Anyone heard of these???

kassie

Or complete a course with them?

http://www.iphotographycourse.com/

zero19

Never heard of them, £399 is a lot of money for information freely available online.

Kenny Logins

University of Youtube. It's free.

kassie

only ask coz groupon have a deal for a course with them at the moment €50 (instead of €500). Ive decided to "self teach" but thought if the course was a good one €50 would certainly be money well spent on a course if it helped... plus the course is sort of self taught!

Kenny Logins

I'd spend that €50 on a couple of books or a month on Lynda.com (free 7 day pass here - http://chrisorwig.com/retouching/lynda.php)

I find it much easier to learn when drawing information from a range of sources.

kassie

Cheers Kenny, think i might spend my €50 on joining my local camera club (1yr membership plus beginners guidance course)

vic20

The book "Understanding Exposure" will only set you back around €20. Worth every cent!

kassie

Thanks! bought that last week Vic

mckildare

I have a Pano FZ100 and I can't get indoor or moving shots right at all. I'm assuming the camera is capable of taking them correctly! Was at a friends wedding last week and only got one out of 20 or so Would a course like this or the above mentioned books help me for this types of shots?

Tutorials seem like a good idea for me to get out there and try the shots rather than just reading how to do them....

Thanks!

vic20

Well...my vote goes to the book as it explains what you need to know to get the shots you want but each to their own...
(nice camera btw)

mckildare wrote: »

I have a Pano FZ100 and I can't get indoor or moving shots right at all. I'm assuming the camera is capable of taking them correctly! Was at a friends wedding last week and only got one out of 20 or so Would a course like this or the above mentioned books help me for this types of shots?

Tutorials seem like a good idea for me to get out there and try the shots rather than just reading how to do them....

Thanks!

pete4130

Understanding exposure wont mean you take a good photo. Just like understanding gravity wont mean you can fly.

Bring your camera everywhere, shoot everything, try everything, don't be afraid, aim to make mistakes...

the more mistakes you make, the harder it is to make them.

kassie

I know that any camera is only as good as the person behind it!!! I decided to go down the "self teaching" route because I know from past experiences the things i have learned by self discovery have stayed with me longer than things that have been taught to me. With regards the courses i suppose all i'm looking for is the proper guidance from experienced people which in turn would help my confidence behind the camera to know that i'm on the right track, am not asking to be a professional in 12 months by any means, i just want to be able to take good pics and enjoy the experience of doing so as a hobby. I've managed to capture a few really nice pics (although in auto mode and from my phone camera), these were just lucky shots i suppose, although one was deliberate - right time right place and its now on a big canvas on my wall at home! #proud lol

I must start bringing my camera with me everywhere, i'm constantly on the look out for nice shots and its always when i've no camera (not even phone camera) that i see something and think - that would make a lovely pic, or else the moment passes too quick for me to get the camera out!

pete4130

My opinion is seriously that photography is a science. It's light, going through a certain sized hole, for a certain amount of time at a certain sensetivity (ISO). Once you grasp that it makes understanding lenses and their limitations and what can be achieved a lot easier. Once you grasp that scientific concept the whole artistic concept is easier (for me at least). I can see what I want and know if it's attainable or not....or shoot regardless and pullit back in post processing.

Artists like Cartier-Bresson (who was not a photographer) shot with a rangefinder that had 1/125th shutter speed. His exposures were shíte and all over the place. Technicians printed his work. He didn't have a clue. My point being just bring your camera and shoot whatever you like. Forget being technically perfect....leave that for someone else who cares about that sort of stuff (technical perfection doesnt' count for aesthetic quality).

Courses are good value for money if you actually folow them up and use what you've been shown. It's useless if you get shown something and 2 years later to put it into practice. The easiest way to learn is to just shoot, shoot shoot. Try use the manual mode on your camera and just get to grips with it.
It's far more beneficial to just go out and shoot 2000 photos with a goal in mind that going to a course and not doing the hard work and seeing the results.

kassie

pete4130 wrote: »

Courses are good value for money if you actually folow them up and use what you've been shown. It's useless if you get shown something and 2 years later to put it into practice. The easiest way to learn is to just shoot, shoot shoot. Try use the manual mode on your camera and just get to grips with it.
It's far more beneficial to just go out and shoot 2000 photos with a goal in mind that going to a course and not doing the hard work and seeing the results.

thats it exactly

vic20

I know that! But knowing which button/dial/knob does what will speed up the learning curve. The camera's only a tool. It's your eye that does the real work.

pete4130 wrote: »

Understanding exposure wont mean you take a good photo. Just like understanding gravity wont mean you can fly.
<snip>
the more mistakes you make, the harder it is to make them.

pete4130

All cameras, are a light tight black box with a hole at the front that you control how the light comes in (with aperture and shutter speed) and your medium (digital or analogue) determines your ISO.....thus completing that ever so elusive exposure triangle....meaning a camera from the late 1800's still follows the exact same principles as a modern DSLR.

The buttons you need to know are primarily the shutter button. Once you've worked out exposure before hand the shutter is all that matters. I shoot 6 different cameras from ranging from 1965-2007 and they are all still little black boxes with holes at the front...the important (shutter) button is just in a different place in some of them. They all follow the same rules.

ScumLord

kassie wrote: »

Cheers Kenny, think i might spend my €50 on joining my local camera club (1yr membership plus beginners guidance course)

Make sure you check it out before hand. I went to a camera club and they spent the whole time looking at some ones holiday photos. Not even critically she just talked about the place more than the photos.

Self teaching is the only real way to teach. It's always helpful getting a one to one or one to group but even the best of them aren't going to teach you experience.

I've bought a few beginners books and would recommend jumping straight into something that's more advanced, the basics of photography aren't that hard, if you get the beginners books they'll cover how to use a camera and you'll feel like surely they've left something out at the end of the book. I got Tom Angs digital photography masterclass and even though he goes into the more advanced side he starts with the basics and includes much more detail on how to get what your looking for out of photos.

kassie

well the local camera club, i know they do outings even over night trips sometimes, meetings are fortnightly and they have an exhibition then once a year on the members photos which is open to the public. I attended one meeting 5-6 years ago and was pretty intimidated by the meeting to say the least, but now i've got a little better understanding of where i want to go regarding my interest in photography... my only fear about joining the club would be feeling like an outsider!

pete4130

Camera clubs are great for socialising....

The year I spent in a camera club made me realise how restrictive they can be. People get into the frame of mind to shoot to show at their camera club etc.... and it becomes their photographic world. At least online forums are more open, sometimes.....

bullpost

You get what you want out of them.

You get exposed to lots of different types of photography and techniques in a relatively short space of time if its a good club.

Not too gone on the competition/accreditation side of it personally but clubs are a great way to get to experience studio/strobist shoots etc. Far harder to absorb that stuff from online reading.

They are not for everyone and a lot of people move on after a year or two, but for me being a member has definitely been a good experience.

pete4130 wrote: »

Camera clubs are great for socialising....

The year I spent in a camera club made me realise how restrictive they can be. People get into the frame of mind to shoot to show at their camera club etc.... and it becomes their photographic world. At least online forums are more open, sometimes.....

kassie

can't hurt right! If its not what i'm looking for i can move on without the guilty of wasting a high membership fee!

ThOnda

Camera clubs (in general, not all of them) are good place to meet people, as Pete said. But there is tendency to suck members into groves and styles that are not that much praised outside the tight walls of the club.
I think a year membership on Lynda would be better investment of money, when talking about technical side of photography, including processing.