Photograhy Training
 

Hi Peeps - this is my first posting onto this (any!) forum - so please be very very gentle with me.

I have looked through the photo's on the website, and to be quite frank with you I am a tad over-awed by the quality and talent that you all posess. I am quite new to photography - I bought my Nikon D80 2 years ago (why does the camera become obsolete 2 nano seconds after you buy it?), and whilst I am having great fun - I am basically groping in the dark and trying to pick it up as I go along. I sometimes feel that the postings leave me feeling very much frustrated more than inspired!

Try to remember the frustration of taking your new prize possesion out of its box and (if you are like me, and new to the whole thing) finding all the buttons and dials confusing and frightening. I am a technicall trainer by profession, and it occured to me that it is a shame that there is no on-line training/step by step guide to using the DSLR on the website. Starting from the very begininng - it could be broken into small step by step guides with aims and objectives. Even with the possibility for members to upload their attempts for evaluation. Each session could give project ideas for a beginners portfolio, and each 'step/guide' only needs be very short (climbing mount Everest begins with the first small step), but if well considered then it may turn out to be a giant leap for someone else (i.e. me!). I, for one,find it much easier to learn using a methodical approach, rather than a 'sink or swim'.

Just a thought :)

Merry Chrstmas and a very 'Snappy' New Year

[QUOTE=trevena;9739]Hi Peeps - this is my first posting onto this (any!) forum - so please be very very gentle with me.

I have looked through the photo's on the website, and to be quite frank with you I am a tad over-awed by the quality and talent that you all posess. I am quite new to photography - I bought my Nikon D80 2 years ago (why does the camera become obsolete 2 nano seconds after you buy it?), and whilst I am having great fun - I am basically groping in the dark and trying to pick it up as I go along. I sometimes feel that the postings leave me feeling very much frustrated more than inspired!

Try to remember the frustration of taking your new prize possesion out of its box and (if you are like me, and new to the whole thing) finding all the buttons and dials confusing and frightening. I am a technicall trainer by profession, and it occured to me that it is a shame that there is no on-line training/step by step guide to using the DSLR on the website. Starting from the very begininng - it could be broken into small step by step guides with aims and objectives. Even with the possibility for members to upload their attempts for evaluation. Each session could give project ideas for a beginners portfolio, and each 'step/guide' only needs be very short (climbing mount Everest begins with the first small step), but if well considered then it may turn out to be a giant leap for someone else (i.e. me!). I, for one,find it much easier to learn using a methodical approach, rather than a 'sink or swim'.

Just a thought :)

Merry Chrstmas and a very 'Snappy' New Year[/QUOTE]

Hi Trevena,

Firstly, may I welcome you to the forums. You will find that we are a friendly bunch with a staggering amount of photography knowledge collectively, so whatever your question is, no matter how trivial it may sound, do not be frightened to ask it anyway. You will find that there is always at least one person who will have the answer for you and you'll be surprised how many others needed that same question answering and will be very grateful too.

Now in answer to your query about how do you learn to use a camera effectively and fully exploit it's potential. Well suffice to say there are many methods, including on-line distance learning courses, adult evening classes run at your local colleges or schools, joining your local camera club, reading books and watching on-line tutorials or attending a day course run by a plethora of professional photographers and photographic retailers the length and breadth of the UK. You will also find some photographers just learnt their trade through trial and error, by simply getting out and about with their cameras and taking loads of shots and noting what worked well and what didn't work well. The choice is yours as to which method suits you best.

Personally, I had used a 35mm film slr for nearly 20 years before I turned to using a digital camera, so I had a fair grasp of the basics or so I thought, but I decided I could do with a refresher as I was not happy with the results I was getting and couldn't fathom out why for myself. I had a look on the internet for a course, with a professional, I could attend locally that would run through the basics and give me the confidence to use some of the other settings other than Auto. And I'm pleased to say it did just that. I probably learnt more in one day than I had in the previous 20 years, but knowing about the relationships between ISO, focal length, apertures and shutter speed is only the start. Once you know about what setting to use for a portrait, a landscape and fast moving action shot then you can then start to experiment a little and be more creative. Since then I've attended another course that covered the process of producing an image from capture to seeing it in print. This focused more on the various editing techniques you can use to either fine tune or completely change your photograph with which is as equally important to know.

Just click on this [URL="http://www.digitalphotographycourses.co.uk/"]link[/URL] to see the website of the first course I attended which is based just outside Market Harborough in Leicestershire. If you're within easy travelling distance of here then I am sure this course will be of benefit to you. If not, then read through his course details and then have a look round for a similar course in your locality.

Best of luck and if there's anything else about photography you need answering all you need to do is ask. You'll be surprised how quickly your question will be answered.:)

Hi Ian,

Many thanks for your prompt reply, and encouragement.

I have looked at your link, and the courses look ideal for me, and very reasonably priced. I live in Cheshire, so I will search for similar courses a bit nearer home.

The reason for my ‘ideas’ was because I know from my own work, when you attend a course, especially if it’s quite intensive; a lot of it is forgotten very quickly. I was hoping to find something that was lots of short and simple learning ‘chunks’, with lots of opportunity to practice and submit work for appraisal/criticism - and of course you could work at your own pace. I also like the idea of other ‘learners’ trying the same modules, submitting their efforts and having useful and frank feedback. A forum is the ideal place for this - but of course it needs an 'expert' to provide the training in the first place!

I know that there are a lot of courses available by searching on line, but in looking through the topics/syllabi (is that the plural?) there is a lot of stuff that, whilst interesting, won’t necessarily improve my photography – so I would question the need to fork out for the courses in the first place.

I will certainly be using the forum more, now that I have taken the plunge.

Many thanks agian!

Cheers!

Rick (trevena)

Hi Rick,

I hear what you say about intensive courses and yes there is a danger that you can quickly forget half of what you've been taught, but then that depends on how the course has been structured.

The course I went on was put across in a very easily understood format with notes of the important bullet points given to each person attending it to take away as a useful point of reference. We spent about two hours going through the basic theory and then spent another two hours putting it into practice and a further hour going through our results and having a debrief.

I will say that once you know the basics, you will find it quite easy to remember because most of it is simply straightforward common sense. For example, when you use a wide angle lens (focal length of say 14mm) it exaggerates the perspective, so if you were to stand by a wooden fence and take a photograph of it as it stretched away into the distance from you, with a wide angle lens the top and bottom rails would quickly converge to a point in the distance. However, if you take the same shot with a telephoto lens (focal length of 150mm) it would compress the perspective, so the top and bottom rails would not converge and stay almost at the same fixed distance apart.

This is why you tend to use a wide angle lens for sweeping landscape shots and a telephoto lens for portraits (unless your subject has got a tiny nose and huge ears that is!) Otherwise, you'd isolate one element within a landscape with a telephoto lens and if you take someones portait using a wide angle lens they will end up looking like they've got a huge nose, mouth and chin and very very small ears.

Best of luck finding an appropriate course, but most of all enjoy your photography.

By the way, once you've grasped the basics and feel more confident using your camera, the second course I attended that addresses the whole process of capturing a shot to printing the final completed image was based in Carlisle. Click [URL="http://www.fotocourses.com/index.htm"]here[/URL] for more details.