NYIP Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, NYIP is accredited by the New York State Department of Education and its curriculum is submitted for approval on a regular basis. NYIP is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), which was founded in 1926 to promote sound educational standards and ethical business practices. The Accrediting Commission of the DETC is cited by the US Department of Education as the "nationally recognized accrediting agency". The Council for Higher Education also recognizes the Accrediting Commission.

Find out more about NYIP Accreditation.

NYI's Complete Course in Professional Photography is our most popular course and it's designed to teach you all the basics of photography, along with intensive study of lighting and portraiture. It also includes advanced topics in photography such as specialty areas including photojournalism, architectural photography, and commercial photography. The Professional Course is particularly strong in business training. We just completed the new Essential Business Skills series which provides lots of information about how to open your own studio and start your own freelance business. The Pro course is divided into six units and you submit six photo projects for evaluation during your training.

NYI's newest course is our Short Course: Fundamentals of Digital Photography. It's designed for the person who wants to take control of a high-performance digital SLR or point-and-shoot camera, and learn when and how to use the settings other than "automatic" or "program." It contains lots of information about exposure, how to read your camera's histogram, and basic training in lighting and portraiture. It's designed for the family photographer and the person who needs to use digital photography as part of his/her job. The Short Course has four units and you submit two photo projects for evaluation.

Every NYI Course features multi-media training. Our color lessons are augmented by audio discussions by NYI faculty and professional techniques are demonstrated on video DVDs.

NYI's Complete Course in Digital Photography is really intensive training in Adobe Photoshop for photographers. Photoshop is a very complex tool, and particularly in the latest releases it's designed to be useful for photographers, graphic artists, even people who want to work in 3D illustration. Our course is designed to teach you what you need to know as a photographer to get the best results with this very sophisticated program. You need full-blown Photoshop CS3 or CS4 for this course. Photoshop Elements is not covered.

One other note: every NYI student in each course has access to a personal student advisor who is available via telephone or e-mail to answer your questions about the course, about equipment you might be considering, or anything else related to your interest in photography. Our advisors are all working professional photographers who work with us part time because they love teaching.

With immense success. We’ve been teaching photography longer than any other school in the world. Since 1910, tens of thousands of men and women have enrolled in NYIP and gone on to become successful photographers. There are NYIP graduates working as staff photographers for newspapers, and graduates who freelance and operate their own studios. We are proud of our record and we know you’ll be proud to be an NYIP student.

They start the moment you receive your first Unit of Course materials. We don’t have a rigid academic calendar. You can begin whenever you’re ready.

No. You complete your NYIP training in your spare time, on your own schedule, at your own pace.

No. The Course assumes no prior training or experience. It starts with fundamentals and develops your skills through mastery of professional techniques in easy, carefully planned steps.

Most students take between 12 and 24 months to complete the Course, but you have three full years for both the Complete Course, and Photoshop Course. For the Fundamentals of Digital Photography you have two years, though it is possible to finish in 6-8 months.

Yes. It is one of the strongest aspects of the Complete Course in Professional Photography. We know not every student is interested in photography as a business; so much of the material is optional. But, if you are interested, it's all there.

To enroll in NYI, you need to be able to comprehend written and spoken English and have a high school diploma. Because of the technical nature of some of the information in this Course, the New York State Department of Education has requested that we ascertain that students taking this program have a high school diploma. Most of the schools that the New York State Education Department oversees are residential programs that cater principally to students in their teens and twenties. Our school differs in that our students are in a distance education program and may live anywhere. In addition, many of our students are adult learners who may have completed high school many, many years ago and who may have difficulty locating their high school diploma. For that reason, in consultation with the New York State Education Department, we have adopted the following policies: If you are 27 or older, and have the interest to enroll in our program and the funds available to do so, we will presume that you either completed high school or have acquired sufficient equivalent experience in the course of your life. Simply note your age on your enrollment form in the appropriate spot. This “life experience” qualification is acceptable to the New York State Education Department.

Individuals seeking to enroll in our program who are under 27 must arrange to have the high school from which they graduated furnish us with a copy of their diploma or a transcript that shows that the student earned a diploma. Individuals with higher degrees—for example a Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree, or a professional degree such as a medical or legal degree—that cannot be obtained without a high school diploma, can arrange to have the school that issued the higher degree send us a copy of that degree or a transcript. That documentation will be sufficient to establish completion of high school.

