Courses: Being new to more than point and shoot, I'm wondering if any of you pros or semi pros would recommend taking accredited, online, photography courses? Is it a waste of time?

Sreno Loc: Northern Michigan

Being new to more than point and shoot, I'm wondering if any of you pros or semi pros would recommend taking accredited, online, photography courses? Is it a waste of time? I'm not looking to make a career out of it. Being medically retired, I just want photography to be more than a hobby and less than a job. Thank you for your time and answers.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

You might try The Great Courses online. They have a number of them. The introductory course by Nat Geo photographer Joel Sartore is a great start.

They are not accredited but are very high quality.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

There are many to consider. You may want to explore joining a nearby camera club. A book to consider for a beginning: Understanding Exposure, Bryan Peterson. It's probably available at your local library or for purchase, Amazon. Tons of online tutorials. Just do some searching(Google or other).

Good luck on you journey! Feel free to PM me.
Mark

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

There are many to consider. You may want to explore joining a nearby camera club. A book to consider for a beginning: Understanding Exposure, Bryan Peterson. It's probably available at your local library or for purchase, Amazon. Tons of online tutorials. Just do some searching(Google or other).

Good luck on you journey! Feel free to PM me.
Mark

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Today there is so much information in the Internet, among members of a Camera Club and right here in the forums that I dare to say that you could get lots of basic information without attending a photography class. Begin by understanding what a camera does, jump to apertures (lens openings) and shutter speeds and learn how they work together and what they do when used creatively. Learn about exposure meters and how to meter the exposure. Get some hints on composition and learn how to use light to better convey emotion in your shots.
Understand how lenses work and what different focal lengths do to photography. All this information is available in the Internet.
If you prefer taking a photography course the Internet is also very useful. I bet there are low cost curses at local schools in your area. Once you have the basic information then taking a course makes things easier.
Be aware that some of those photography curses could be very expensive and very complicated.
Good luck!

TonyF Loc: Bradenton, FL

Check out udemy.com, many courses to choose from and relatively inexpensive.

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

Lynda (www.lynda.com) provides high quality online tutorials and is available for free thru many local libraries.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Sreno wrote:

Being new to more than point and shoot, I'm wondering if any of you pros or semi pros would recommend taking accredited, online, photography courses? Is it a waste of time? I'm not looking to make a career out of it. Being medically retired, I just want photography to be more than a hobby and less than a job. Thank you for your time and answers.

I would suggest Northrup's Stunning Digital Photography course. It is a book and an online set of courses (14 hours). It is basic but a good place to start at $9.99.

https://northrup.photo/product/stunning-digital-photography/

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

You may want to check out You Tube Tutorials. Choose the Brand and model of your camera, and you can get short and long video minutes regarding your particular camera. The information mentioned in previous threads are good too. Especially the one on exposure.

wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

Sreno wrote:

Being new to more than point and shoot, I'm wondering if any of you pros or semi pros would recommend taking accredited, online, photography courses? Is it a waste of time? I'm not looking to make a career out of it. Being medically retired, I just want photography to be more than a hobby and less than a job. Thank you for your time and answers.

An accredited, online course you should look into is offered by the New York Institute of Photography.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Sreno wrote:

Being new to more than point and shoot, I'm wondering if any of you pros or semi pros would recommend taking accredited, online, photography courses? Is it a waste of time? I'm not looking to make a career out of it. Being medically retired, I just want photography to be more than a hobby and less than a job. Thank you for your time and answers.

I do not know, I have never taken a course, although I think, nothing can beat a good book!

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Get to know your camera. Understand the way exposure, iso, and aperture work with and against each other to bring light onto the sensor. Practice with your equipment, even if it's shooting the walls in your house or critters and flowers in your yard. Learn to use post processing like Photoshop to make your pictures come alive. You can't learn guitar by taking a course. You have to teach yourself. Ditto for photography.

Vietnam Vet

There are two colleges within an hour drive of me. I took every photography course offered in each department of the colleges. BA but mostly MA level. I also took non-photography courses that allowed me to do a photo project as the class project. I will guess 42 credit hours worth in all. The man who taught many of the courses was a career photojournalist and pictures were used my the AP. I learned a lot from him, and those classes. I also worked on two of the college newspapers, and one of the colleges still prints yearbooks, I worked on the yearbook staff. As a result of that I was given media credentials to photograph a lot of collegiate sports. It opened the doors for photo-documentaries of different college departments. So yes, i can recommend college classes.

TomV Loc: Annapolis, Maryland

Our local community college has a fair amount of non-credit photo courses.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Sreno wrote:

Being new to more than point and shoot, I'm wondering if any of you pros or semi pros would recommend taking accredited, online, photography courses? Is it a waste of time? I'm not looking to make a career out of it. Being medically retired, I just want photography to be more than a hobby and less than a job. Thank you for your time and answers.

Look locally to community colleges and night school. Here in Florida many classes are offered in High Schools at night. Most are very good and a great bargain.