Courses, choices and validity?
Discussion
I'm considering a course in photography, but not sure what. Just been looking at open uni and OCA, and one thing that struck me is it's all kinda pricey for me at the moment. Is there much worth in these online degree courses, or would I be better off just going for a week course at the local college?!
typical, all Niko here Personal opinion, I looked at the photography standards of people doing degree level stuff and found it limiting. Seemed to be more "this is a camera, this is exposure"
Being the gobs
te I am, I knew that kind of stuff wasnt for me. Not that I know it all, I just didnt want my photography to take on a never blow the highlights approach thats quite often classroom led. I went for one to one instead to patch up areas where I knew I was weak, and from the sounds of it I think you should work out where you think you'd like to improve specifically (overall stuff is different) and focus on that.
It helped me to have someone ask me what I wanted to take photos of. When I worked out it was people it was much more simple to find an answer to. ETA - I'm completely amateur, dont shoot commissioned stuff at the moment, so I've got the luxury of doing whatever I want to. For someone who's possibly going to do it commercially the above may be a load of toss
Being the gobs
te I am, I knew that kind of stuff wasnt for me. Not that I know it all, I just didnt want my photography to take on a never blow the highlights approach thats quite often classroom led. I went for one to one instead to patch up areas where I knew I was weak, and from the sounds of it I think you should work out where you think you'd like to improve specifically (overall stuff is different) and focus on that. It helped me to have someone ask me what I wanted to take photos of. When I worked out it was people it was much more simple to find an answer to. ETA - I'm completely amateur, dont shoot commissioned stuff at the moment, so I've got the luxury of doing whatever I want to. For someone who's possibly going to do it commercially the above may be a load of toss
Edited by andy-xr on Thursday 24th June 12:45
well I'm in complete agreement "never blow the highlights" approach. Photography is art, art is expressive. Technical excellence is merely a discipline of a far broader field.
That said, I don't really know what I want to do yet, I think I want to understand the mechanics better so I can explore the creativity of it more - Most of my favourite captures at the moment come from trial and error shooting rather than knowing in advance what I need to do, which means capturing a fleeting moment is too much of a fluke.
That, and I'd like to see if I have what it takes to go further with it - I'd desperately like to wake up in the morning one day and not have my first thought as "oh god, I've got to go to work at that st hole I hate doing work I hate"
That said, I don't really know what I want to do yet, I think I want to understand the mechanics better so I can explore the creativity of it more - Most of my favourite captures at the moment come from trial and error shooting rather than knowing in advance what I need to do, which means capturing a fleeting moment is too much of a fluke.
That, and I'd like to see if I have what it takes to go further with it - I'd desperately like to wake up in the morning one day and not have my first thought as "oh god, I've got to go to work at that s
t hole I hate doing work I hate"Edited by Davi on Thursday 24th June 12:53
Do you know if your local college runs evening classes?
I have just finished the first year of a two year course at Hertford Regional College, and although it is just 2 hours on a monday night, it has been a great introduction in to SLR photography. We have covered when to use different settings, Night pics, Still life, Macro, Sports and lots of Portraits...
Also learning with a small group of people has been a great benefit as you get exposure to lots of differnt ideas and photographic styles.
I have just finished the first year of a two year course at Hertford Regional College, and although it is just 2 hours on a monday night, it has been a great introduction in to SLR photography. We have covered when to use different settings, Night pics, Still life, Macro, Sports and lots of Portraits...
Also learning with a small group of people has been a great benefit as you get exposure to lots of differnt ideas and photographic styles.
I submitted this image to a local camera club I was interested in joining.
Rather than pick out the oversharpening or putting the point of interest onto the wrong Fibonacci point, they told me never to shoot into the sun. We parted company around 5 mins later after a conversation about contre-jour and flare. It's not my best ever capture, but it wasnt supposed to be - camera's just a tool to create and capture what you want to.
In short, they didnt get why I'd done what I'd done. Whether I did or didnt follow rules in that case doesnt really matter, it just got me thinking about what others see as an ideal image compared to what you want it to look like.
