Photo Education

Hey everyone,
I started photography as a hobby about a year or so ago. I was going through to much drama to get into and I needed a release. Over the past year it has become more than a hobby but a passion. My camera is always with me and I take snaps (get pictures) every chance I get. I am starting to get a little more advance. I finally got my first DSLR (Nikon D60) which I have nicknamed "Nicky D". My question is how do I go about getting a respectable photography education. Is Online a good way to go or do you have to go to a arts college? Does anyone know of any good online programs or any good schools in Washington State that can help me further my love of photography. Would appreciate some input. Thanks fam ( I say fam for family because we are all brothers and sisters of the snap).

I've never tried online classes, but I'm sure there are some good ones out there. However, I prefer traditional in-classroom/lab classes because there is more interaction between students/professors and questions are quickly and easily addressed. Plus it's a great way to meet other people like you and you can form groups to go out on shoots and what not. You don't necessarily have to go to art school. I would look into your community colleges. Down here in San Diego we have several community colleges with photography programs.

go on flickr. there may be a group in your area. I found one here in KC and they have monthly shoots were people bring there equipment share ideas and help you out . forgot its under strobist group. I started out just like you and found a "MUSE" project here that supplied the models and helped out. Supershoots,com is another form. there are groups but personally i would stay away from online classes cause after all you will be doing the same thing your doing here , surfing. http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/


also not sure what part of Washington you are but here is some groups http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&...t+group&m=text

Go to meetup.com to find photography groups in your area. I've found two close to me and have attended a few "meetups" already. It's not the same as a formal class but helps in between to feed your passion :)

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Originally Posted by poker

Go to meetup.com to find photography groups in your area. I've found two close to me and have attended a few "meetups" already. It's not the same as a formal class but helps in between to feed your passion :)

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I'll second that. I currently belong to the South FL wildlife Photographers meet-up group, and Shoot Miami. The other thing you can find is groups sponsored by local studios (if that's what you are into) that are more like classes than social events. Usually there's a small fee to cover costs, but it's not nearly as expensive as formal classes.

Do not over look the local collages and universities in your area. You do not have to be a full time enrolled student to just take one class in most cases.

Also like mentioned by others there are the photo clubs which vary from very good to so-so. Also there are photography stores which offer classes and sales pitches and allot are free.

I took two on-line classes last fall (Digital Photography and PS Elements 6) and found that there just wasn't much there. I could do the work in about 15 minutes twice a week which isn't a lot of content for $100 for 6 weeks. Sure, I could dig deeper and expand upon the class material, but I could do that without the class. I learned far, far more in the same amount of time by posting here on the forums and asking for C&C than with the on-line classes. I do intend to try an in-class type course soon. – TF

Not clear what type of photography you want to do, let's say it is mostly landscapes and nature. Go to your local library and look for books that landscape photographers and nature photographers have published. Look through them and look for images that you like and try to figure out what you like and why. Also check the ones that you do not like and see if you can figure out why. There are also many examples of various kinds of photography posted on the web.

The other thing I would suggest you do is go and buy yourself a copy of the latest edition of Digital Photography for Dummies. My wife got this one for me when I moved from film to digital a few years ago and it was a great help in understanding the basics of digital photography, including basic photographic design and composition (you don't always have to use the Rule of Thirds), as well as some insight into post processing once you have the image in the computer.

If you are simply going to do photography as a hobby, then you probably don't have to go to arts school. Maybe find an Introduction to Photography at your local college and start there. A course that I took a couple of years ago was one on Photoshop Elements and that was because I wanted to get up and running quickly on the software so I could process my images. Prior to that I took a basic photography course at the local Technical school. It was probably at least a dozen years ago, it was two weeks in July and used black and white film and taught us a bit about developing the film as well as some of the basics of photography. Nowadays, I get most of my insight from books I read and from surfing the web in forums such as this one. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy