Fully realizing the quality of 10.1 megapixels of goodness…
Reilly and Miranda have been very helpful with my camera buying decision, as well as giving me an overview of the camera’s features and operation, but I’m feeling like *such* an amateur with my new Rebel XTi. Despite having taken a community-based course last summer on the basics of photography, I am finding myself quite overwhelmed with composing a good shot, use of the manual camera settings, and even properly using Photoshop CS3 for colour correction afterwards. (And its not like I’m an n00b with Photoshop in general — I regularly make use of this software for compositing images, photo re-touching, and image manipulation but, not normally for getting the best out of a raw photo’s detail and colour correction)
I’m determined to get the most of my new camera… I want to *see* the way professional photographers see, and I want to put new photos up on my walls that I am proud of displaying, not to mention display them in my gallery online.
Reilly and Miranda have kindly agreed to allow me to sit and watch them for a few hours while they are working with Photoshop, so I think I’m set in that department… And I just picked up a number of books on digital photography from the library yesterday, but I want to go even further and take some more advanced courses both online and off to fully explore the world of photography. I can’t wait!
So… fellow Vancouverites! Do you have any suggestions for local courses that I can take either through community learning, or through a local art college that you can recommend? I hear Emily Carr has some really great courses, but is it worth the money?
And, for the online learners out there — Have you used any online courses or resources you’ve found particularly useful for any aspect of photography or advanced Photoshop use?
Thanks in advance, guys!
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I have taken continuing studies courses at Langara and they are excellent. Andrew Tripp teaches the intro http://www.langara.bc.ca/cs/photography/bios/tripp/andrew_tripp_bio.htm
and Jeff Weddell teaches the intermediate
http://www.jeffweddell.com/
Check out links to see their work. I dunno about Focal Point Studio courses though, I haven’t heard very many good things about them. I can only personally vouch for Langara. Here are some of the photos I took during my studies if you wanna have a peek http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/patricia/archives/2005/05/photography.php
whoah, I put too many links in previous message! I always get a little carried away on my 2 fave topics (photography and films).
I’m a nut that way….
Thanks for the links, P! I’ll definitely include Langara in my consideration…
(Great photos btw!)
“I want to *see* the way professional photographers see…”
This is a great article on “previsualization” I found online a while ago – this guy has a lot of good articles on his site.
I’d also suggest getting familiar with some good photography forums – there are some really good local photo-hobbyists at revSCENE(BIG site, mostly geared toward the import-car scene, but the Photo Lab forum keeps pretty busy on its own; you do have to sign up to access the site).
I also like PhotoSIG, a fairly busy photo-critique site that really encourages active and helpful participation (I can send you a guest invite, if you’re interested – you can see my portfolio )
Thanks for the great links, Matt! I’ll have to review them in detail later… I’d love an invite to photoSIG, thank you! (Just use the email found under my photo, top right)
Congratulations, Tan, on getting the Rebel. It’s a great camera. For several reasons I don’t like to use SLRs but having the larger imager in the Rebel will certainly help your noise levels. That’s the thing I really don’t like about the point and shoot digicams. Too much noise!
My friend runs a great website that has lots of useful resources for photographers including active forums where you can get feedback, ask questions and just chat about the art and science of photography. Here it is: Photography Corner.
Cheers,
joel
Hey Dave: Thanks, I’m really looking forward to getting tons of great shots with it.
Joeleykins (I can’t help it… It’s S’s fault) Thanks! I’ll def. check out your friend’s site!
Hiya
just thought i’d stop by and say hello.
I’ve been using photoshop for ever, and would be really happy to share ideas and give you any help I’m able to.
Drop me an email for a chat if you like.
take care
glenn
http://tinylion.spaces.live.com
Hey T,
Kudos to Patricia as I have taken courses with both Andrew and Jeff. Both were great. At the time I was shooting with 35mm so it wasn’t a big deal but unless Langara has added or changed their course structure, they don’t really cater to digital photography (which is a shame). I did take a course with another instructor there (can’t remember his name but he taught the photo journalism course) and he only shoots with digital. So even though the course wasn’t ‘designed’ for digital, he was more knowledgable on the medium.
That being said, some people will say the fundamentals of analog and digital photography is the same.
p.s. and great shots !!! you need opportunities… not courses…