Photography Classes

Im the opposite of Winston, I think classes are a great idea. The intro classes will allow you to teach your camera, the intermediate will persuade you to stop shooting the typical beginner shots, (shallow dof shots of flowers, etc.) and the more advanced classes will challenge you to explore your own photography and what it means to you, and why you do it. He is right, many teachers will push you one way, telling you there is only one way to get a perfect shot, but you have to mind that, but not exactly follow it if you know what I mean.

After taking 3 years of photo classes, I can say that at least 80% of what you learn in class is technical. Talking to professors in their non-class time or looking around at photography and art on your own is how you learn about composition and concept. It's really difficult to "teach" outside of the technical realm, so discrediting photo courses on those grounds isn't really worthwhile. I expect the creative side of my work to benefit much more from photo/art history courses and my own research than from studio classes.

As far as online courses go, I can't help you, but I'd recommend just getting a book or a (patient) friend that will show you the basics of how cameras work and then go from there. Lynda.com is great for Photoshop tutorials, and there are a ton of books out there about all aspects of analogue photography.

Thanks!

Oh and these classes are tought at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT which is about a half-hour drive from my house. I'll probably be signing up, can't hurt right?

I would say it's worth it. There may not be an absolute right or wrong way to take pictures, but that said there is a general set of things which will make your pictures a lot better consistently. And then there's the technical stuff which I believe can be learned online, or from where ever. But more importantly, in a photo class you will get the criticism so you can learn to quickly improve your composition and you're exposure.

(Hopefully it's a good class. I took a few in highschool, which were not too helpful above learning the very basics.)

Nah, I'm doing photo in college. It sounds like your teacher was just kind of a beyotch, she should be helping you guys out instead of just tearing people apart.

Basic photo classes are going to teach you 90% technical. And if you don't understand that right now then I strongly suggest taking a class. Once you learn technical your photography will improve drastically. Definitely do it.

I disagree. The thing that I hated about my two years taking "Professional Photography" at college was that the tutors were way too nice to everyone. I ended up asking them to be really harsh about my work and they still wouldn't so I really didn't learn much in my second year. The written crit for my final project was something like "well executed lighting, good preparation", it was just like a "well done", I was totally pissed off by that stage. And a lot of my class ended up thinking I was a total dick for pointing out what they could have done to make their shots better. Harsh crit is what you need if you want to learn and improve. I kind of wish I had just done one year of classes to learn studio lighting then just done my own thing.

There is a difference between a harsh, helpful crit and just being an asshole. I don't know whether his teacher was that way or not...and quite a few people can't seem to tell the difference between the two.

Being an asshole is never helpful, but being a constructive asshole is great.

I love constructive assholes. They are my favorite.

Most people here think I'm an asshole, looks like we should get married?

I'm actually in the middle of a 6 week, 1 night a week Photography class right now. The class title is "How to take great Photographs". You'd think my teacher would talk more in depth about composition and framing when critiquing our photos but really she's doesn't. At this point in the class (I don't want to sound like a know it all, because I honestly know I have a lot to learn.) I could easily teach this class better than the teacher has been doing so far. She seems to always think my photos are great (when really IMO they suck.) and I always end up ripping on everyones photos in the class basically because I'm bored. I've been reading books and tons and tons of information about photography online and I don't want to go to my class where my teacher is struggling to explain aperture/DOF and shutter speed and ISO. It's just boring. Basically I end up explaining after class to other members what the teacher just talked about. It's weird though since all the members are around 50 and I'm only 16.

cliff notes: make sure the class is suitable for your photography level before dropping a hundred dollars on a class where the teacher just explains information you already know like what happened to me.