Hi all,
Does anybody know of a good online photography course? Preferably one that offers some tuition in bird photography.
I've Googled up a few courses that aren't all too madly expensive but they all seem to focus on the more obvious commercial streams such as fashion, portraits, weddings, photo journalism, landscape, food, etc.
I guess that any course will give some useful information that will translate across different categories, but it would be good to find somewhere that could give birds and flight specific tips. Plus give feedback on student work, based on practical knowledge of what we're up against.
I'm not a rank beginner, and I think some of my shots are OK for "home consumption" - I.e. To show to friends and family. But then I look at some of the amazing work here and see just how very much I still need to learn! And I quite fancy the challenge and structure that a course might offer.
Any ideas?
Cheers. Chris
Contact Australian Aviary Life Magazine, for they're up to the third installment of my series on bird photography, titled "Bird photography school". The editor may be late replying as he just flew to Europe last Friday, followed by Brazil.
You should be able to get back issues. I've covered cameras, lenses and support thus far. Next issue will be the digital exposure, with which a lot of folks tend to struggle REALLY badly followed by more processing techniques in the issue thereafter and field skills later this year such as finding a good location, approaching subjects, technique in the field regarding composition etc, night photography, flight photography, the works.
I honestly don't know if you can find anything online. I can offer personal tutoring and if you're in Sydney, even better.....in person tutoring can be arranged. At the end of the way whatever works for you is fine with me.
To give you some background, I've been photographing wildlife below and above water for nearly 20 years and have had my images published world-wide, in books, magazines, field guides, galleries, government houses, stamp releases and much more media.
Cheers
Thanks very much for the reply and suggestions CG.
I'll look out for the magazine and see if anybody stocks it locally.
From what I've seen on other photographers' sites, personal tutoring tends to be beyond the price range that I can afford, unfortunately. And I'm in WA, so one on one tuition in Sydney isn't an option. Naturally, if I find that I'm struggling with a particular aspect then it might be worth getting some specific tuition, so I'll keep that in mind.
There are a number of books and websites that cover bird phography in some detail, and I'm currently working through a couple. So most of the technical information and practical tips seem to be fairly readily available. Although of course the authors don't always agree! I guess what appeals to me about a structured course is the opportunity to work on set tasks as part of a group, and to have a tutor look at the results. Some general online courses give you the opportunity to discuss aspects with other students via forums, facebook, etc. which might be interesting.
I have found one course that seems to fit the bill. It's written by a well known professional bird and wildlife photographer, and is delivered over four weeks through an online Photography School. I doubt that students would get feedback from the man himself but there are other tutors to interact with. And I can afford it! So I might give that a go first and see what it has to offer.
The bottom line is that I have no ambition to be a professional photographer (retired, and turning 70 next year). So I'm only aiming to be a more proficient hobbyist, and to enjoy sharing the results with other people with a similar level of interest.
Thanks again for your reply.