Evening courses

[White_van_man]

Has anyone done an evening course in photograhy i have found a 10 week evening course at basingstoke college.

Link hear.... clicky

You dont get any formal qualifications at the end of it. Are evening courses a good way to learn or am i just better off learning at home with a book?

Thanks
WVM

[bulb763]

I enrolled on a course that started in January, only for it to be cancelled I didn't find many courses for digital photography that weren't biased towards post-processing - I wanted a course that taught the fundamentals, such as this course seems to do. I'd be enrolled like a shot if I lived nearer.

[Timmy2TARs]

I currently teach a 10 week course (last one tonight) at East Berks college in Windsor. What you need to find out is if there is a standard syllabus that the tutor follows or if it's simply down to them. I have full say over what I teach, I guess because there is no exam or coursework.

I would say if there are bits and pieces you are unsure of then a course will be fun, relatively cheap and should give you some ideas for improving. If you are fairly competent then magazines are probably sufficient. A lot depends on the tutor though.

This was the final course structure I used:

- General introduction to principles and practical exercise
- Letting light in - the camera shutter and shutter speeds
- Letting light in - apertures and depth of field
- Letting light in - correctly exposing images
- Framing and composition - rule of thirds, diagonals, leading the eye
- Enhancing the image - RAW v JPEG, cropping, levels & curves, sharpening
- Extending your repertoire - low light and night photography
- Extending your repertoire - accessories for the digital photographer
- Presenting your work - printing and mounting
- Competition - Photographer of the Course

Once these bits were covered, we got the cameras out and did some practical stuff. I get all the student feedback forms tonight... will be ineresting to see.

[White_van_man]

Timmy2TARs said:

I currently teach a 10 week course (last one tonight) at East Berks college in Windsor. What you need to find out is if there is a standard syllabus that the tutor follows or if it's simply down to them. I have full say over what I teach, I guess because there is no exam or coursework.

I would say if there are bits and pieces you are unsure of then a course will be fun, relatively cheap and should give you some ideas for improving. If you are fairly competent then magazines are probably sufficient. A lot depends on the tutor though.

This was the final course structure I used:

- General introduction to principles and practical exercise
- Letting light in - the camera shutter and shutter speeds
- Letting light in - apertures and depth of field
- Letting light in - correctly exposing images
- Framing and composition - rule of thirds, diagonals, leading the eye
- Enhancing the image - RAW v JPEG, cropping, levels & curves, sharpening
- Extending your repertoire - low light and night photography
- Extending your repertoire - accessories for the digital photographer
- Presenting your work - printing and mounting
- Competition - Photographer of the Course

Once these bits were covered, we got the cameras out and did some practical stuff. I get all the student feedback forms tonight... will be ineresting to see.

Are you teaching the course that starts on the 17/4? Im reasonably confident with a camera and i can get good results, but i dont really understand what its doing and how the changes i make reflect the pictures. I think doing a course would be quite beneficial.

Edited by White_van_man on Wednesday 28th March 11:25

[Timmy2TARs]

White_van_man said:

Are you teaching the course that starts on the 17/4? Im reasonably confident with a camera and i can get good results, but i dont really understand what its doing and how the changes i make reflect the pictures. I think doing a course would be quite beneficial.

I'm not scheduled to be. It sounds like you just need a 'eureka' moment - a course sounds like it would be ideal to give you those. btw - YHM

[CarMac]

I did one of the 10 week evening classes which started in September last year. I loved it so much I'm back doing the same course again. Starting tonight.

[omohat]

I've just finished a 10 week City & Guilds course called Basic Photo Imaging. It covers the the camera side and photoshop side so I think its what you are looking for. It was run by my local council and as a bonus you can hand in your courserwork/portfolio at the end to get a City & Guilds certificate (assuming its up to scratch).

[sam_r]

omohat said:

I've just finished a 10 week City & Guilds course called Basic Photo Imaging. It covers the the camera side and photoshop side so I think its what you are looking for. It was run by my local council and as a bonus you can hand in your courserwork/portfolio at the end to get a City & Guilds certificate (assuming its up to scratch).

Where was that based?
Sounds interesting...

[mneame]

Just been looking at C&G course at my local evening college. 20 week course and it's £93. Goes into composing shots, use of flash etc and also post processing. All digital specific too. For £93 i might give it a go.

Eta - Just phoned up to book it and there's not another course for this "school" year and nothing similar in the evenings. Have to wait until September.

Edited by mneame on Friday 30th March 12:18