Bugfan Loc: Toronto, Canada

I was approached by a long time friend about recommending some online courses for her daughter. The kid is an aspiring photographer, she has an SLR, a Nikon, she has a nice creative eye and she does kind of know how to use her camera though her technical skills are a wee bit less than ideal just now.

She has a birthday coming up and one wish she has for her birthday is a photography course. Alas she also lives in a remote area so she's not close to any colleges or other training facilities so the course would need to be online.

I'm also not sure exactly what she wants to learn so I'm looking for a variety of online courses she and her mother could choose from. They can be free or at a modest fee.

In terms of subjects, clearly a "how to use your camera" session would be useful but something on creativity would be nice too, perhaps something about genres - macro, landscapes etc. Ideally I'd love to be hooked up to a facility which allows me to explore all manner of subjects for a regular affordable fee if such a thing exists.

So ... I've never taken, or looked for, an online course capability before so I'm hoping some of you might be able to send me a link or so to organizations you are familiar with who offer formal training in photography online.

Oh yes, and while something online shouldn't care where the student actually resides, it would be nice to have a Canadian Supplier too in addition to any American ones or other international providers you might know about.

Regarding a budget, a pauper's rate is desirable of course but there is a willingness to spend two or three hundred a year too if it's a really amazing facility.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I don't know what your budget is, but the range of courses at Lynda.com is incredible. Many like kelbyone.com.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Although not always ordered into logical steps there are more tutorials on YouTube then you can count.
- All free and I'm sure she knows how to use it. It's a great place to start at least. S-

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Photzy.com is free and very competitive with it's quality of videos and course format. They deal with most areas of photography and are aimed at beginners. Most of their courses are designed to make photographese simpler to understand. Can't beat the price. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Please check out this link
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user_page.jsp?upnum=1327

There are a couple of courses available...

Hope this helps.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

You should add that to your signature line! S- (see below)

craggycrossers Loc: Robin Hood Country, UK

I believe these will suit the young lady's criteria admirably .......

http://www.photographycourses.biz/videos

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

:) Thanks for the tip -

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

Always! S-

Bugfan Loc: Toronto, Canada

Greetings All ... THANK YOU!!

I have often responded to questions in this forum but I've never actually asked a question before. So for the first time I'm on the other side of the fence looking in. And ... it's been a happy experience.

The range of suggestions was good, everything from zero cost to about $300 per year. There were offers of individual courses and archives of courses. And it's clear many of the suggestions are quite professional. I also particularly liked the libraries of courses for they allow you to learn not only stuff you want learn but also stuff you didn't know you wanted to learn.

I don't know how this story will end. I will pass your links on with some of my own thoughts and it will be up to Mother and Daughter to decide what is best for her needs.

So on behalf of mother and daughter in addition to myself, thank you for your wisdom and assistance. I have come to appreciate why many praise us for our advice having now been on that side, seeking advice instead of giving it.

To add a few random thoughts, the You-Tube suggestion was of course the "free" one and it was something I had thought of myself and even suggested. But it has a fundamental flaw, it's free. As a result there isn't the incentive to spend hours learning. It's also not always well structured either, you end up bouncing about instead of following a plan. And many of the offerings tend to be rather simplistic and lack professionalism. Those that are sophisticated aren't usually easy to find.

At the opposite extreme were individual courses offered by various colleges in North America. These have the advantage of pushing you forward lesson by lesson and finishing with a comprehensive education and often with a diploma or a certificate as well. The real down side of this type is the cost which I have found to run as high as $1,500 for a program or course which is not affordable to many and if it doesn't meet your needs you're out a lot of money.

In between these were libraries of courses and videos. The cost of these varied from a low of about twenty dollars a month to a high to about three hundred fifty dollars a year. I liked these because the are affordable for many, and they offer a diversity of opportunities to learn an amazing variety of things. These also solve the problem of what to pick, the recipient can do the picking as long as the giver pays for and provides the access. What's nice too is that if some of the courses or videos turn out disappointing, there's so many others that in the end you will likely win.

It's been an interesting education for me too knowing about all these opportunities. Were it forty years ago I'd be signing up for a few of these as well. It's also been an interesting education in terms of getting to know what it's like to seek help from our forum. I will certainly ask again the next time I encounter an issue I can't handle. Thanks for your insights,

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

My thought is to get her started with what you can find, then if she shows more interest continue looking at something more refined. S-

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

I received this through groupon - it's a decent course for beginners - you can check it out through the site where they have an overview of the modules and a short video -
Cost right now is $49.00 US

http://www.groupon.com/deals/iphotography-16-lincoln?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=us_dt_sea_ggl_txt_ttt_sr_cbp_ch1_nbr_k*iphotography_m*e_d*lincoln-rtc-root_g*rtc-iphotography-16-lincoln-exact_c*55534651088_ap*1t1