Good resource/classes to learn photography

Dioni A

Basque Assassin
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
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1,534
Location
Nampa, Idaho
I'm tired of taking crappy pictures. I've read a couple books but I need something more involved.
I purchased a Sony a6000 last year from camera land and love it but I know I'm not doing this thing justice.
Are there any online courses or really well explaind books that do a good job of explaining everything. I'd even be willing to take an in person class at this point.
If there was anything on digiscoping that would be a huge bonus also.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Messages
725
Location
San Luis Valley, Colorado
That's a good camera. It's important to learn the fundamentals first including aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. Those three fundamentals are more or less the same on every camera, and once you understand how those three things work together, you can shoot most cameras well.

Check out some "how to" books from the library. This is free. I like e-books.

National Geographic has a number of quick "how to" articles online. How to shoot the milky way, how to shoot portraits, etc.

Numerous photography blogs specializing in adventure photography, expedition photography, backcountry, etc. These sites often offer technical tips. Plus, you can get good ideas by looking at good photos. Jimmy Chin is a serious adventurer and has a lot of content on the web.

Look at Flickr and study photos taken with your camera & lens model. This will give you ideas.

But learn aperture, ISO and shutter speed and how they interrelate.
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Messages
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San Luis Valley, Colorado
Forgive me, but I thought of a couple more things:

Study up on the "rules" of artistic composition like the rule of thirds, etc. This will help you compose pictures in your mind. Then once you get good at them, break them!

To really improve your skill set you have to take 10,000 photos. Challenge yourself to one challenge at a time. For example, go out to a busy street and night and challenge yourself to take one good "panning" shot of a car driving by. There are many online articles about how to do this. Then, challenge yourself to get one good shot of the milky way at night. There are many online articles about how to do this. This will force you to spend hours outside shooting in the cold. Then, challenge yourself to take one good picture with good "bokeh" in the background. There are many articles about how to do this. Etc., etc.

You shouldn't have to spend any money to become a good photographer.

If you go through all the articles on the Nat Geo website, for example, you will have run yourself through many challenges and you'll have a much larger repertoire of skills.
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2018
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615
Everything CrzyTrekker said is pretty spot on, I will add: good photos are all about good light! Learn to read the light for your particular application, and you will be successful. Soft overcast light for macro/ wildflowers, sunset/ sunrise for landscapes, low angled light on your 6 for wildlife, birds, etc etc.....

......personally I caught a break when my dad offered to buy me a new camera for my birthday one year. Course I wanted every bell whistle and doodah, he said, "nope, you're getting an all manual Nikon FM, and you're gonna learn how to use it...".....so I did.

..took classes from a couple who did large-format fine art photography a la Ansel Adams....learned the basics and how to develop film and print in the darkroom...can't recommend this type of experience enough.

....and I read LOTS of Galen Rowell....:D
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
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The guy's name escapes me at the moment, but there's a guy who does an online tutorial video series for most of the higher end cameras on the market. Everyone says he is an excellent resource, I'll have to see if I can find his info for you. Goes through each button and its setting, the features, and how to make it all work together.

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Dos XX

WKR
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Dec 29, 2018
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" Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. You can get it on Amazon.

It covers shutter speed, aperture, ISO, which are the three fundamentals. He has exercises for each, so you actually see what they do on a photograph you took.

He also goes into composition, rule of thirds, etc.
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
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Tomsguide.com, Gary Fong on YouTube, Udemy has online video courses on the a6000.
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Skyhigh

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Joined
May 9, 2015
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276
Location
Eastern Montana
Youtube also has some great resources. I can't recall all of the videos I have watched, but there is a ton out there. While not directly photography related, Steven Drake, who is a photographer associated with a lot of Sitka Gear's media, has a pretty informative blog about photography and video editing. Not every episode is photography related, but many have tips and tricks that he uses.
 

Beau

FNG
Joined
Mar 27, 2019
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Location
Seattle
I've watched quite a few of Tony Northrup's videos on YouTube (mainly the drone related ones). Here's his main channel. (<--

I found it helpful to get some visual examples, but of course, I'm partial to learning via video. I've heard awesome things about his books though, as evidenced above, and I may have to pick some up now.
 
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ATX_Tyler

FNG
Joined
Dec 17, 2018
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13
Location
Austin, TX
YouTube has been my best friend when it comes to learning new techniques. If you like landscapes, there is a guy named Thomas Heaton that has some great work and is pretty helpful at explaining settings and things like that. There is another channel from a guy named Steve Matheis (might have spelled that wrong) but he mainly takes photos of wildlife in Grand Teton and shows all his camera settings on his shots.
 

boco7

FNG
Joined
Jan 4, 2019
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Location
GA
Helpful info...much appreciated


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Clinch

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 24, 2014
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201
Fototripper on YouTube. If nothing else, the guy is a kick.


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