photography courses

[GBH14]

Has anyone been on any? are they worth while?

I have just bought my first dslr and I was toying with the idea of doing one of these courses just to get to grips with it.. I have found a few local to me, of varying prices.

http://www.goingdigital.co.uk/photo....php#Dates,_Venues_&_Prices_for_this_Workshop

this seems to be a national course provider, has anyone ever done it before? Or has andone got any recommendations of course providers to look at?

Cheers

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Nope.

I just used my camera until I figured it all out Was bloody complicated compared to my bridge camera before the SLR.

Read the guides on here, buy a 'nifty fifty' and just get involved.

Taking it out for the day going to a park or into the nearest City will teach you more than a course I'm sure.

If you're anywhere near Basildon I'm more than happy to show you the ropes.



PS: What kit have you bought ?

 

[Jay_A]

Not done one myself either as I'm too stuborn to listen to other people tell me how to do stuff.

All I did was focus on the type of photography I wanted to do, then research it, speak to people and learn as I went along. Much more fun that way, but everyone is different.

50mm lens is deff a good place to start and also shoot in RAW format, as it gives you more to play with when editing.

 

[GBH14]

I was thinking that just going out and with trial and error just picking up the basics, but saw a course advertised somewhere so thought I'd look into it a bit more.

Thanks for the offer but Basildon is a bit far from me, my sister lives down the road from you but I dont often go.

I should have the camera tomorrow so I will have a play around over christmas and see how I get on before deciding on seeking more help!!

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

One other hint is that if you're after a particular shot - fireworks for example... search for your subject on Flickr and then check out the exif for a few shots and you've got your starting point. Take your shot and see how you get on.

Makes it easier than guessing from the start c**til you're comfy you know what you're upto with the dials) as you're closer to your target from step one.

Thanks for the offer but Basildon is a bit far from me, my sister lives down the road from you but I dont often go.

Ahh.. is she at number 6 ?

:rasp:

 

[GBH14]

One other hint is that if you're after a particular shot - fireworks for example... search for your subject on Flickr and then check out the exif for a few shots and you've got your starting point. Take your shot and see how you get on.

Makes it easier than guessing from the start c**til you're comfy you know what you're upto with the dials) as you're closer to your target from step one.





Ahh.. is she at number 6 ?

:rasp:

Thanks for that, Ive never noticed the settings etc the photo was taken with on flickr, thats pretty handy, will make use of that.

And as a matter of fact she is at number 6! haha! in Chadwell St Mary though, I may have used the term 'down the orad' fairly loosely!!

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

FLOL !!!

Well the offer still stands if you're about anyway :approve:

 

[Brazo]

50mm is 75mm on a crop body, so unless you have fullframe go for a 35mm on a crop body, which is the old nifty fifty in 'new money'.

 

[Addicted]

Tbh - go and learn the photography you want to - if it's night photography then follow some night tutorials etc.

You'll learn alot by reading and then putting what you've learn into practice, without paying a dime.

 

[Tigger]

I'm currently doing a full time HND Photography course (2 years)

It can be very intense, LOTS of research in it and you do find youself questioning is the course really about photography our last assignment on Portraiture was to recreate an image from a famous painting and produce a contemporary version.

 

[Brazo]

I did a gcse in photography about, 20 years ago! Whilst any course won't teach you how to take great pictures it does help you get the basics right. What I learnt about f stops, iso and shutter was invaluable. I see many good compositions by people on here but it's clear they don't really understand exposure, sharpness and depth of field and that does let their shots down technically.

 

[planetx]

photography courses are crap imo. Most of those that run them have never worked the pro circuit, don't have a credible portfolio and when posed technical questions can't answer them.
Now I am not slating ALL courses, because naturally I haven't attended them all but I have attended what is regarded to be the best in Europe and that is the Defence School of Photography at RAF Cosford which was one year.
I have a lot of photographer friends in lots of places, and know some of these courses and some of them are a joke.

You will learn far more in places like this or talk photography.net - if you get stuck just ask a question.
Get a good book like Langfords, apply the four basics of Aperture,Shutter,ISO,Focus and you have photography right there.

Learn composition, don't rely on photoshop YET, and enjoy the learning process.
I still have to learn 20 years on - ask Dan, he is my technical call centre.

Learn to take critique, especially in a friendly forum such as this one.
Get amongst magazines, blogs and try to copy and recreate some of the work.

Don't get too wrapped up in having the latest kit, a good manual camera and a primes lens will see you good through the learning phase. Crikey this time last year I had £50K worth of camera kit, I now own 1 little point and shoot camera and never before have I been so gripped by photography.

If you have any questions you are welcome to grab my email and we can do some "distant learning" - I would say I have covered pretty much every technical issue thrown at me over the years, not to say I am a master but I can certainly reword it into something more palatable .
I have taught photography to thick soldiers for several years, that weren't really interested in taking a picture - so a keen student shouldn't be a problem.


However to throw a spanner in the works - I still want to go on one course and that is the course run by Damien lovegrove, but that is way above your level at this stage.

Enjoy.

 

[john182rs]

With courses or just another photographer, you can be given all the advice in the world, it still might not work for you though.

I asked some one who did ice hockey photography as a proffession, yet what he told me to set the camera to and what actually came from the pictures was shocking. Now I jumped from a P&S panasonic tz10 to a Canon 7d with an 18-135mm lens to start off with, the first year and 1000's and 1000's of pictures that went to waste, i did finally start to get some where.

Now 2 years on, I have several lenses, flashs, soft box's and much more but still only some of the pictures come out good in my eyes.


Try a course if you want or pick it up and go take lots of photo's and judge your own pictures.

Practice eventually makes perfect!