You need a camera for all of our courses. Point-and-shoot cameras with a manual mode can handle most of the assignments, although use of a Digital SLR is recommended so that you can manually adjust your aperture, shutter speed, and other settings. We also encourage serious photographers to invest in a tripod. That's all the photo equipment you'll need. (In fact, we urge you not to buy any additional equipment until you've completed the first two units of the Course.)

You will also need access to a DVD player, and an audio CD player (or a computer that can play CDs and DVDs), and a computer with internet access for email.

For the Complete Digital Photography Course: Adobe Photoshop for Photographers, you will need the full version of Adobe Photoshop. Please note: Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Lightroom will not be sufficient for this course. For this course we also suggest a photo-quality inkjet printer, and a there is an optional assignment that requires a flatbed scanner (if you do not want to do this optional assignment, you do not need a scanner). You will also need a computer that can run Adobe Photoshop. To determine whether your computer can run Photoshop, visit Adobe's Web site and read through their Photoshop System Requirements.

Our Complete Course in Professional Photography does include a lesson about glamour and nude photography. However, many students are not interested in this subject and it is completely optional. In fact, we will omit that lesson from the Unit Six materials we send you if you let us know upon enrollment.

NYI has been around since 1910 and we are well recognized throughout the industry. How successful you are largely depends on you, your talent, your drive, and the images you create in your portfolio. Your portfolio is your biggest selling tool, not the degree or institution from which you obtained your degree or certificate. The course will teach you the skills you need to become a successful photographer, but you’ll need to do the work.

We don’t recommend this. In certain circumstances, we will permit a student to enroll in a second course after completing at least half of the first course. Check with your student advisor for details.

Possibly. The IRS permits you to deduct the cost of your NYIP training under certain circumstances. Whether you qualify depends on your individual situation. Consult with your tax advisor to find out if it's deductible for you.

NYIP is open year round, and we have open enrollment in that students can enroll at any time. Each student progresses at his or her own pace. The office is open from 9am to 6pm weekdays, except is it closed for U.S. legal holidays.

Yes. This is a hallmark of NYIP, something that makes us different from many other online or distance education schools. You have unlimited access to your Student Advisor, who is ready and willing to answer your questions via telephone or email. And when you complete your projects, they will be evaluated on audio by a working professional. This support and guidance from insiders in the field an important part of your creative training — giving you much more insight than a letter grade.

The cost of your course depends on a number of factors. First, the course you choose, as the tuition varies depending on your field of study. We offer a low monthly payment plan as well as a full payment plan for those that can afford to pay for their course up front. In order to get complete costs and payment options for the course you’re interested in, please request a Free Course Catalog.

It’s easy. Simply fill out our online enrollment application or call us up at 1-800-445-7279 and enroll over the phone with one of our student service representatives.

Each student will be assigned an instructor, who are all working photographers, when you submit your first photo project. That instructor will be your instructor for the remainder of the course. If you wish to change your instructor at any time, you are welcome to contact your student advisor and make this request.

Yes. You will receive your project evaluations via email. And some courses will include online comprehension tests. If you do not have a computer or internet access at home, you can always use a computer at a local library or at an internet cafe.

Unfortunately, because we have students from all over the world, not just in one region we are not able to offer opportunities like this. However, the student advisor will gladly help you brain-storm about ways to find some in your area. And we also offer an alumni association for those students who complete the program with job listings and other career services to come in the near future.

Because of the shorter length of our courses, we are not eligible for standard financial assistance programs that are offered by two- or four-year schools or federal agencies. Our low tuition and monthly payment program are designed to make it possible for students to afford the training on their own.

NYIP is approved to offer various military financial assistance programs. Click here for more info on our military tuition assistance programs.

NYIP Policy on Plagiarism:

Educators at all levels are aware that allegations of plagiarism and other forms of student cheating are on the rise in high schools and colleges across the country. While there should be no reason for a student to practice any sort of academic dishonesty in a program that is designed for self-improvement, we have the same commitment to academic integrity that all accredited schools share.

The New York Institute of Photography maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism.

All work submitted by NYIP students must be the student’s own work and the result of the student’s own effort. Otherwise, it is plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of work in any form, which is not one’s own work without acknowledgement of the source or sources of that material. Plagiarism can include presenting work produced in collaboration with someone else as being entirely original, or it can be a quotation or paraphrase of someone else’s material, as well as direct copying.