I'd still say work out what you want to shoot first. Then if exposure, metering and general settings are what you think you need to work more with, try looking at things as a camera might see them, especially in contrasty areas and you could look at specific learning points around that. I personally start with DOF and aperture for any shot I take, and depending on my light source(s) often increase or decrease ISO to put the shutter speed where I want it in relation to whether I'm going to get lens blur, or any ambient if using flash etc. I dont know if that the "right" way of doing it, I've never been taught that, but it seems to work for me. I'm also not particularly bothered about modes. If I shoot in Aperture Priority, Manual or some variant of the two - if it gets me where I need to be then thats fine
Rather than pick out the oversharpening or putting the point of interest onto the wrong Fibonacci point, they told me never to shoot into the sun. We parted company around 5 mins later after a conversation about contre-jour and flare. It's not my best ever capture, but it wasnt supposed to be - camera's just a tool to create and capture what you want to.
In short, they didnt get why I'd done what I'd done. Whether I did or didnt follow rules in that case doesnt really matter, it just got me thinking about what others see as an ideal image compared to what you want it to look like.
I'd still say work out what you want to shoot first. Then if exposure, metering and general settings are what you think you need to work more with, try looking at things as a camera might see them, especially in contrasty areas and you could look at specific learning points around that. I personally start with DOF and aperture for any shot I take, and depending on my light source(s) often increase or decrease ISO to put the shutter speed where I want it in relation to whether I'm going to get lens blur, or any ambient if using flash etc. I dont know if that the "right" way of doing it, I've never been taught that, but it seems to work for me. I'm also not particularly bothered about modes. If I shoot in Aperture Priority, Manual or some variant of the two - if it gets me where I need to be then thats fine
Edited by andy-xr on Thursday 24th June 13:32
Podie said:
If you're a Cano user, the Experience Seminars are excellent, IMO.
+1 for the experience seminars, OH has been on a couple and they were very good. Not much (if any) actual shooting on the courses she did, but she came away very happy (and she is a v. tough customer!!) that she had learnt valuable stuff on using her camera and was able to put it into practice straight away. Davi said:
That said, I don't really know what I want to do yet, I think I want to understand the mechanics better so I can explore the creativity of it more - Most of my favourite captures at the moment come from trial and error shooting rather than knowing in advance what I need to do, which means capturing a fleeting moment is too much of a fluke.
Ok so from my understanding you want to learn more about the technical side rather than the art side. Well imho the best thing to do is to put your camera into manual mode, learn to meter correctly and read histograms (plenty of tutorials on the net) and away you go practice.andy-xr said:
I submitted this image to a local camera club I was interested in joining.
I quite like that!Edited by andy-xr on Thursday 24th June 13:32
itsnotarace said:
Ok so from my understanding you want to learn more about the technical side rather than the art side. Well imho the best thing to do is to put your camera into manual mode, learn to meter correctly and read histograms (plenty of tutorials on the net) and away you go practice.
Definitely want to learn the technical side, yes. I used to be a graphics designer so understand histograms and reading of, and have indeed been practicing, I'm just finding myself limited by my technical knowledge. I learn best when I have someone guiding me, in my experience, and developing on that.andy-xr said:
I'd still say work out what you want to shoot first. Then if exposure, metering and general settings are what you think you need to work more with, try looking at things as a camera might see them, especially in contrasty areas and you could look at specific learning points around that. I personally start with DOF and aperture for any shot I take, and depending on my light source(s) often increase or decrease ISO to put the shutter speed where I want it in relation to whether I'm going to get lens blur, or any ambient if using flash etc. I dont know if that the "right" way of doing it, I've never been taught that, but it seems to work for me. I'm also not particularly bothered about modes. If I shoot in Aperture Priority, Manual or some variant of the two - if it gets me where I need to be then thats fine
I've yet to find anything I don't enjoy shooting really - or at least, I don't enjoy getting a good result from. I love your portrait work, just as I love GC's landscape work, and Moles... well everything work LOL.Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff