OCA The Art of Photography Course Discussion Including Assignments and Submissions

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dubcat said:
FINALLLLLYYYYY!!!! finally finally finally I got over my nemesis - a sequence of composition :) I am now far less shy about going out in to a very busy situation with a camera stuck to my face too lol.

http://ocalog.blogspot.com/2011/06/exercise-sequence-of-composition.html

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Dub
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Sorry to hear about your wife.

As for the shots, some nice composition, good colouring and I love the south bank. You'll see the stall holders are very used to having people photograph them, but not necessarily the customers. One in particular looks startled. I usually find that if I smile at them, they instinctively smile back, which is when you press the shutter. You have to be quick and anticipate the response.

Cheers
 
Great tip Byker. I will try that. I think the problem was that I wanted to stay true to the exercise so I spent quite some time walking around with a camera glued to my face.

Right, today my wife is away at her mums with the twins, it's not raining, and my batteries are charged. My goal is to do everything up to assignment 1 today! Wish me luck :)
 
Phew caught up on several exercises!!! At 4am I think I should call it a day. Work should be interesting tomorrow :(
 
I sent off all the paperwork to enrol on this course recently (2 weeks ago) but havent heard back yet, is that normal?

Thanks.
 
dltracy said:
I sent off all the paperwork to enrol on this course recently (2 weeks ago) but havent heard back yet, is that normal?

Thanks.
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I enrolled online and got it sent to me within 3 days.

I think APC couriers delivered the course work (had to sign for it, plus wont fit through the letter box).
 
Yup ring them. They are really friendly and helpful.
It does come in a reasonable sized box, you get folder, books etc so you have to be in, or pick it up from your local depot. Did you get a card through the door?

Either way give them a ring and make sure they've got your details, payment etc. If it's been lost they'll send another. As said it comes in about 3 days

Oh and welcome to the course.
 
I think really have picked the wrong time of year to start the course as I seem to be out of sorts at times for the exercises. I got around to colour in winter and I've just spent today recording the differences of light during daylight hours. I've been taking photos every hour at the same point since before sunrise. Trust me to choose about the longest day! :D

I started about 4:30am, just finished shooting. Turned out to be quite interesting as I chose a bench overlooking a local lake, so I've been chatting to fishermen, playing with dogs, and photographing all sorts of people on the bench.
 
FINALLY finished assignment 2....phew!! Only took me 3 weeks!!! Am just about to write up my blog and send away the images to my tutor. Am very relieved thats out of the way :)
 
Great work. It's a really good feeling to get the assignments done and quite a relief. You put so much effort in that's it's just a huge relief when it's done
 
Byker28i said:
Great work. It's a really good feeling to get the assignments done and quite a relief. You put so much effort in that's it's just a huge relief when it's done
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Completely agree mate, im so relieved its out of the way and looking forward to cracking on with section 3.

Ive just ordered all my prints through Snapfish but will be posting them up on my blog this week so I can carry on with the rest of the course. Ill drop in a link once iv uploaded them for some C&C
 
I'm still very tempted to sign up for the OCA course. I'm not currently working much (damn economy!) and am getting bored not doing much so this would be a good way of gaining some more photography skills as well as getting me out the house more.

On a side note does anyone know if OCA students qualify for the Adobe student prices and if so is it on all their software? I am looking at getting Creative Suite CS5.5. Full price around £1800, student price £334, a MASSIVE £1466 saving!!!
 
EMA747 said:
I'm still very tempted to sign up for the OCA course. I'm not currently working much (damn economy!) and am getting bored not doing much so this would be a good way of gaining some more photography skills as well as getting me out the house more.

On a side note does anyone know if OCA students qualify for the Adobe student prices and if so is it on all their software? I am looking at getting Creative Suite CS5.5. Full price around £1800, student price £334, a MASSIVE £1466 saving!!!
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Yes OCA students qualify for Adobe Discount:thumbs:
 
EMA747 said:
I'm still very tempted to sign up for the OCA course. I'm not currently working much (damn economy!) and am getting bored not doing much so this would be a good way of gaining some more photography skills as well as getting me out the house more.

On a side note does anyone know if OCA students qualify for the Adobe student prices and if so is it on all their software? I am looking at getting Creative Suite CS5.5. Full price around £1800, student price £334, a MASSIVE £1466 saving!!!
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Yes. £595 for the TAOP course means you get the course for free with that saving ;)
 
So, does anyone look at other peoples blogs whilst working on their exercises?

I do to see if I can be original as I don't want to think I have a great idea and everybody's done the same thing.

Sometimes I can't believe some of the stuff that's getting posted. Some of the exercises call for a minimum number of shots and people are posting half that. Other times you look at things and think that it just about passes the criteria for the exercise but the image is poor or a snapshot, almost as if no thought has gone into it and it was just taken quickly to get that exercise over and done with.