If ideas or information come from a source, that source must be acknowledged and credited either by attribution, footnote, or any other accepted technique depending on the medium. Direct copying of someone else’s words is the most overt form of plagiarism.

Any type of plagiarism is unacceptable and will be grounds for dropping a student from an NYIP course. All possible instances of plagiarism are reported to the Institute’s Director who may use any means necessary to investigate the matter.

If you have any question about how to properly cite a source, please contact your student advisor before you submit any finished work to the school. If you have any questions on this topic, please contact your student advisor. For more information about plagiarism, you can visit the site www.plagiarism.org. The FAQ section there is particularly helpful.

Finally, NYIP students should be aware that in addition to consequences involving your enrollment in the school, plagiarism of copyrighted material can be a violation of U.S. copyright laws and lead to legal action and proceedings.

Yes, 4" x 6" prints are fine. They're easy to produce and send. Our teachers are all pros and they're used to looking at prints of all sizes. 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 are all acceptable sizes. You can have them made by a local photo lab or printed on photo paper with your printer.

We always prefer it if you send them individually as you can then apply your Instructors feedback to your next photo shoot. However, if you do decide to send several Units together, just be sure to clearly mark the images with the appropriate info on the back.

Yes, you can edit your images prior to sending them in.

Absolutely, we love to see panoramic images.

The comprehension tests are given an actual letter grade. The photo projects are evaluated and marked as completed if the photos meet all the requirements. However, from time to time, an Instructor will specifically ask a student to resubmit a photo, or an entire project. This would not be considered failing, but rather a resubmission of an incomplete project.

The comprehension tests are submitted online so you get the results as soon as you are done. The photo projects are evaluated by one of our teachers, all of whom are working professionals. The average turnaround time is 2-3 weeks.

When your instructor has completed your evaluation, you are sent an email with a link to the NYI Evaluation Express. You can download your evaluation from that site as an MP3 file. You can even download it to more than one computer if you wish. Your photos and project folder are mailed back to you.

That depends on what the photo is for:

• Capture Mode: Shooting in RAW allows a photographer to capture more detail than if they were to shoot in JPEG. The RAW capture format also provides photographers with more control over the image in the digital darkroom. The ability to change the white balance on a RAW file can make an immediate impact on the overall look of the photo. For instance, by choosing a white balance setting of cloudy, or shady, your photo will take on a warmer tone. If your indoor pictures have a yellow color cast, simply select the Tungsten White Balance preset. Since RAW files do capture so much detail, they will take up more space on your memory card, and hard drive. For example, a 10 megapixel camera with a 4 GB Compact Flash card can hold about 135 RAW files in comparison to 420 JPEG/FINE images. If you decide to shoot RAW, you will want to pick up a few extra memory cards.
• For Archival Purposes: The DNG format was recently created by Adobe in an effort to unify the various RAW formats created by different camera manufactures. For example, Canon’s RAW files are known as .CRW, and Nikon’s are .NEF. Many photographers feel this can potentially become problematic in the long term. They argued that their RAW files may not be future proof in newer software applications. Programs like Adobe Lightroom have an option to backup your RAW files as .DNG. If you want to protect your digital negatives (RAW files) for many years to come, DNG is well worth the effort.
• For Making Prints: For those special images that you want to print and display, the preferred file format is TIFF. By saving your completed image as a TIFF, you are using a lossless file which is capable of producing high quality enlargements. JPEG is a compressed file which can degrade image quality slightly. While this may not be noticeable on the computer screen, it will likely show on large prints. By starting with a RAW file, and converting to a TIFF, you are not compressing the file, or losing data. For prints, TIFFS should be saved at 300DPI.
• For Email and Web Posting: JPEG is the recommended format for sharing images on the web, or by email.

If you aspire to be a professional photographer, I would recommend you limit your choices to either Canon and Nikon, the two dominant players in the market for high end consumer and professional cameras. Both manufacturers offer a nice range of cameras in the budget range you are considering. I would recommend that you purchase a camera and zoom lens that are below your preliminary budget, since you will want to grow your “system” by adding external flash units, specialty lenses, and other items as you become more skilled at photography and you look for greater technical and artistic challenges.

