Schooling

fredjclaus · May 6, 2009

I have been a photographer since I was 5 years old and able to hold a camera steady. For over 30 years my focus has been on nature and outdoor photography so lighting has not been an issue. Currently I am working indoors doing some studio product shots as well as some getting asked to do portraits.

Do you all think that it's a good idea for a nature photographer who wants to get into portraits to go back to a school such as the New York School of photography to brush up on some skills and learn more about lighting?

TangoJuliet · May 6, 2009

I'm not sure that at this point (30 years), NYIP would really be the direction for you, but certainly some learning for studio lighting couldn't hurt. I'm not dissing NYIP, I'm currently enrolled in their "Pro" course, I just think that you've probably advanced further in your career than what their courses are designed for. It's just my opinion that they are geared more for the neophyte, although the later subject material may be more beneficial.

JohnBiggs · May 7, 2009

Perhaps focus on workshops specific to your needs. Schooling seems like they are going to just cover a lot of fundamentals you already know.

Tikibirdplay · May 7, 2009

TangoJuliet wrote:

I'm not sure that at this point (30 years), NYIP would really be the direction for you, but certainly some learning for studio lighting couldn't hurt. I'm not dissing NYIP, I'm currently enrolled in their "Pro" course, I just think that you've probably advanced further in your career than what their courses are designed for. It's just my opinion that they are geared more for the neophyte, although the later subject material may be more beneficial.

Tango did you take their begginers course also? If you did was it worth it? I have been thinking about taking one of their courses.

Art Scott · May 7, 2009

In this area of the country....a lot of clients want to see paper as to where you got yore formal edumakachun....really.....of course we have like 5 universities here and a couple with good Fine Arts Schools.............

Also with NYIP you can cruise thru the course as fast as you want.....so blow thru what you know so you can spend a bit more time on what you need to learn......I'm looking at them and also the Fine Arts College In SF....both do correspondence.............

TangoJuliet · May 7, 2009

Tikibirdplay wrote:

Tango did you take their begginers course also? If you did was it worth it? I have been thinking about taking one of their courses.

No. I went right into the Pro course. My scheduled precluded me from going into a traditional college course so the correspondance was the only way for me. The pro course offers all the fundamentals (that I needed) and the advanced learning subjects (that I wanted), not to mention the business side of it. I'm currently in the Portraiture unit and waiting for my GF to return from Qatar in late June to start my photo assignments. I don't have any subjects readily available to me that would sit long enough for me to practice on. Next week I'm going to a big event and plan to do some PJ type of work even though I'm not to that point of the course yet.

fredjclaus · May 9, 2009

Well, it seems that there are some mixed views. Some think that NYIP is great for me and others think workshops. The problem is, I live in the Western New York area (about 9 hours away from NYC). There are no workshops around here, but there is a great one coming up in NYC in September.

Can anyone suggest some good online workshops that would be worth taking? I have found so many "photo schools" online but most of them do not look very professional.

Jeremy Winterberg · May 11, 2009

Another thing you could look into is getting some books on lighting. Books are great and better than that ... CHEAP (most of the time) A lot cheaper than NYIP.

I say since you've been a photographer for 30 years, you shouldn't go back to school, just get some books or follow along with the assignments in the sub-forum on here. Another great way to learn lighting is by studying other professional photographer's work, and trying it out on your own.

School would just be a waste of time and money, because you probably know most of the things they'll be teaching you.

fredjclaus · May 11, 2009

Thanks for the advise Jeremy. I took that one step further and I've been looking at some great DVD's as well. I found some produced by Nikon but I haven't watched them yet because I was given some great technical DVD's from a friend who runs a camera club. He also advised me about a guy who lives in Niagara Falls, NY and does many seminars a year in this area.

Art Scott · May 11, 2009

fredjclaus wrote:

Thanks for the advise Jeremy. I took that one step further and I've been looking at some great DVD's as well. I found some produced by Nikon but I haven't watched them yet because I was given some great technical DVD's from a friend who runs a camera club. He also advised me about a guy who lives in Niagara Falls, NY and does many seminars a year in this area.

Check out Kelby's site.....he has great instructional DVD's also..............

afmdmc · May 12, 2009

ok, i'll chime in here

i did the NYIP and it's great learn a lot. but from the sounds of it your more interested in learning lighting and if that's the case here what i'd recommend.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/
and his cd.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/05/now-available-strobist-lighting-dvds.html

fredjclaus · May 12, 2009

Thanks everyone. I've looked at the Strobist website and this guy is great. I will bookmark his blog and come back often.

Art, "Kelby", are you referring to Scott Kelby?

Jeremy Winterberg · May 13, 2009

fredjclaus wrote:

Thanks everyone. I've looked at the Strobist website and this guy is great. I will bookmark his blog and come back often.

Art, "Kelby", are you referring to Scott Kelby?

Yes, thats the one and only mr fantastico Scott Kelby with KelbyTraining.com... Next membership on my list for sure. Just got the NAPP membership (which is also great if you need to brush up on some photoshop techniques.) So I gotta wait for the budget to come back

.

Tim Kamppinen · May 13, 2009

+1 for Strobist. There is a series linked on the right of the blog called "Lighting 101" that will help you immensely if you're new to lighting. After that there's also "Lighting 102" and a huge number of other posts with great ideas/techniques/inspiration.

Kelbytraining.com is also great as someone else said. You can get a 1 month subscription for $20 with no obligation to continue (although you will have to cancel it when you want to, otherwise they just charge you each month). There are a lot of great video series on there about lighting, many of them by Joe McNally.

Art Scott · May 13, 2009

fredjclaus wrote:

Thanks everyone. I've looked at the Strobist website and this guy is great. I will bookmark his blog and come back often.

Art, "Kelby", are you referring to Scott Kelby?

Sorry......yes that is he

fredjclaus · May 16, 2009

I've been doing some research of different places online to learn. It looks like the last half of the Pro photography course at NYIP would be worth it, but the first half is all refersher work for me.

I've also checked out some DVD's you all have suggested both here and through PM. Online searching I found www.BetterPHoto.com. Has anyone done anything through them? How are their courses? do they instruct well, or is it a cheese site that is not worth the money?

Schooling

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