Feedback on Nikon School by Correspondence

[skyva]

Hi all, has anyone done this course or know anything about it (saw it on the Nikon club website)? I am trying to learn about my camera and thought this might be a good way to get some formal education.
If I am not too late I am going to try to get into the Melbourne Camera club course as well. Might meet a few people with similar interests.
Photography beats the hell out of sitting behind a desk all week.

[birddog114]

skyva,
the best way to learn these stuff is tag along your Melbournians and learn from them.
I did not see any benefits at Nikon School correspondence,
The way you're doing practical works the more you learned. The monies you pay for correspondenc courses are better buy some good REDs and join the gangs.
Otherwise spare your monies get a returned tickets to join the mini-meets in Sydney every Saturday, can we call it :work related travel expenses?

[sirhc55]

Hi all, has anyone done this course or know anything about it (saw it on the Nikon club website)? I am trying to learn about my camera and thought this might be a good way to get some formal education.
If I am not too late I am going to try to get into the Melbourne Camera club course as well. Might meet a few people with similar interests.
Photography beats the hell out of sitting behind a desk all week.

To be honest skyva the best way in the world to learn is read the manual as quickly as possible and then get your feet moving and shoot, shoot, shoot.

Chris

[Nicole]

The great thing about digital is that you can take as any pictures as you want and not have to worry how much it's going to cost. I bought a couple of books specific to my interests to get some tips from others. Probably worth a trip to the local library to check out what is on offer as I don't really refer to the books now.

As the others said the manual and experience is the best way to learn. I'm sure these Melbourne meets will get going soon and then we can all learn more from each other!

[paull]

Amplifying sirhc55 - once you have a decent grasp of the technical basics from your manual it really is about f8 and being there. As Nicole points out digital shooting is cheap so don't be too shy on the shutter release.

I enrolled in a course for "creative photography" a number of years ago- the value in that course came from the fact that we went shooting every second session and in between we went through the process of critiquing each other's work. It's a great way of learning.

One of the wonderful things about this forum is the existence of the Image Reviews and Critiques where you can get feedback on your work. It's not unlike my experience at the course I attended. It doesn't all have to be one way though, you can also get quite a bit by viewing other people's work and providing feedback.

Another site I regularly visit is http://www.photo.net - some great photographers to learn from and a good place to get critiqued.

Good luck

[christiand]

I also believe that attending a correspondence course in digital photography is not the most effective way to learn.
The best way in my opinion is to go and take photos, ask questions and attend meets and workshops and do research.
I went through quite a learning curve with the D70.
Set yourself a project or assignment like "I'm going to take photos of a particular bridge, building, person, pet, plants" etc.
Experiment a lot, verify your findings.
Check out what happens when you do things differently.
Play with your camera settings.
Check out different times of day (morning, noon, afternoon etc)
And last but not least have FUN.

Cheers
CD

[skyva]

Thanks for the feedback. I am trying to get out and shoot various things, I probably need to be more active about it. I have found that my limitations are more easily identified when I put myelf in different situations and try to capture certain shots, so I will keep trying to do that.
I will try to get to some Melbourne meetings now I am back in Melbourne after Christmas.
I was planning to come up to Sydney around Australia Day, but I have lots to do in Melbourne so I will see how it plays out.