In making your choice, I suggest you start by going to DP Review a great independent website that reviews virtually every camera out there. Click here for their page on Buying a DSLR http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Guides/dslr_buying_guide_01.htm

You can choose between Carbon Fiber, Aluminum, or a Carbon Fiber Aluminum mix. Carbon Fiber is much lighter and easier to hike with. Since they weigh less than 4.5 pounds, you'll be more likely to take it with you instead of leaving it home. Also, Carbon Fiber doesn't get as painfully cold as Aluminum. Anyone who shoots in cold weather climates will appreciate this comfort.

It can be very uncomfortable to look through your viewfinder while hunched over for long periods of time. We recommend finding a tripod that extends to about your nose without extending the center column. Once the ball head and camera are attached, it will be the perfect height.

When you are photographing landscapes, flowers, insects, you may want to get down to the ground for a unique perspective. To do this, you will need to check the minimum height of the tripod. Ideally you should be able to bring it down to about five inches from the ground. There are a few different ways to achieve this perspective. Some tripods have an adjustable, or reversible center column. Others have no center column at all.

If your camera, 400mm lens, and ball head weigh five pounds each, your tripod needs to support at least fifteen pounds. Even if you don't currently use a super telephoto, you may decide to rent or buy one in the future. At a minimum, look for your tripod to have a "load capacity" of fifteen pounds. If you regularly use longer glass, then I'd recommend something that can hold twenty to twenty five pounds.

Look for a tripod with a folded length of 26.5 inches or less. This will be small enough to check in a medium sized duffle bag for both international and domestic flights. Tripods with four leg sections are normally a bit smaller than three section models. However, three sections are not only much faster to set up, but they are sturdier.

Two words, Neutral Density. It surpasses the Polarizer as the most useful filter landscape photographers can keep in their bag. These great little tools come in many shapes, strengths, and sizes. For the most versatility, I recommend the square types that fit in a lens mount. Cokin makes inexpensive holders that work well with other brand's filters such as Hitech. Generally, a soft edge two stop neutral density filter is a good place to start. It works by reducing the difference in brightness between the foreground and the sky. This allows your digital sensor to capture the detail in both areas. For example, if you meter the foreground and expose it as 18% grey, the bright sky may be overexposed by two stops. A two stop ND filter would correct this by holding back two stops of light from the sky. With this technique, you can exceed your camera's dynamic range. Filters in the three- and four-stop range are also quite effective and worth keeping in your bag. The soft edge variation is much easier to blend naturally whereas the hard edge is preferable for seascapes with a definitive horizon line. To pick up an ND filter, check out www.2filter.com.

While the aforementioned ND filters are a necessity for any serious landscape artist, be cautious when considering the purchase of a UV filter. Generally these filters don't provide much impact, and can in fact reduce the ultimate image quality. Some photographers use them as a protective measure, and camera stores push them for this reason. Yet, for landscapes they are normally not necessary. A Circular Polarizer however, is a very handy tool for increasing saturation, and eliminating reflections on water and other surfaces. By rotating the filter while looking through the viewfinder, you can actually see the change a Polarizer has on the scene. The effectiveness of the polarization is dependent upon the angle of the sun in relation to your lens. For this reason, polarizing filters should not be left on the lens at all times. Also, be aware that using a Polarizing filter reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor by as much as two stops when you use it to its maximum effect.

Any camera with a manual exposure setting will do for this course. If you’re not sure whether or not your camera has a manual exposure setting give us a call and talk to one of our student advisors, who can talk you through your camera.

There are two Photo Projects. One is to be submitted after Unit 1 & 2 is completed. Project 2 should be submitted after Unit 3 & 4. Often times students are confused because there is no project to be submitted with Unit 1. You’ll receive the first project in Unit 2, and it will cover what you've learned up until that point in the course.

You can, but it's better not to so you can take advantage of your instructors evaluation and possible apply it to your next project.

Yes, you can.

Yes, but a disk is preferred.

Any late release of the full version of Photoshop (CS through CS6).

No, we do not sell Photoshop. You must already have or purchase Photoshop on your own in order to complete this course.

Yes. Students should contact their student advisor to obtain the necessary information regarding the educational discount from Adobe.

No, Photoshop is the only software program that will be covered.

The course is designed to be non-version specific to accommodate as many students, using different versions, as possible.