Classes???

[pinkchimney15]

Hi Everyone.

I recently emailed a photo company that holds different levels of classes. I sent them an email to see which class would be best for me considering my experience. The short email thread is below. My question for everyone is what do you think this gentleman means by "controlled understanding." I mean, I understand what opening the aperature wide does, slowing the shutter does, what bumping up your ISO will do, and how they relate to each other. Is this what he means?

Thanks


On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 12:28 PM, Jworldboy wrote:

Hi there,

Sorry if this is a question you receive often. I have been visiting your site for some time now and can not decide which class would be best for me. I have been shooting for about three years now. What I know I have learned on my own through books and just getting out there with my camera. I planned on taking a class to refine the skills I have acquired over the past few years. I just don't know if Photography 1 would be too basic or if Photography 2 would be too advanced in that it would not help me with areas of weakness. I read the descriptions for both classes and I feel I have a pretty good grasp on what is taught in Photo 1.

I would appreciate any guidance in finding which class would be best for me.

The only requirement necessary for the advanced photography courses is a controlled understanding of exposure, f-stops, etc. If you have been shooting manual and know the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO; you would be more satisfied with Photography II, et al.

As an alternative, you might want to consider any of our seminars to brush up on any topic you might consider to be weak on or to take a private lesson.


Bests,

[Sime]

What are you areas of weakness?

Let's have a class - Right here :-)

List me your top 5 areas of weakness....

(I'm thinking outside the box!)

Sime

[pinkchimney15]

Originally Posted by Sime™

What are you areas of weakness?

Let's have a class - Right here :-)

List me your top 5 areas of weakness....

(I'm thinking outside the box!)

Sime

Sweet! Thanks for the offer.

The 5 weaknesses
1. Workflow - I am awful at the process of moving my shots to the computer and then separating, organizing and backup up. I just don't have a set way to do it that allows me to find the shots I need when I need them without searching through a bunch of other folders first.

2. Metering Modes - I shoot a whole bunch in AV using Evaluative metering and find myself rarely switching to Spot. I read the recent blog about metering on the homepage but still found myself needing more info in other lighting situations other than the one example used.

3. Bracketing-When to use it.

4. Flash Photography - Venturing out of the auto settings on the flash for indoors.

5. Projects - I'd really like to have a project for the Summer. Something to concentrate on. Something topical. Where would you suggest I look for inspiration? What should be my goals at the completion of the project?

Thanks again!

[Murtasma]

You may want to consider taking a photoshop class somewhere. You will probably learn a lot more especially if you have already been shooting for 3 years. If you have a good grasp of the exposer triangle both those classes would probably be too slow for you. I would consider investing in a flash and perhaps a Cactus V4 remote trigger setup to get some experience with flash under your belt. Odds are any class that specializes in flash will require you to have your own flash already.

1. Workflow - Taking a photoshop / lightroom class would help you the most with this.

2. Metering mode - Spot should be used in situations where you have a strong backlight behind the subject. I rarely use spot metering or center weighted average. A class isn't going to tell you anything new that you probably have already read online about this. The more you shoot and the more aware of your current metering mode the better you will be able to adapt to lighting situations. It's impossible to account for ever possible variable. The only thing you need to know is how each metering mode works (weights and 18% gray), this will allow you to pick the best mode for what what you see in your minds eye.

3, Bracketing - I've never used it unless I am going to create an HDR image. Just take a look at the LCD screen and histogram on you image preview after you snap the image. If it looks like you need some adjustment dial in some exposer compensation. No sense in wasting time and memory using bracketing. Every situation will be different, you may need to over exposer by 1 stop in one image and on the next image under exposer by 2 spots. That's too much camera work to go into your menus and change how wide your brackets are set. Much faster and efficient to just dial in the EV.

4. Buy a flash you will need one anyways, read the stobist blog, invest in an off camera trigger system like the Cactus V4 (pretty cheep for starting) and practice. This is one of the best lighting books I have ever read.
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-.../dp/0240802756
Much better then the book I see the local community college here wanting students to buy. This book should give you enough information so you can handle almost any lighting situation if you have the right tools.
5. Projects - Plenty of project ideas floating around online for free.

[pinkchimney15]

Thanks for tips. I do have that book on my amazon shopping list and I will be sure to pick it up. I already own a 430EX Speedlite and have modified the off camera cable to extend longer. I will have to buy a new remote trigger though and start experimenting. Do you have any subjects/ objects that maybe be good to shoot as an experiment?