do you have a flickr page?

I would love to see some photos….

thanks a ton btw for the Jodies Coston’s free course …. this is just what I was looking for…..

thanks again…

Jake

The main problem with content on the web in terms of learning photography is that it is a one way flow of information – one that left me very frustrated as I couldn’t ask questions about the content of the course and didn’t know if I was improving or not. This is the main point which James missed you can read a whole load of stuff but it doesn’t mean that you are learning.

This doesn’t mean the content is bad, but learning is a two way flow of information and feedback, which is what most online content does not give for free, and for a very good reason – time is money.

I offered my course for Point and Shoot cameras for two reason (1) there is not a lot of information out there specifically for point and shoot cameras (2) there are some quick wins to improving photography without having to learn the history of photography or the inverse-square law for light intensity.

My aim is to get people to realize that using a point and shoot camera can produce some good images and help them get interested in learning more, either by themselves or through other courses. I do this for free, because I have a full time job which pays my bills and it helps me with my full time hobby of photography. The only downside of taking my course is that it can take a few days to get feedback on each lesson – so if you’re in a rush you may get frustrated :-)

You are welcome to try out my course, however the other course which I always recommend is Jodies Coston’s Free Online Photography Course -http://www.morguefile.com/docs/Classroom. This is probably the best free course I have found and thoroughly recommend reading the material a couple of times and also doing the assignments.

Have a great week.

Commenting on his transparency actually offended me! Transparency wasn’t necessary. Conflict of interest? This isn’t big government contracting… its an educational site.

Listen everyone who starts a blog account wants to make cash. People write post to make cash. People bombard their sites with ads to make cash. But it is up to you to research on your own, period. Darren maintains this site to, you guessed it, make cash (OK not exclusively)!

Darren stated in the summary of the review; “The lessons are short and to the point, but the information can be useful.”

When I read this two things popped in my mind: Short and to the point, positive. Can be useful, negative. If it’s short and to the point then it SHOULD be useful but with the addition of “can” required me to dig deeper and truthfully I’ll take the wait and see approach. Maybe the course will elevate into something special.

On that note Peter Emmett has a course on his site for us unworthy point and shoot users that looks promising if he will indeed critique submitted work. I own a Fujifilm 1000 sd which I love and want to take it to the next level by learning the manual settings. I just want to properly photograph events for my blog with a photojournalist mindset.

To Emmett: Whether or not you agree, James has a solid and valid point which you justify, with what seems to be an excellent “free” photography course…

Yes, I thought Proud Photography was the answer and yes Darren’s review almost had me but even with my level of respect from him I still research on my own and Emmett’s course probably is worth that of Proud Photography.

Forgive the wordy post.

“Money for Lessons” does not automatically mean a scam – but you do have to be wise in choosing.\ We all want to improve and for that going out shooting just won’t cut it – you need active feedback from trusted professionals to know how to improve. are you willing to do that for free? There are sites out there who are willing to do it, but very very few people have the heart or the time to provide this kind of input for free to just anyone who walks off the street. That’s why people are willing to pay money for that kind of service.

Cheers/Peter

The Proud Photography course would be OK for first time beginners with absolutely no experience with a camera. You do get feedback and the material is OK (very badly worded in some places), but I was very disappointed as I already knew nearly everything that they taught – I’m not being boastful, it’s just that the course is very very basic.

The only piece which I learned something about was about Depth Of Field calculations, which, to be honest, is not worth the money.

You can check out the courses that I recommend at my site
http://www.emmett-photography.com/gallery/3920171_sCZsu/1/227536458_yFRXN

Personally I would still start with the Jodie Coston’s free online course which is on the page in my site I mentioned above. You get some feedback and the material is the best I have found.

Thanks/Peter

My main aim with joining this course is to become a better photographer, with a deeper understanding of the fundamentals. I want to do this by reading content, going out and doing what I’ve learned and then getting feedback on my images from professionals to learn from my mistakes (and hopefully what I did right). This course seems to fit the bill.

So far I’ve completed the five basic lessons and I have a few comments:

1. The text is good, but can be grammatically challenging. This doesn’t sound too bad, but when you find some basic grammar or spelling mistakes, it makes you think about if what you’re reading is correct or not.

2. The multiple choice questions so far are typically very easy and I think are mainly there to encourage you to continue. The assignments though are very good and will get you out and thinking about photography, not just going out and taking photos, but actually thinking about your photos and what you are trying to do with each shot.

3. The first five lessons cover very basic concepts that many of you will already know. That said I have been reminded about a few things I had forgot and also learned a few new things as well. For instance the section on DOF got me thinking about if there was a DOF calculator somewhere online – and there was, which I learned a lot from and started to understand why some of photos were failing.

The course is roughly US86 and so far I’m happy with the content as well as the feedback from the tutors. If anyone would like to know my feedback regarding the rest of the course please feel free to contact me on emmett.photography@gmail.com

For those of you wanting a free course, which offers some feedback (but can be very patchy) I highly recommend you look at http://www.morguefile.com/archive/classroom.php. The content is excellent for learning the basics of photography (with a little advanced stuff), but I found that as the course progresses the feedback from the moderators stopped.

Cheers/Peter

PS. No I don;t get a commission for writing this :-)

I would not mind having a site to have my photo’s critiqued by someone. The web site shows a box that might have course materials in it. I was wondering if it was completely web based learning or was there cd’s and other materials for the purchase price.

Still not sure if i want to take the course. the idea of taking it your own pace is appealing.

thanks
Charlie