Photography courses

[Tron_fdc]

Just thought I would split off from the DSLR thread, and ask if anyone here has taken, or can recommend a good photography course? The girl I took mine through took a correspondence course through the New York Institute of Photography, and for $1000.00 I must say it's fairly appealing.

Has anyone done the SAIT or MRC courses? Any feedback on them? I'm trying to find a course that is up to date (heard the NYIP course is a little dated and focuses on 35mm for the first part), as well as something that includes Photoshop tutorials.

Also, is there anywhere in town that offers seperate Photoshop or Lightroom courses?

[Prototype]

My brother just finished night classes at SAIT, and he seemed pretty pleased with it.

[Tron_fdc]

Yeah, I looked at that, but it's ALWAYS full. Same with MRC.......

[Jayems]

I took a few at MRC with Paul Coates. Fantastic guy. Used to be a photog for the herald or sun... very knowledgeable. Learned a lot of the basics, apateur, ISO, shutter speed, but he also teaches photoshop, so you get to learn that aspect as well. Every week we had an assignment. So, it would be sports (indoor then outdoor) or movemet, or motion blur etc.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

I dabbled in getting my photography cert via SAIT till the realities of life caught up to me. What I found was that at basic to intermediate levels, good photography is good photography and that tips on composition are equably applicable across digital and film formats. I wouldn't worry about "digital specific" courses if your intent is to take separate Photoshop courses.

http://www.sait.ca/pages/cometosait/...tificate.shtml

As with any course, how good it is will be dependent on the instructor and your learning style. I had George Webber who takes some incredible portraits - didn't focus on the technical details (he left those for the course handouts) but was more hands on in relaying his experiences as a photographer.

SAIT is nice in that they have a selection of courses for you to choose from. You can pick and choose from them - even if you're not pursuing a photo certificate. I did the Intro Photoshop course and found it quite useful - I was hoping for more RAW work but I think that's in an advanced course. I also took the night photography course but didn't find that to be all that enlightening (ooooh bad pun).

In all I found them really good - I'd recommend on taking anything outdoor related in warmer weather as I rapidly learned that outdoor photo shoots really suck in -20 weather.

Though the certificate has the best course name I've run into: How to make money with your camera

[Neeper]

I've been thinking about teaching an introduction to photography for a long time now. I am think I am gonna pull the trigger here soon. I wonder what kind of interests I can generate.

[Neeper]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Though the certificate has the best course name I've run into: How to make money with your camera

I took 2 courses at SAIT when I first started. Wedding Photography and How to make money with your camera. Both got me started and helped lead me to the path I am on now.

[photon]

Whatever you do don't take one course and then start charging and acting like you're a bit shot photographer.

We just had a photographer come take some family photos, and while we knew she was pretty new to the industry, we didn't know she was a complete hack. She had a camera model one above mine, nothing special for lenses, and used the built in flash for all the photographs (hello razor sharp shadows behind everyone).

The pictures are harshly lit, off centre, and in some cases aren't even level!

Though I will say she had a good manner with the kids, and only one picture was with eyes closed; she had a good sense of timing.

But she charged a huge amount, and even though she said verbally she'd return our money if we weren't satisfied, she tried to keep most of it. When I asked her what for she started going on and on about how she had to educate the client about what the photographer does for their time, and said she'd spent 18 hours so far and $200 in materials... She has a digital camera!! What 18 hours, importing to a computer and resizing to give proofs should take 1/2 an hour tops, unless she's manually resizing each one in which case I'm not paying for her time because she can't use her tools properly. And what materials, they were DIGITAL!

Apparently she said she went out and bought frames, an album, and was talking about the time it takes to make prints.. we hadn't chosen any of that stuff, and hadn't chosen any proofs to make prints of.

I couldn't tell if she was outright lying, or just so inept and inexperienced she was over her head (the latter I think, or a combination maybe). She had no contract to sign, the only thing she had to sign was something that said she could use the photos for whatever she wanted to (promotion, resell, etc). When we all crossed out the appropriate paragraphs on that page and rewrote them saying we wanted the photos 100% private, she was at a total loss for words lol.

Anyway, sorry for the slightly OT rant, it was a terrible experience. Please if you take courses don't jump into business and be like this person.

[Tron_fdc]

Hahaha yeah, I do it because it's a hobby and because I'm always out in places all over the world doing stuff. I got sick of waiting for my cheap friends to get cameras, so I figured I would show some initiative and start snapping my own photos. I'd never try and charge for anything.

And Neeper, you would get ALL KINDS of interest. I had a hell of a time finding a beginner course, and I ended up doing a couple private, 1 on 1 classes with a girl who normally did group courses. There are a lot of people that want to learn how to use their cameras and don't have a clue where to start.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

And Neeper, you would get ALL KINDS of interest.

seconded. if you do it - send me a pm.

[REDVAN]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

seconded. if you do it - send me a pm.

x3

[Pagal4321]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

And Neeper, you would get ALL KINDS of interest. I had a hell of a time finding a beginner course, and I ended up doing a couple private, 1 on 1 classes with a girl who normally did group courses. There are a lot of people that want to learn how to use their cameras and don't have a clue where to start.

What he said!!

[ah123]

SAIT offers some courses - I took the two introductory courses when I first started taking pictures, and it really helped. I recently found an online "school" founded by Bryan Peterson (well-known photographer and author) that you might want to check out - the website is http://www.ppsop.net

I took a course at ppsop.net in the summer on how to use a speedlight (flash) and found it very good (and learnt a whole lot with opportunity to get my pictures critiqued and to ask questions)...

Hope that helps...

[Neeper]

Sounds good guys. I will write a curriculum and figure things out. I hope to start doing this in late Jan or early Feb!