Communication Studies and Language Communication Studies

Digital Photo Editing And Creative Design Techniques Training

SAQA US 117548 | NQF 5 | Credits 6 | Duration 3 Days
From $967 per delegate

Description

This course equips learners with the skills to edit digital photos and apply creative design techniques using industry-standard software. Participants will gain proficiency in image manipulation, colour correction, and composition to produce professional-quality visuals for corporate and marketing use. The training ensures competence in applying design principles to enhance visual communication within a business context.

Learning Outcomes

  • Apply digital photo editing techniques to enhance, retouch, and manipulate images effectively.
  • Analyse design principles such as balance, contrast, and hierarchy to improve visual compositions.
  • Evaluate colour correction and adjustment tools to achieve consistent and accurate colour representation.
  • Design creative layouts and graphics using layers, masks, and blending modes.
  • Implement file management and output settings for various digital and print formats.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in using industry-standard software (e.g., Adobe Photoshop) to complete editing tasks.

Target Audience

This course is ideal for marketing professionals, graphic designers, content creators, and administrative staff who need to produce or edit digital images for corporate communications, social media, or print materials.

Prerequisites

Basic computer literacy and familiarity with file management. No prior graphic design experience required.

Course Outline

Day 1: Fundamentals of Digital Photo Editing

Objectives:
• Understand the digital image editing environment and workspace.
• Demonstrate proficiency in basic image adjustments: exposure, contrast, and colour balance.
• Apply selection tools and layer management techniques.
• Perform basic retouching and cropping for print and web output.

Topics:
• Introduction to digital image file formats (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, RAW).
• Navigating the editing software interface (toolbars, panels, shortcuts).
• Image resolution, canvas size, and resizing for different outputs.
• Basic colour correction: levels, curves, and white balance.
• Selection tools: marquee, lasso, magic wand, and quick selection.
• Layer fundamentals: creating, naming, blending modes, and opacity.
• Cropping, straightening, and rotating images.
• Removing blemishes and red-eye using healing and clone tools.

Day 2: Creative Design Techniques and Compositing

Objectives:
• Create multi-layered composites with advanced selection and masking.
• Apply typographic design principles and text effects.
• Utilise filters, adjustment layers, and blending modes for creative effects.
• Understand colour theory and its application in digital design.

Topics:
• Advanced selection: colour range, refine edge, and channels.
• Layer masks and clipping masks for non-destructive editing.
• Working with adjustment layers (gradient map, photo filter, hue/saturation).
• Introduction to typography: font selection, kerning, leading, and text on a path.
• Layer styles: drop shadow, bevel, gradient overlay, and stroke.
• Creative use of filters (blur, distort, artistic) and smart filters.
• Colour theory basics: complementary, analogous, and triadic schemes.
• Compositing techniques: aligning, blending, and matching lighting.

Day 3: Advanced Workflows and Professional Application

Objectives:
• Develop efficient editing workflows using actions and batch processing.
• Prepare images for print, web, and social media with appropriate colour profiles.
• Integrate design elements for branding and marketing materials.
• Apply ethical and legal considerations in digital image use.

Topics:
• Creating and editing custom brushes and patterns.
• Using vector tools: pen tool, shape layers, and paths.
• Actions and batch processing for repetitive tasks.
• Colour management: sRGB, Adobe RGB, CMYK, and proofing.
• Output settings for print (resolution, bleed, PDF) and web (optimisation, file size).
• Designing social media graphics, banners, and simple logos.
• Copyright, licensing, and ethical use of images.
• Final project: create a composite image incorporating text and effects, applying all techniques learned.

Practicals

No practicals for this training.

This course is made up of exercises and case studies delivered alongside the theory — no separate practical sessions are required to complete it.

Summatives

Each delegate is assessed continuously throughout the course and a final summative test at the end.

Daily Exercises — 30%

Every training day ends with a multiple-choice exercise scored out of 100%. The scores from each daily exercise are averaged across the duration of the course to produce a Daily Average mark, which contributes 30% to the final total.

Final Test — 70%

On the last day a final summative test is written. It is a multiple-choice paper with multiple-answer questions: each question may have more than one correct option, and a single wrong selection on a question marks the entire question wrong — no partial credit. The final test is scored out of 100% and contributes 70% to the overall mark.

Final Total
Component Out of Weight
Daily Average (multiple choice) 100% 30%
Final Test (multi-answer multiple choice) 100% 70%
Final Total 100%

All marks are recorded on the AATICD LMS and visible to each learner under their account.

Certificate

Certificate of Completion

Awarded to delegates who achieve an overall mark of 50% or higher on the Final Total (Daily Average 30% + Final Test 70%).

How it works
  • Certificates are auto-generated on the AATICD LMS as soon as the marks pass the 50% threshold.
  • Each certificate is a branded PDF with the delegate's name, the course title, the unit standard ID, NQF level, credits, and the date of issue.
  • You can download or print your certificate from your LMS dashboard at any time after issue — there's no reissue fee and no expiry date.
  • If you scored under 50% you can sit the final test again at the next scheduled session at no extra cost.
Where to find it

Sign in to the LMS, open your dashboard, and your certificates appear under My Certificates. Each entry has a View / Download button and a print option.

Training Discounts

Group discounts apply automatically — the more delegates you enrol, the greater the saving. Discounts are calculated at 3% per 5 delegates, scaling up to 40% off for 100+ delegates.

