Photography course?

Joshwain

Joshwain

Messages
1,379
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi all, another simple question again :p

I was just wondering, seeing as I am new to photography: would it be worthwhile partaking in a course or is it just as easy to read/watch a few tutorials online and learn from trial and error?

Someone has informed me about a free course my college offers, I don't know if I should look into it or not :)
 
Do it, i did and there is nothing better than learning with other people rather than a computer screen.
 
Hi Josh,

I would say if the course is free go for it. There may be some real nuggets of information to be gained and sometimes being shown something and having it explained can really re-inforce a point that you may otherwise not grasp/miss through reading and watching video tutorials online.

Not only that but it will be an opportunity to meet other togs, bounce ideas around and even maybe arange to go out and take photos together. Best of all its free, so if its really really really bad you could always explain its not what you were looking for and stop going.

I imagine howerver that once you go, it will turn out to be fun, wish there was a free course around by me :)
 
Yes, I did three at my local adult learning college. We've now started our own group and miss every other week (in a pub, of course)
 
Do it. You're not risking anything if it's free, and you'll meet other people who are interested in photography too.

You can learn a lot by reading books/magazines, and from the internet, but you'll probably learn more quickly with a tutor, and you can ask questions as you go. That's one of the big advantages.
 
My course was supposed to be £130 for 30 weeks but because we have Child Tax allowance it is only cost me £30 for 30 weeks! Result!
 
If it's free why not give it a go - as with all tuition it depends on the tutor running the course and speaking from experience not all tutors are good - nothing ventured, nothing gained though so get yourself enrolled!!

Simon
 
Mark is there any chance of passing the details on to me. I have been looking at them a free trial would be great.

Thanks
Mark.
 
There is an amazing wealth of training available on line for free, some really good stuff.

Youtube and vimeo have some cracking videos, we have about 15 on vimeo alone,

Then there are a few pay sites where you can get amazing photography training, the likes of kelby or Dave Zizers Digital Pro Talk.

Dont forget Creative live who often have 2 or 3 day full seminars totally free of charge by some of the top photographers in the world.

There are dozens of members on here who offer great training courses as well - check the business section.

Dont forget sites like

Planet Neil
Strobist
Zack Airius

training is your friend, and you can choose free, paid, part paid and a mixture - but its all good.
 
mark1616 said:
Phototraing4u is giving away 12 days online access for free if you apply before 12th Dec. If you are interested I have the details (I'm already a member so they let us have these details to pass to friends etc) so can pm them to you if you like.
Click to expand...

Why not, I could give it a try. If that's ok of course.

dpurslow said:
There is an amazing wealth of training available on line for free, some really good stuff.

Youtube and vimeo have some cracking videos, we have about 15 on vimeo alone,

Then there are a few pay sites where you can get amazing photography training, the likes of kelby or Dave Zizers Digital Pro Talk.

Dont forget Creative live who often have 2 or 3 day full seminars totally free of charge by some of the top photographers in the world.

There are dozens of members on here who offer great training courses as well - check the business section.

Dont forget sites like

Planet Neil
Strobist
Zack Airius

training is your friend, and you can choose free, paid, part paid and a mixture - but its all good.
Click to expand...

Bearing in mind I'm a student with almost no disposable income, I'm going to have to try every free option to begin with but as things become more complex and harder to understand may be tempted to go fore some cheaper paid courses. So as you say, I'll probably go for a bit of both
 
much obliged if you could let me have the details too as well Mark
 
mark1616 said:
Phototraing4u is giving away 12 days online access for free if you apply before 12th Dec. If you are interested I have the details (I'm already a member so they let us have these details to pass to friends etc) so can pm them to you if you like.
Click to expand...

Please may I have the link too Mark? :) Thank you. (y)
 
mark1616 said:
Phototraing4u is giving away 12 days online access for free if you apply before 12th Dec. If you are interested I have the details (I'm already a member so they let us have these details to pass to friends etc) so can pm them to you if you like.
Click to expand...

