Need some knowledge

Photopsist

Photopsist

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Dmitry
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Hello everyone.
Maybe it's sounds stupid but I need some photo knowledge and experience. I would go as free assistant with professional photographer in studio or at location. So if somebody need assistant in London for free let me know ;)
 
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Photopsist said:
Hello everyone.
Maybe it's sounds stupid but I need some photo knowledge and experience. I would go as free assistant with professional photographer in studio or at location. So if somebody need assistant for free let me know ;)
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why not treat it like applying for any other job. What do you have to offer? what do you want in return? I hate to say but that won't get anything
 
why not get involved on here for a couple of months, make a few posts, learn a few things... at which point, you'll be allowed to post in the "jobs offered and wanted" section in the Talk Business section of this forum. I'm pretty sure that access to this section is controlled by the same parameters as access to the classifieds section - i.e. 60 days membership and at least 25 meaningful posts to the forum - just to ensure people don't just "drop by" for a free Job Advert...

But, be prepared - if you do so, you'll be dealing with a bunch of professional photographers - and you'll REALLY need to be taking it seriously - as Hugh says above, frankly, you'd need to pitch it as a proper Job Application...

Where are you Based, Where can you travel to for work, What do you have to offer the Person who's taking you on and so forth...
 
according to theother thread you only just started photography ... don't try to run before you can walk, learn to use you camera first, get out and take photos of anything that interests you , read books and magazines, post on here for crit, watch tutorial videos etc.

no one is going to take you as a free assustant when the best you can offer is that you'd carry the bags and make the tea (and tbh you won't learn much being an assistant anyway because the tog will be too busy working to teach you anything)
 
You haven't said what area of photography you want to learn. Surely that's the most important thing? There's no point wanting to be a macro nature photographer but working in a portrait studio.

My advice would be to skip the assistant route. I get at least 2 emails a day from young photographers wanting to be my assistant. I tell them the same thing... sorry, but your chances of success in landing an assistant role will be 1 in 4,593,323 - and why would you want to?

If you want to learn to become a professional photographer, then start taking photos, get a website, use forums, YouTube, other photographers, online resources, books, other photos and practice in order to get there. Don't set your goal to just follow around another photographer carrying their bags for the next year or so. Utter waste of time.
 
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Mostly I wanna learn about light. Best light positions in portrait photography. Probably you think I don't even know about camera settings? Of course I know that I shooting in Manual mode. So I'm OK with camera settings. I wanna learn what light gives Stripbox, Softbox, Octagon Box and what difference between them.
 
big soft moose said:
according to theother thread you only just started photography ... don't try to run before you can walk, learn to use you camera first, get out and take photos of anything that interests you , read books and magazines, post on here for crit, watch tutorial videos etc.

no one is going to take you as a free assustant when the best you can offer is that you'd carry the bags and make the tea (and tbh you won't learn much being an assistant anyway because the tog will be too busy working to teach you anything)
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I started photography about 6 months ago. I read some books watching Youtube tutorials videos. For me it's just theory but I need practice to realise how it works. That's why I asking this question.
 
I think your best bet is to bite the bullet, put your hand in your pocket and buy some kit. Then get a relative (or friend) to sit for you so you can practice (and practice and practice, oh and practice some more).
Lighting isn't particularly expensive compared to quality glass.
 
Photopsist said:
Mostly I wanna learn about light. Best light positions in portrait photography. Probably you think I don't even know about camera settings? Of course I know that I shooting in Manual mode. So I'm OK with camera settings. I wanna learn what light gives Stripbox, Softbox, Octagon Box and what difference between them.
Click to expand...

Creative live do a whole range of courses and there is one about studio lighting here

https://www.creativelive.com/courses/studio-photography-101-lindsay-adler

That may answer (if not found by you elsewhere already) the sort of questions you have posed. Watch the 15 minute preview segment and see if it gives you enough reason to spend the $139 for the whole course.
 
Photopsist said:
I started photography about 6 months ago. I read some books watching Youtube tutorials videos. For me it's just theory but I need practice to realise how it works. That's why I asking this question.
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You can do that easily enough by getting out and using a camera first to practice, 6 months technically isn't long and there is absolutely loads you can self learn in the mean time

And as been said, read, read and watch even more, ask questions here too, nothing is a silly question
 
Box Brownie said:
Creative live do a whole range of courses and there is one about studio lighting here

https://www.creativelive.com/courses/studio-photography-101-lindsay-adler

That may answer (if not found by you elsewhere already) the sort of questions you have posed. Watch the 15 minute preview segment and see if it gives you enough reason to spend the $139 for the whole course.
Click to expand...

there's also a shed load of free stuff on the lencarta website and more youtube /web tutorials than you can shake a stick at out on tinterwebs
 
LC2 said:
I think your best bet is to bite the bullet, put your hand in your pocket and buy some kit. Then get a relative (or friend) to sit for you so you can practice (and practice and practice, oh and practice some more).
Lighting isn't particularly expensive compared to quality glass.
Click to expand...
I have just one quality glass 24-105mm f/4 L. I think its good enough to learn some stuff. Of course in future I need more L lenses and full frame body. Photography its hobby for me now but I wanna do it professional.
 
Photopsist said:
Hello everyone.
Maybe it's sounds stupid but I need some photo knowledge and experience. I would go as free assistant with professional photographer in studio or at location. So if somebody need assistant in London for free let me know ;)
Click to expand...

How experienced are you? A professional photographer wants an assistant - which means they want someone who doesn't need teaching anything. An assistant is there to do stuff the photographer doesn't have time to do, and it's a lot more than carrying bags and making tea. You'll be expected to set up lights, and meter lights to instructions, process raw files, possibly retouch... pretty much anything the photographer themselves would do. What photographers want as an assistant is another photographer.

You'd be better off being honest as saying you want to work for free to learn stuff, and not pass yourself off as an assistant. Photographic assistant is an actual job role with a required skill set.. not someone who carries stuff... although you will be carrying a lot of stuff :) Like many people, assisting was my first role after graduating and my first job was in house assistant in the famous Holborn Studios... a real baptism by fire, but I had the advantage of already working as a professional photographer for years before I finally went back to college to get a degree. While most big names have their own assistants, I was often seconded to many big names on many big shoots, so it was still stressful. All I can say is that if I didn't know what I was doing, I'd have not lasted a day. That's a bit of a pressure cooker environment though, but even if you're just assisting a local social portraiture photographer, they will not want someone who is more of a liability than assistant. They'll expect to have the job done, and not spend time teaching you things you should already know.

Be honest... stop saying your an assistant if you're not, and instead just ask for someone to mentor you... then you'll both know what to expect from one another.


If you're already experienced.. then scratch everything I've just said, but in all probability, if you needed to ask this question, you're probably not.
 
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