streetglide12

Good evening,
I have been doing manual photography for about a year. I have attended a few adult junior college classes on using manual. One of the adult students mentioned Serge Ramelli courses as a way to use my learning on a higher level. I researched the reviews about his system and they were 50/50 on using it. I trust the expertise here for solid advice. Thank you for your time.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

In my experience, Mr. Ramelli’s videos tend to move very fast giving you limited time to absorb what he is saying. One answer, of course, is watch the video again (and again) until we get it, but I don’t always have the time to do that. A better solution might be to seek other courses such as those from Udemy, Creative Live or Julianne Kost. Other members may chime in with additional suggestions. /Ralph

Ched49 Loc: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Never heard of Ramelli, Udemy or Julianne Kost. But that doesn't mean their not knowledgeable, my recommendation would be, buy a book on your particular camera and/or a book on digital exposure and practice on your own.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

There comes a point when going out and using your camera becomes more beneficial than taking more courses.

streetglide12

Thank you for your help. I saw preview of a course it went very fast. I will check out the others.

Bipod

Check into his qualifications. For example, has he ever been a
faculty member at an accredited institution? (Maybe he taught
at the Sorbonne or the UC--but I seriously doubt it.)

I did find this on-line:
"As mentioned everywhere, Serge Ramelli Signature Preset Collection
is a chest of positive energy, and the pros of this product is beyond listing.
Serge Ramelli Signature Preset Collection is absolutely suitable for beginners.
The techniques are extremely powerful and easy to follow."

Shades of Tony Robbins.

I did not find any page about him that did not appear to originate with him
or someone connected to him. He's such a well-known photographer that he
doesn't even have a page on Wikipedia (though he does on Corporation Wiki).

Internationally at least, he is mainly known for his Youtube videos, which
makes him almost as famous and important as Henri, le Chat Noir.

I'd be suspicious of anyone peddling a "system". There is only one photographer
with a highly regarded system: Ansel Adams. And his Zone System was entirely
defined in film photography terms.

Ansel Adams is a good case in point. He had an 8th grade education. But he
taught at the Los Angeles Art Center School (now the LA ArtCenter College
of Design), along with Fred Archer. He was self-educated in photography,
but few photographers are as detail-oriented and technical as he was.
(He also taught himself to play the piano, then trained to be a concert
pianist under Henry Cowell!)

Technology is based on science.. Cameras are always optical, but they are
only also chemical, electrical, electronic or computerized if you want
them to be. So photographers get to pick how much technology they want
to deal with.

Your current camera, fit is digital, uses all of the above, except chemical.
So it's based on a lot of different sciences (all founded in physics).
Take exposure for example: it is based on optics and sensiometry.
If you understand the science, you understand exposure. If not,
not.

So you don't need a charismatic motivational speaker as a teacher,
you need somebody who understand the science and how to apply it.
Only then does it all make sense.

Physical laws do not change, but technology does So time spent
learning science will pay off much longer than time spent learning
which button to press in which order on firmaware revision 2.1.2.

The same goes for art training. The rules for composition in
photography are similar if not identical to the rules for composition
in painting.

In art, new media do not make old media obsolete. The painter using
the very latest medium is unlikely to produce better work than say,
Giotto, Vermeer, Cezanne or Turner. Art is older than civilization and
older than history, and will probably continue long after civilization has
fallen and history is no longer recorded.

So time spent learning science and art is never wasted. But there is
no substitute for a knowledge in a teacher--not fame, forturne or a
good sales pitch.

Anyone can hang out a shingle as a "psychic advisor" or "photography
teacher"--no degree or license required by the State. But you need
someone who knows the definition of "candlepower" and doesn't
think it's something witches do.

If there's a "royal road" to photography, I've never found it. Experience
is a good teacher--but only if one has enough of the theory to make
sense out of it.

A lot of things in photography are contrary to common sense and what
our senses tell us.. What-you-see (with your naked eye or in the OVF,
EVF, back screen, or computer monitor) is rarely what what-you-get in
the final print. This is equally true in processing and image file.

In this respect, photography is like piloting an aircraft in cloudy skies
(IFR conditions): the pilot has to understand and trust his instruments.
The artificial horizon tells him which way is up---if his inner ear
disagrees, he must go with the instrument--otherwise he may put the
plane into a spin.

Theory (and science) cannot be dispensed with in training photographers
any more than it can be dispensed with in training pilots. The difference
is: pilots all know this---and they know the limitations of the autopilot.
At the first sign of anything unusual, they grab the controls and the
autopilot disengages, giving the pilot full control. (Except on a Boeing 737
Max 8 with MCAS.)

JD750 Loc: SoCal

On UHH you will get: (1) Expert Advice; (2) Strong conflicting opinions; (3) completely wrong answers.
It's up to the reader to sort them all out.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

For sure. After you know what do do with all the features of your camera. You may think what you are doing is correct. These courses give you insight into different settings that on your own with no prior knowledge you may not know you could employ.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Lynda.com and CreativeLive are both very good. Lynda is free for a whole month, and then it's $25 (used to be, anyway) for a month of total access. CreativeLive is totally free, but it's shown lives, so you have to be there. I believe they also have recorded videos available to watch. Buying them is another option. They make very good instructional videos about using certain cameras.

