Are any of those one day courses, any good?

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Are any of those one day courses, any good?

They're reasonably priced, usually less than £100

and you go on a day long workshop to learn the basics, with your own kit I assume

Are they any good? For beginners?

I make a lot of mistakes with WB, Exposure etc and I don't think I make the best of my camera, and I keep thinking about going on one, but money's tight and don't want it to be a waste
 
Hi, Never been on a course, found out what I needed to no from forums like this one and watching FREE videos on youtube etc.
But when we sell up and return to the UK I will join the local camera club, even if you pay a yearly fee you will get more than one day talking to people who can help you out. JMO
Russ
 
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Depends how you personally prefer to learn, but there's so much good information available for free, I can't see a one day 'course' being too good value.

As a general rule, workshops are set up to make money for the people running them, and that's what they do best. Heaps of photographers are turning to workshops to supplement or replace lost income from shooting - they can't all be good teachers.

If you do go for one, make sure you do your research beforehand.
 
To be honest you can learn everything you need from YouTube, books, blogs, this forum (as mentioned above), so personally I would go on a 1 day course, instead I'd get some software that can help you correct your photography (where needed) like white balance/exposure etc etc.
ALL the information is out there if you search for it, and it'll be a lot more satisfying.
Any questions you have, just ask away in the relevant section of the forum and you'll hopefully get some helpful advice :) that's what I did and still do when needed.
 
i'm going to buck the trend, i was bought a landscape workshop for my 40th which was very usefull, so much so that i would go again and pay myself
 
I was also bought a course (2-day) for a birthday. Technically, I didn't get a huge amount from it, apart from little tips. But the experience of working with models was something I couldn't have ever learned on-line :)
So I suppose what I'm saying is for technical stuff, yep, forum/internet is the place to go but if what you want to photograph involves real people, a course would get my vote.
 
I suppose it depends on what area of photography and who's workshop you choose to go on.

I have been on a few landscape workshops, some 1 day and a couple of 4 day.

I have to say I really enjoyed them and did learn a fair bit, if the leader is enthusiastic this will rub off on the participants.

Choose your workshop carefully, make sure the leader has a good reputation and is well known in the genre.

However, all the workshops I attended were after I attained a certain 'level' if you like. By which I mean I understood the exposure triangle, my cameras menu system, basic composition etc. I considered it a waste to pay for a day to learn what you can pick up online and in books easily and cheaply.
Once you have got to this point, gone out and spent many days yourself working on images and perhaps hit a wall then it may be worth a few workshops to bring you on.
 
Mardybum said:
To be honest you can learn everything you need from YouTube, books, blogs, this forum (as mentioned above), so personally I would go on a 1 day course, instead I'd get some software that can help you correct your photography (where needed) like white balance/exposure etc etc.
ALL the information is out there if you search for it, and it'll be a lot more satisfying.
Any questions you have, just ask away in the relevant section of the forum and you'll hopefully get some helpful advice :) that's what I did and still do when needed.
Click to expand...


I already have software to correct any mistakes.

What I want is to be able to understand my camera enough not to make any mistakes in the first place.

I'm after basics, I find it easier to learn practically than reading.

What white balance should I use here, how many stops should I be over/under compensating for exposure?

How do i move the F'ing focus point on my canon as it doesn't move like my nikon did :bonk:

I try to shoot in raw as much as I can, then i can more easily rectify any mistakes I make shooting.

But sometimes I just have to give up and shoot in the preset idiot modes, as i know I can get a result, not the best result possible but better than nothing, and saying that I have had some good shots from the preset mode
 
Rather than a course, wouldn't an evening class be good at the basics?

If you'd prefer a bit more hands-on one-2-one kind of thing, how about your local camera club. I'm sure you'd find plenty of willing helpers and the kind of stuff you want to understand better is not that difficult. Or at least, it's not once you know it! ;)

All camera clubs are listed here http://www.pagb-photography-uk.co.uk/
 
You get to ask the questions in your way with your kit so either an evening course or a days tuition are good. There are some that I have been on organised by the National trust that have been really good in a historic setting
 
russellsnr said:
Hi, Never been on a course, found out what I needed to no from forums like this one and watching FREE videos on youtube etc...
Click to expand...

Mardybum said:
To be honest you can learn everything you need from YouTube, books, blogs, this forum (as mentioned above),...
Click to expand...

If you can learn from books and videos then there is plenty out there to learn from.

Jayst84 said:
Depends how you personally prefer to learn,...
Click to expand...

I think James (Jayst84) has it right. Personally I've found a good one day course very informative and thought provoking. I did a couple of Nikon courses; one about my own model of DSLR and one on their speedlight system. Then I did one at Photofusion on the basics of studio lighting, which was very good.

As someone else has pointed out, do some research first to check out the course, its aims, objectives and who's tutoring.

I also did an evening class at the local college and, frankly, was quite disappointed with it. So it's horses for courses, I'm afraid.
 
Working with other people on a course is a good fun way to learn, but why not just go along to a few TP meets in your area. You will find people are only to keen to help you and your only costs will be a beer on the way home when you can sit a chat about your day and plan the next one.
 
Well today I attened a course with my local camera club, it was only £2.50 and being run by Adobe & Epson accredited Ken Fisher.

It was really good, and I'm going back for the other two :)
 
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