Students seeking admission to The Art Institute of Pittsburgh — Online Division must meet the following requirements shown below.
The prospective student must be a high school graduate with a minimum, cumulative, final high school CGPA of 2.0 or higher, or hold a General Education Development (GED) Certificate, or associate's degree or higher as a prerequisite for admission.
Online Orientation
Each student who enrolls at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh — Online Division is required to complete an online student orientation prior to the start date of the student's first course. The online orientation helps the student become familiar with different features of the online classroom environment and prepares the student for his or her role as an active learner in the online classroom.
Technical Requirements
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division photography program is designed to allow students to build their equipment suite piece by piece. The first photography course in the Bachelor of Science degree program, G150PH Introduction to Design Applications, only requires investment in a scanner and a student may use a common “point-and-shoot” camera. The first shooting course, PH123 Principles of Digital Photography is where a student makes their first major investment in a Digital SLR Camera, lenses and other accessories. Later in the program an investment will be made for PH136 Lighting in studio lights and an Ambient and Flash Meter; then studio strobes in PH 212 Studio Photography. Additional smaller investments in a photo-quality printer, backgrounds, and color calibrator will be needed at other points in the program.
By the time a student graduates they will have invested in the equipment they need to set-up their own photography business – a practical investment in their future.
List of Materials and Equipment Required for the Photography program
While the total cost will differ for each person, incoming Photography students can expect to invest at approximately $3,100 to $13,000 throughout the duration of this program. These costs are associated with each student acquiring the professional equipment necessary to engage in the primary activities as a professional in the industry; the range is due to the various levels of quality from the minimum required to a higher level.
Equipment List
- View the Bachelor of Science in Photography Materials & Equipment Overview
- Digital SLR Camera - Must have an interchangeable lens system, 8 megapixel minimum, RAW file setting
- Memory Card(s)
- Backup Batteries
- 18-55mm lens
- 55-200mm lens
- Camera Bag (Optional)
- Medium Sized Tripod - Must be able to firmly secure a SLR Camera + Flash
- Monopod (Optional)
- Lighting
- 2+ Continuous "Hot" Lights
- 4 Monolights (Studio Strobes) with radio slaves
- Flash Meter
- Light Modifiers (umbrellas, softboxes)
- Light Stands
- Reflector(s)
- Diffuser(s)
- Gray Card
Software Requirements
- Adobe CS5.5 Suite (or latest version)
- Microsoft Office Professional
- Norton Antivirus
- Adobe Lightroom
- Blinkbid
Minimum Technology Requirements
- PC: Students should not have computer specifications less than a Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor (Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom II recommended); Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom II required for Adobe Premiere Pro (Processor with 64-bit support required for Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects CS5 version) and one of the following Operation Systems with 4GB of RAM and at least 30GB of hard-disk space available for installation. In addition, PC users should have at least a 1280x900 display (1280x1024 recommended) with qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card, 16-bit color, and 256MB of VRAM, as well as a DVD-ROM drive:
- Windows XP with Service Pack 3
- Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (Service Pack 2 recommended)
- Windows 7
- Mac: As a general guideline, students should not have computer specifications less than Apple Mac Pro 4,1 or later; MacBook Pro 5,1 or later (MacBook Pro 6,1 or later recommended); iMac 8,1 or later (iMac 11,1 or later recommended); Mac mini 3,1 or later (Mac mini 4,1 or later recommended); MacBook Air 2,1 or later; MacBook 5,1 or later (MacBook 7,1 or later recommended); with Mac OS X v 10.6.4 or later; Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later; 4GB of RAM and a DVD-ROM drive. Students should also have at least 10GB of hard-disk space available for installation. In addition, Mac users should have at least a 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) with qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card, 16-bit color, and 256MB of VRAM.
Additional Required Hardware
- Photo Printer - capable of handling 5.5 x 11 Photo Paper, and minimum of 4+ separate ink cartridges (Black, Yellow, Cyan, Magenta) to ensure sufficient range of color representation in printing
- Flatbed Scanner (for G150PH only)
- Color Management System (Xrite ColorMunki Photo)
Additional Optional Items
- DVD-ROM drive may be required for some installation disks
- External Hard Drive
- Desktop Monitor (for Laptops)
Internet Requirements
A broadband connection is required for this course.
Web Browser Requirements
PC: At least one of the following browsers with Java enabled:
- Internet Explorer 9.0 (recommended)
- Internet Explorer 8.0 (supported)
- Mozilla Firefox 4.0 (recommended)
- Mozilla Firefox 3.5 (supported)
- Google Chrome 5.0 and higher (supported
Mac: At least one of the following browsers with Java enabled:
- Safari 5.0 (recommended)
- Safari 4.0 (supported)
- Mozilla Firefox 4.0 (recommended)
- Mozilla Firefox 3.5 (supported)
- Google Chrome 5.0 and higher (supported)
Visit Journey Ed, America's leading seller of hardware and software to students. Select from a wide variety of software programs and purchase all of your required software online - at a student discount.
Note: All Courses use the latest version of the software packages required.
While our students may use any resource to get the required equipment for the Photography program, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division has selected B&H Photo & Video &trade as our recommended vendor for equipment purchasing.
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division has done this to make the process easier, and provide our students with a single point of contact.
If students decide to use B&H Photo & Video to acquire their equipment, they should expect an B&H Photo & Video Educational Sales Representative to assist them in selection of the best equipment based on spec requirements and budget. Students may also access the B&H Photo & Video student portal and use the search functions to assist in product selection.
A student discount rate is available for those students who are currently enrolled in one video or photo program.
Students must select the "Become a Member" option and complete a simple verification form. Proof of enrollment is required. Once verified, students will be a member for one year and will be eligible for all student discount rates on purchases during that time period.
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division will work directly with B&H Photo & Video during the student verification process to ensure a timely response.
Students should access the following B&H Photo & Video link to become a member: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/eduRootPage.jsp?edu
Customer Service: 800-221-7543 or 212-939-7765 Product Questions: 866-276-1435
* Not all equipment must be purchased at the beginning of the program. Contact your New Student Advisor, Admissions Representative or Faculty member (for those who are already enrolled) about when you will need each item.