Photography Class?

I'm looking into taking a photography class at a community college this summer, mainly to kill time and improve my skills. But it seems like most photography courses that I've seen focus mainly on darkroom stuff and portrait work, or if there is anything with digital, it's about Photoshop. But I really want to learn to see better and sort of view the world through a lens. Has anyone taken a college photography class? Did it help you learn to see better? Are you a better photographer for taking it? I'm definitely not interested in portrait work...I love to shoot nature.

Try HERE - I did this a few years ago and it was very inspiring. Looks like Seattle is the closest they'll be to Idaho, but it would be well worth it. The days (Sat & Sun) are set up with a few different two hour long classes, and you have a list to choose what you want. If you do go then definately take Creative Techniques in Color, trust me!

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Originally Posted by DownByFive

I'm looking into taking a photography class at a community college this summer, mainly to kill time and improve my skills. But it seems like most photography courses that I've seen focus mainly on darkroom stuff and portrait work, or if there is anything with digital, it's about Photoshop. But I really want to learn to see better and sort of view the world through a lens. Has anyone taken a college photography class? Did it help you learn to see better? Are you a better photographer for taking it? I'm definitely not interested in portrait work...I love to shoot nature.

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I just finished a college photo class, and I think I am a better photographer for it. Not because we learned how to see better, but because I now have a better grasp of the entire photo process, and how everything works from start to finish. I was a little dissapointed with the lack of composition, and visual training that were not part of the course, but the darkroom work, and presentation work we did was invaluable. Our assignments were left very open, and let us decide what we wanted to do, which really allowed us to experiment. For instance, one assignment was a lighting studio assignment. We had to choose something and shoot it in a lighting studio. Once we had our subject, we were free to light and shoot it however we wanted.

I don't think that what you are looking for is something that you could, or even want to get from a classroom. I mean, if you have 50 studends all learning to compose and see a subject the same way, what is going to set your shot apart from theirs? They will all look like the instructers vision, not your own. I think that there are some very valuable,simple rules of compostion, such as the rule of thirds, but rules are made to be broken, and knowing where and when to break the rules is something that we all need to learn, but I would rather learn it in the field, than in a classroom.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

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Originally Posted by DownByFive

I'm looking into taking a photography class at a community college this summer, mainly to kill time and improve my skills. But it seems like most photography courses that I've seen focus mainly on darkroom stuff and portrait work, or if there is anything with digital, it's about Photoshop. But I really want to learn to see better and sort of view the world through a lens. Has anyone taken a college photography class? Did it help you learn to see better? Are you a better photographer for taking it? I'm definitely not interested in portrait work...I love to shoot nature.

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No. I went in with an open mind understanding that if I thought that I would not learn anything, than I wouldn't. Well, I didn't anyway. I have nothing against darkroom work. I have a darkroom. But everything I have learned about photography, I have done independently, through books and websites. I learned a hundred times more on Photo.net's learn section then I did taking a class that set me back $250 and two nights a week.