Would also be interested if still available please,

Thanks,

Steve
 
mark1616 said:
Hi Paul, my bad, got confused with the printing of photos we were discussing. Sent now.
Click to expand...

No worries, thanks for the pm
 
So guys now that the free 12 days are almost up what do u think of phototraining4u? I managed to check out a couple of videos on baby portraits and liked the series on that, but as its such a busy time of year I didn't really have much time to dedicate to this :( anyone going for the ELF discount code and signing up at a reduced price? I'm tempted. Just need a little push either way!
 
To be honest I don't like it that much. I think it's too disorientated and the videos are made too long. Even then I can't seem to find what I want...
 
Joshwain said:
To be honest I don't like it that much. I think it's too disorientated and the videos are made too long. Even then I can't seem to find what I want...
Click to expand...

Thanks Josh :) while I found the site to be a bit disorganised, I thought the content of the videos I did manage to watch were good. My only problem is deciding if its worth spending money on, especially since I didn't watch too many videos in the time it was free!
 
I watched quite a few.

I struggled though with how cumbersome it was to find the films/categories. you would find the same films under lots of headings, and most headings had pages of films, so drilling down to a topic was overly complicated. If the films were a series you would find number one would have links to 2, 3, 4 etc. but also when you went back to the main category list every episode was also listed individually...:bang:

content was on the whole good and I do feel I did learn how this photographer thinks which was good, however a lot of the kit videos did come across as product sales demos rather than showing a range of options for a type of equipment, which left me asking why would I pay to see a video showing me a product you want me to buy? (they also have a shop so I guess its all part of the money making machine)

On reflection I am tempted by the reduced price offered, however given the effort involved finding the interesting content I may as well use youtube and search for equivalent on there...:thinking:

Maybe I missed something thats there, but I went straight for the online video tutorials, didnt touch any other areas (forum etc.)
 
Last edited:
arwesa said:
On reflection I am tempted by the reduced price offered, however given the effort involved finding the interesting content I may as well use youtube and search for equivalent on there...:thinking:
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I thought, it isn't unique enough for me to want to pay for it
 
Thanks all for your comments - while I was tempted by the reduced rate, I didn't go for it as I agree some content was good but hard to find so not really sure how much good content is really there to be had, especially with the kit videos seeming to endorse particular products. Thanks though and I will keep looking for good training videos :)
 
Just curious, what rate did they offer those who signed up for the 12 free days?

To answer about how much good stuff, I would say loads, I can eat up hours of training on it. When you get your head around their organisation (or lack of) it's fine, I have suggested they do improve things though rather than just sorting by date posted in each section.
 
from memory it was about £100 for the year.

the other issue I had with it was a lot of the videos were repeated in different headings, this meant you were looking over the same videos constantly and I found myself wondering if there was as much content as I first thought.
 
arwesa said:
from memory it was about £100 for the year.

the other issue I had with it was a lot of the videos were repeated in different headings, this meant you were looking over the same videos constantly and I found myself wondering if there was as much content as I first thought.
Click to expand...

Holy!!!

I didn't even look at the price, I just expected it to be £30/40
 
Hi Josh,

You may be interested in my site:-
http://greatphotographytips.co.uk

It's a little like phototraining4u, but aimed more at beginners and enthusiasts, rather than pros (plus I like to think it's a little more entertaining). Videos last just a few minutes, and each one demonstrates one photography tip.

You can watch about 5 or 6 for free, then it's £1.00 per month, no contract, you can cancel any time.

There's just short of 40 films on there at the moment, and I add new ones every couple of weeks.

Cheers,
Bernie
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Bernie,

Where do we send the invoice for the advertising?

Thanks

Dod
 
Sorry if I've broken the forum rules!

I've only just joined and of course I'd like to promote my site, but I did think it relevant for this thread.

I'll understand if you prefer to remove my post.

Apologies again,
Bernie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top