I'm trying to post good images all the time, which is obviously time consuming and I'm starting to wonder if I'm putting too much effort in.
 
Byker28i said:
Yes. £595 for the TAOP course means you get the course for free with that saving ;)
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Do you get a student card when you sign up or something? I'm not doing it for the discount (:D) but it would be useful. If it's a full-on student card I would even get cheap bus travel in Nottingham :lol: .

Byker do you have a link to your blog? I would be interested to see some of the phots from the course.
 
Going through the thread for Blogs:
Mine is: http://www.nineelmsphotography.com/blog/
HeWhoKnows: http://mattgilesphotography.blogspot.com/
DubCat: http://ocalog.blogspot.com/
BenJ: http://benclist.co.uk/oca/
Muz: http://futurephotoltd.blogspot.com/

I think that's it - apologies if I missed anyone.

There's a flickr group as well, but I don't have a flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/ocarts/


Oh and yes you get a student card. It's a grey card, Says OCA Student Card, name, student number, BA (hons) undergraduate program and date of issue. Never had a problem using it for any available student discount. If asked I just tell them I'm a mature student :D
 
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Hey folks everyone seems to be making progress. I'm finally bk on the case after to many months off. How is everyone getting on?
 
So it says you are a BA undergrad even if you just sign up on a module by module basis?

Does that mean you can qualify for discount at Apple as well?

Byker I've just been browsing your bolg and I have to say it's very well shot and presented. You have certainly put a lot of effort into the course. I was interested in the part about the Virgin Racing red being a strange colour in real life (I'm a massive motorsport fan).
 
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EMA747 said:
So it says you are a BA undergrad even if you just sign up on a module by module basis?

Does that mean you can qualify for discount at Apple as well?

Byker I've just been browsing your bolg and I have to say it's very well shot and presented. You have certainly put a lot of effort into the course. I was interested in the part about the Virgin Racing red being a strange colour in real life (I'm a massive motorsport fan).
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I've not tried discounts at Apple, but I don't see why not.
Thanks for the comments on the blog, it's the first time I've ever blogged so the format has kinda stayed as I'm comfortable with doing it that way.

You have a PM about f1
 
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Byker28i said:
So, does anyone look at other peoples blogs whilst working on their exercises?

I do to see if I can be original as I don't want to think I have a great idea and everybody's done the same thing.

Sometimes I can't believe some of the stuff that's getting posted. Some of the exercises call for a minimum number of shots and people are posting half that. Other times you look at things and think that it just about passes the criteria for the exercise but the image is poor or a snapshot, almost as if no thought has gone into it and it was just taken quickly to get that exercise over and done with.

I'm trying to post good images all the time, which is obviously time consuming and I'm starting to wonder if I'm putting too much effort in.
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Yes I look at other students blogs for the same reasons, alot of the times I find my ideas have already been done so I try to put a different slant on things. But at the same time when ive got a bit of a creative block I check other peoples blogs out to get some inspiration.

I always try to shoot the best images possible, sometimes time is an issue and I have to try and balance that with the time its taking to complete the exercise. I could probably take ages on each exercise and be hyper creative but that would mean id never get the course completed lol!!
 
Don't know about crit Matt but your "two kinds of implied triangles" was jolly clever. All your shots looked cracking to me and put me right off doing this course, which I had been pondering. My head would explode having to think of all those things and my photos would never be up to snuff.
 
Some nice images there. My only concern is that the subject is raw materials of food, so I'm not sure where cake, crumpets and marshmallows fit.
 
Byker28i said:
Some nice images there. My only concern is that the subject is raw materials of food, so I'm not sure where cake, crumpets and marshmallows fit.
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Good point, I think I may have bent the rules in regards to the subject matter I chose. Hopefully those few images will still be allowed in, if not ill re-shoot :shrug:
 
Trying to do this on the iPad so jumping between pics and notes.
I really like the single garlic bulb. Nice use of lighting, depth of field and the out of focus cookbooks in the background at an angle works well,
Not too sure about the two blueberries. The shapes on the top of them are interesting but there's some White squares in the top right corner. Light from the window?
Several points in a deliberate shape. I like that. The wooden block adds interest and imthink you've got the lighting spot on, shadows and highlights on the tomatoes, some shine on the cut tomatoes and an interesting use of different shapes.
Vertical and horizontal a nice take on the knife and beans which everyone (including me) have used.

Strawberries and cherries another nice image but there's something about the strawberries that doesn't feel right, possibly because they are all at different angles (and that's my OCD showing) or maybe you've missed a trick with the triangular shape of the fruit. The lighting is great again.