Lynda sold her company a couple of years ago, and the new owners have expanded it tremendously. It took me a while to find their photography section.
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/topics/photography-2?src=ldc-nav&veh=ldc_nav_hed%7Cldc-nav&trk=ldc_nav_hed

Showing today on CreativeLive.com
https://www.creativelive.com/onair

For free -
https://www.creativelive.com/catalog/photography/free-courses?via=site-header_0

IzzyKap Loc: Rockville, MD

I've watched many of his online tutorials and found them extremely helpful. I believe that he does two a week and has more than 100 available for viewing, all free. You could check these out tutorials to give you a better feel.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I could be out of tune here but I am going to assume that you want to learn more about using the Manual Mode in photography. If I misunderstood your concerns simply ignore my comments.

Perhaps using the camera in the Manual Mode is a natural to me because that was exactly what I was doing when I was a youngster. All the cameras available at the time were very simple and only had a shutter speed dial and a manual advance mechanism for film.The shutter button to expose the film obviously, was part of the camera. Exposure meters in camera took some time. The apertures were set in the lens and the exposure depended on a hand held exposure meter that was not super precise at the time due to the measuring cell although that changed as years went by.

What I consider important when using the Manual Mode is first to understand exposure which is simply basic photography. Exposure with digital cameras is not a science and using the color histogram ensures a high proportion of well exposed subjects. We all know that editing software can open shadows in ways we could not ever dream when we were using the optical darkroom to develop and print our film. With digital exposure should ALWAYS be based on the most important highlights to avoid clipping (overexposure) because we all know that once those highlights are overexposed we will not be able to recover details in them.

Since ISO, aperture and shutter speed are set by the operator, so called "exposure triangle," we have to learn what ISO we need according to the lighting, what aperture we want for depth of field and what shutter speed if we want to freeze motion or blur the movement of the subject. For landscape photography under sunny conditions we have learned that a small aperture, like f11-f16 will give us all the depth of field we need to see details from foreground to background. Usually the base ISO of the camera is plenty enough especially if using a tripod.
Because the exposure meters in camera are so sophisticated and precise knowing exposure we know when the exposure needs modification. In the case of matrix, evaluative or multi pattern metering we need to understand that those are computerized exposure meters. They tend to modify the exposure on their own and in many cases without complex lighting the exposure they suggest is pretty acceptable. I was educated using center weighted and spot metering and I use spot metering often. These modalities of exposure meters give us an exposure which is very accurate for a subject of middle tonality (Middle Gray) but they fail miserably to give a correct exposure when the subject is very bright or very dark. The skilled photographer knows what to do under those conditions for the correct exposure adding more exposure for the bright subject and less for the dark one.

Today a large proportion of photographers use Aperture Priority as their main shooting mode. It is very convenient because we select the aperture we need for depth of field and the camera sets the appropriate shutter speed for that aperture. If too bright we set the base ISO of the camera and if too dark we raise the ISO setting for a better response to low light levels. Most modern cameras do pretty well up to ISO 1600 from there on some cameras are better than others and in addition there are excellent softwares to control noise. Problematic subjects require exposure compensation.

I hope with these simple comments I have not drifted too far from your topic. Keep practicing what you have learned and keep in mind that shutter speeds and apertures are used creatively. We use apertures to control depth of field and shutter speeds to control motion. Many books on exposure will explain this to perfection. You will find lots of information in the Internet about exposure and using the Manual Mode but I want to repeat it again, practicing makes perfect and if you have a local camera club or someone with enough experience you can learn even more and faster.

Good luck.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

I have been using Lynda for several years and wouldn't go anywhere else for my Photoshop/Lightroom etc learning. It is free via my local library and I understand many other libraries offer it for free as well.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Bingo!!!!!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

My advice is to join a local photo club which offers mentoring - in both camera usage and post processing. A lot cheaper, more interactive/personal and maybe shorter learning curve than sitting in front of a computer trying to learn something. You will likely get a one on one or maybe up to a one on three experience - probably better tailored to what you already know vs your goals.

Serge Ramelli is ok. Good info in his videos on youtube.

dvdnj

I'm with some of the others: I watch You Tube videos when I want to perfect s certain PS/LR issue that I don't quite have a handle on - it's free. 😊 However, that comes with its own set of challenges, I've found: can't always see the details that the poster is doing - talks too fast (Serge) - too technical (Kost) - or the most common: I can't replicate their results (so I must have missed something - lol). Post processing is incredible - but can be incredibly frustrating when you first try to develop new techniques. But, as many others have said, it's takes time and practice. Personally, I don't think I would go the 'purchase' route - there are oodles of free information on YT - at all levels of value. I find it relaxing to spend my evenings watching them - save the best for further review when I'm ready to practice. Great that you've 'gone manual', streetglide!