I have seen some pretty amazing photographs of the Wilderness Lodge over the last few years. ; Now...I want to get some on my own. ; Tired of standing on the sidelines saying "wish I could do that." ; I'm stepping up to the plate. I won't be going until November or December, so I have plenty of time to learn. ; I need a bit of structure...and would sure love some suggestions. ; Anyone taken a photography course they really got alot out of, or know of one with a good reputation?
Excellent topic! I'd be curious about the same thing. Books go so far, but the class would really help!
Wanna come stay in my Bay Lake Tower grand villa that Craig and Dina are decorating, even though they don't know it yet? (grin) 8)
Re: Ok..time to get serious...I wanna take a class Try you local community college. Especially the evening classes. All the classes I've taken there were taught by actual people working in the field.
Yes, another vote for community college here. I started off taking a photography class in high school, it's amazing now that I look back but my high school had a full darkroom and everything. ; This was of course in the analog, film age. I took another one later at my local community college. ; Still in the film era, still with doing all my own developing and printing. ; I had some difficulty with it, I'm more of a technical person, I have extreme difficulty with the artistic side of things. ; I also have difficulty judging subtleties of tone and contrast and such (this was all black and white, luckily color was one problem I didn't have to deal with). But the class experience was useful. ; It's not just having the teacher show you how to do it, it's in the peer critiquing sessions. ; It's not just in what others have to say about your work either, it's in learning by analyzing the work of others. I'm guessing that the photo class experience is different now. ; To put this in perspective, back then I also took a "digital darkroom" class.. that meant photoshop. ; That was purely on the post processing side, although I did scan some shots I printed from film into the computer to work on them there. ; The teacher there was indeed a working professional, and at the time he still did everything on film. ; Apparently at the time the only DSLR tech available was a crop factor body and he didn't like how it altered the fields of view of his lenses. ; Digital tech was overall cruder then, film may well have still been technically superior. I've actually been meaning to go back, I really need to put some work into photography as well. ; I fear I will always be fundamentally limited in at least some ways, but I might as well see what I can accomplish.
I can speak for the hands on experience as being a member of the Pixelmania! group I learned a TON! ; Thanks guys!
I havent been to a class since high school. but, I would suggest starting with a class that focuses on the artistic side of taking pictures over the post processing. If you get the basics right in camera, I think photography is a much more rewarding hobby intially. I would also getting software that can read your exif data so that you can look at some of the techincal details that made a picture work. ; And take tons of pictures. its all free to do now. the more pictures you take, the better they get. Always make sure your backgrounds are good, lines straight, and that the photograph clearly shows your subject.
Here's the course description for a class at our local community college. ; My husband and I are thinking about taking it together. ; What do you all think? ; Does this sound like a good one? PHO 111 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY (3 CREDITS) This non-major course is designed to cover the basics of digital photography. Instruction will introduce students to the digital camera and its functions, offering students a better understanding of the terminology and requirements as well as the limitations of digital imagery. The course will cover issues of composition, design, color theory and history of photography to help students work creatively with their digital cameras. Students will be introduced to image editing software for color correction, image manipulation, and digital output. Projects will involve a range of subject matter and may include: portraiture, landscape, architecture and event photography. (Class time will include lecture, demonstration, aesthetics, critique and in-class projects.) Students must have a digital camera. ps...thanks for all the wonderful advice!!
and don't forget to link on through tmip to get those oh so helpful kelby books, the course is a great start, and after that a lot of the instructions in the scott kelby books will make sense faster, remember also, take 10, throw out 9, take another 10, throw out 9, repeat until you have 10, then throw out 9, stopping to think or jot down each time, why did this not please me, why did i pick this over that also shoot with a prime, preferably a 50mm, for a month, it teaches a little discipline in framing and moving to change composition, remember, back in the day, EVERY body came with a 50mm, usually f1.4, it was considered the standard fov of the human eye, and the way to start to relate the way the camera sees something to how you see it
You know, Gary...that is a good point. ; I need to get that 50mm back out and use it. ; It's been collecting dust as I've been lazy about taking the 18-200 off. ; I appreciate the suggestions so much. ;