Cones is a great image and would have worked for two also, but upside down as an implied triangle also. Such a clever idea. It might have been slightly improved if both cones were orientated the same so that the base pattern on the handle part matched.(my OCD/attention to detail again).

Watermelon works ok. I see the implied triangle also - clever and again the lighting is great as it would have been easy to get a huge shine off that and lose detail.

Distinct if irregular shapes I really struggled with so I think you've done really well there, posh fish and chips almost.
Implied triangle, as mentioned, isn't raw food but we do also get an option of our choice so I guess you could call it food. Marshmallows is a triangle, cake works really well as an implied triangle.

The chocolates is inspired as a pattern because it has a pattern but also a random feel, which makes it interesting, same for crumpets.

Overall, I think you've done really well, showed good technical ability and produced a good set of images.
Cheers
 
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Really appreciate your feedback and full critique on my images mate, exactly what I needed. Am so happy i got that assignment out of the way, seemed to have took me for ages to complete and print out.

If im honest, I do draw alot of inspiration from your work. Am hugely impressed with your creativity and quality of shots so to hear good feedback from yourself definately inspires me.

Thanks ;)
 
Cheers Matt. I think I'm learning a lot by commenting on others work as well.

I get such detailed feedback from my tutor he points out little things I hadn't noticed, so if I spot the same mistakes I made then it might help. I can see a definite improvement in my abilities and I can see now the exercises on TAOP forces you to use every setting, mode etc on your camera so you become really at one with it, which will obviously come in handy for later parts of the course.

I wasn't sure I'd get much out of this part but it's amazing how much I'm learning. Clever bloke that Michael Freeman
 
Hi folks,

I enrolled on the Art of Photography module yesterday and hope to get my study material tomorrow.

Everyone seems really supportive on here so it'd be good to be able to pick a few brains along the way.

Any tips before I start?

Oh, and how beneficial has it been to get hold of the books on the recommended reading lists?

Rick
 
I'm thinking of enrolling on TAOP as well but I don't know if I've got enough time to devote to it. How long do you all spend each week doing the assignments, and what do you think is the ideal amount of time to spend on them? :)
 
March Hare said:
I'm thinking of enrolling on TAOP as well but I don't know if I've got enough time to devote to it. How long do you all spend each week doing the assignments, and what do you think is the ideal amount of time to spend on them? :)
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My materials arrived today, and suggests 400 hours for that module... assuming 8 hours per week. (I'm very impressed with the quality of the materials btw.)

Those that are a bit further on with it will give you a better idea.
 
rrowan said:
I'm now a few exercises in and have started a learning log/blog. I'm not sure whether people are still viewing this thread, but if so I'd appreciate some feedback...

www.richardrowan.tumblr.com

Thanks! :D
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Nice clean blog, goo start. You might like to think about including a menu to the articles as there gets to be a few posts.
Cheers
 
Byker28i said:
Nice clean blog, goo start. You might like to think about including a menu to the articles as there gets to be a few posts.
Cheers
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Good tip. Always good to know you're on the right lines. Thanks for taking the time out.

Rick :)
 
Nice looking blog Richard and much better now you've switched over to blogger. Ive been suitably impressed with the course materials too, ive just started Part Three: Colour after a months lay off and am really looking forward to getting stuck in with my studies again.
 
You can see why it takes people a year to do TAOP. I had such hopes of finishing it quicker but work and family commitments just got in the way.

Gave myself a kick up the backside and finished the exercises to section 4 (which is huge). Currently working (ha- read waiting for the weather) on assignment 4.

Had a few ideas and I've shot a fallback of a huge vase of flowers, but as always I'm aiming high and intending to shoot my car as the single object, but the weather has turned.

Just a taster, I got carried away doing some test shots as an idea. I really need to shoot this again in pitch darkness to reduce the reflections on the bodywork.
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Single lightstand with multiple flashguns, triggered by wireless trigger and moved around the car to predetermined points marked with tape on the floor. the lights went 360 degrees around the car, although not so close as the ones in shot. 22 layers in photoshop combined for the final image!
 
hewhoknows said:
Nice looking blog Richard and much better now you've switched over to blogger. Ive been suitably impressed with the course materials too, ive just started Part Three: Colour after a months lay off and am really looking forward to getting stuck in with my studies again.
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Thanks, hewhoknows.

I was off work for the first few weeks following enrolment. Back in now and progress has slowed. Need to pick up the pace somewhat.
 
Well, update.
Assignment 4 in the post. Despite trying I ended up using a model rather than my car due to the poor weather conditions over the last two weeks. I think the results came out ok and I had a lot of fun messing about with light modifiers, lighting conditions etc.

Hows everyone else getting on?
 
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