Delegates Discount
5 3% off
10 6% off
15 9% off
20 12% off
25 15% off
30 18% off
50 30% off
75 35% off
100 40% off

3% discount per 5 delegates, up to 40% off for 100+ delegates. Contact us for a custom group quote.

Upcoming Training Sessions
Online training — attend live sessions from anywhere via our virtual classroom.
Start End Delivery Season Price Action
Tue 08 Sep 2026 Thu 10 Sep 2026 Virtual Spring 2026 $967 Register
Mon 28 Sep 2026 Wed 30 Sep 2026 Virtual Spring 2026 $967 Register
Wed 21 Oct 2026 Fri 23 Oct 2026 Virtual Spring 2026 $967 Register
Tue 08 Dec 2026 Thu 10 Dec 2026 Virtual Summer 2026 $967 Register
Mon 11 Jan 2027 Wed 13 Jan 2027 Virtual Summer 2026 $967 Register
Wed 17 Feb 2027 Fri 19 Feb 2027 Virtual Summer 2026 $967 Register
Tue 02 Mar 2027 Thu 04 Mar 2027 Virtual Autumn 2027 $967 Register
Mon 08 Mar 2027 Wed 10 Mar 2027 Virtual Autumn 2027 $967 Register
Wed 17 Mar 2027 Fri 19 Mar 2027 Virtual Autumn 2027 $967 Register
Tue 08 Jun 2027 Thu 10 Jun 2027 Virtual Winter 2027 $967 Register
Mon 28 Jun 2027 Wed 30 Jun 2027 Virtual Winter 2027 $967 Register
Wed 21 Jul 2027 Fri 23 Jul 2027 Virtual Winter 2027 $967 Register
Tue 07 Sep 2027 Thu 09 Sep 2027 Virtual Spring 2027 $967 Register
Mon 27 Sep 2027 Wed 29 Sep 2027 Virtual Spring 2027 $967 Register
Wed 20 Oct 2027 Fri 22 Oct 2027 Virtual Spring 2027 $967 Register
Tue 07 Dec 2027 Thu 09 Dec 2027 Virtual Summer 2027 $967 Register
Mon 27 Dec 2027 Wed 29 Dec 2027 Virtual Summer 2027 $967 Register
Wed 19 Jan 2028 Fri 21 Jan 2028 Virtual Summer 2027 $967 Register
On-Campus training — face-to-face sessions at our training venues across Africa and beyond.
Showing all 492 sessions across 26 venues
Start End Venue Season Price Action
Mon 10 Aug 2026 Wed 12 Aug 2026 Pretoria, South Africa Winter 2026 $1,447 Register
Mon 10 Aug 2026 Wed 12 Aug 2026 Mauritius Winter 2026 $3,148 Register
Tue 11 Aug 2026 Thu 13 Aug 2026 Abu Dhabi, UAE Winter 2026 $4,552 Register
Tue 11 Aug 2026 Thu 13 Aug 2026 Cape Town, South Africa Winter 2026 $2,392 Register
Wed 12 Aug 2026 Fri 14 Aug 2026 Durban, South Africa Winter 2026 $2,230 Register
In-House training — we bring the trainer to your organisation, tailored to your team.
Start End Delivery Season Price Action
Wed 16 Sep 2026 Fri 18 Sep 2026 Your Premises Spring 2026 $1,258 Register
Tue 06 Oct 2026 Thu 08 Oct 2026 Your Premises Spring 2026 $1,258 Register
Mon 26 Oct 2026 Wed 28 Oct 2026 Your Premises Spring 2026 $1,258 Register
Wed 16 Dec 2026 Fri 18 Dec 2026 Your Premises Summer 2026 $1,258 Register
Tue 19 Jan 2027 Thu 21 Jan 2027 Your Premises Summer 2026 $1,258 Register
Mon 22 Feb 2027 Wed 24 Feb 2027 Your Premises Summer 2026 $1,258 Register
Wed 10 Mar 2027 Fri 12 Mar 2027 Your Premises Autumn 2027 $1,258 Register
Tue 16 Mar 2027 Thu 18 Mar 2027 Your Premises Autumn 2027 $1,258 Register
Mon 22 Mar 2027 Wed 24 Mar 2027 Your Premises Autumn 2027 $1,258 Register
Wed 16 Jun 2027 Fri 18 Jun 2027 Your Premises Winter 2027 $1,258 Register
Tue 06 Jul 2027 Thu 08 Jul 2027 Your Premises Winter 2027 $1,258 Register
Mon 26 Jul 2027 Wed 28 Jul 2027 Your Premises Winter 2027 $1,258 Register
Wed 15 Sep 2027 Fri 17 Sep 2027 Your Premises Spring 2027 $1,258 Register
Tue 05 Oct 2027 Thu 07 Oct 2027 Your Premises Spring 2027 $1,258 Register
Mon 25 Oct 2027 Wed 27 Oct 2027 Your Premises Spring 2027 $1,258 Register
Wed 15 Dec 2027 Fri 17 Dec 2027 Your Premises Summer 2027 $1,258 Register
Tue 04 Jan 2028 Thu 06 Jan 2028 Your Premises Summer 2027 $1,258 Register
Mon 24 Jan 2028 Wed 26 Jan 2028 Your Premises Summer 2027 $1,258 Register
Training Discounts
Delegates Discount
5 3% off
10 6% off
15 9% off
20 12% off
25 15% off
30 18% off
50 30% off
75 35% off
100 40% off

3% off per 5 delegates, up to 40% for 100+

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