Getting Started * Basics of Drawing * Color Basics * Basics of Symbols * Using the Timeline * Testing and Publishing Files * Image Basics * Animation Basics
* Using Text * Using Filters & Blend modes * Using Components * Sound Basics * Action Scrip * Course Conclusion

Our students work on realistic projects throughout the year, specifically aimed at developing creative and technical skills and preparing them for the real world of the design profession.

 

The Video Production Course takes the student on the full turnkey Production route from A to Z. The basis of Pre-Production and the elements of script, budgeting, scheduling and crew, aim to cover the Pre-Production process.

The Production aims to place the student and their hardware in the role as head of a film department on a commercial Production. Not only will the student learn the fundamentals of the industry, but some of the unknown tips, tricks and cheats that are used.

The Post-Production part of the course will empower the student to be the independent filmmaker. The final aim being to give the students the knowledge of the complete Production process; how to use it, abuse it and make it work for you.

This is a full, hands-on course. The theory and tutorial classes work hand in hand to follow up and juxtapose each other.

At the end of the semester the student has a hard copy theory of Production, for outcome-based products and a marketing tool for a foothold in the industry. We also specialize in editing on Adobe Premierre.

Welcome to fun, adventure and a new perspective on how you can express your creativity.

Course Outline:
Parts of the Camera | How Digital Video Works | The Processing Line | Shots | Camera Techniques | Using Stills | Capturing Light | Direction of Light
Color of Light | Quantity of Light | Using Lights | Lighting Setups | The Production Prosess | Pre-Production | Production | Post-Production
Production Crew | Camera Lights and Equipment | Directing | Editing | File Formats

Make -up plays an important role in our lives and especially in the photographic and moviemaking business. To compliment your photography, moviemaking and fashion design career you have to know how to apply make-up. 

Our Syllabus:
Introduction (Theory)  The skin ·  Skin types (Dry, Oily,· Combination)  Basic Skincare, Cleanse, tone, Moisture ·  Products:· Foundations: Liquid, Cream, Powder, Blushes, Glosses Professional Products: Make-up kit, Intro to Industry, Notes, Basics of Make-up, Photographic Make-up / Stills
Beauty Make-up,  Editorial Make-up, Catalogue Make-up, Bridal Make-up, TV, Film, body painting, Stage make-up, Wedding make-up, Special effects, prosthetics (Theatre, Face painting, Latex ageing, wounds, blocking out eyebrows) Period Make-up,  History of Make-up (1500 – 1900) 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80. Photo + video Make-up for blacks,  Working on film, Working on stills, ramp make-up. Drag queens + character, Theatre + body painting.

You will gain valuable experience in make-up by doing weekly sessions for the photography class.

The principles of visual design including shape, color, visual hierarchy, word/image relationships, typography and branding will be introduced. The aim of this subject is to develop a general understanding of the basic rules of visual design as well as the verbal and visual vocabulary to describe and evaluate it. As a Sips student who take this subject, you will learn how to plan, style, compose and set-up a visual pleaseng scene for all our shoots and let the photograpg communicate to your audience.

Course Outline:
Introduction to Visual Communication | The History | Well known SA Photographers and their unique visual communication techniques | David Lachapelle
The role of color and the different connections to emotion | The Elements of Visual Communication | Creativity, thinking outside the box
Visual Communication in Advertising and Photography | The role of Visual Communication in Graphic Design | Planning a successfull shoot
The role of Visual Communication in Photojournalism | The analysis of a Photo.

You will need a film camera to shoot black-and-white film.We made this module optional, for the student that work on a budget.  If you plan to become a serious art photographer, then this module is a must. Also great for Art lovers and if you want to produce great black-and-white hand-made prints. We will also explore the digital black-and-white version on photoshop. Our darkrooms are well equipped for developing and printing of black-and-white film. Charl Best is a excellent and very experienced darkroom specialist, doing scientific printing for CSIR., and media.

Learn how to work efficiently in windows, how to manage your computer security, working with hardware, software, files and folders. You will know how to personalize your computer, to make connections and communicate with other computers and how to install programs, scanners and printers. How to solve daily problems you may have and to just have fun on your computer! Learn how to defrag and clean up your computer so that you can use maximum amount of space available and keep your computer fast, especially when working with photo files- and edit programs! The course also includes basic training for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Microsoft Word is a word processing application, used to type letters and other text based documents. Students will learn how to format text and create creative and professional text documents to print or save on hard disc.
Microsoft Excel is a tabulating, data processing application used to organize and save data in a way that produces meaning full statistics. Students will learn how to use Excel to process data and manage information. They also learn some of the basic mathematical advantages that this power full little application holds.
Microsoft PowerPoint is a very user friendly presentation application. Students will learn how to create creative and interesting slide shows, how to animate the slide elements, record narrations, and output an automated presentation.
The course also includes a closer look at the main hardware components of a computer, how it works and what it does.

The Marketing and Sales Course is aimed to help students understand the fundamentals of Business and Marketing. The course also aid them in creating a professional Business Plan and teaches them to sell themselves as, not only Photographers, but as successfull business people in the creative industry.

Course Outline:
Introduction to the Business Plan | The Challanges of Entrepreneurship | Market feasibility study | Financial feasibility study | Management Plan
Marketing Plan | Business Plan Review and Task | Nature and Extent of Personal Selling | Essential Knowledge needed for Successfull Selling
Planning and Aproach of the Sales Presentation | The Sales Presentation and Handling of Objectives | The Sales Close | After-Sale Service