Online Photography courses? from basic , to ??

[jlm86]

Ok, been shooting point and shoots, compact for 15 years, kids off to college now.
Would like to take the next jump into photography and really learn the science, techniques etc...

So, joined forum, and needing some nice on-line courses or so to get my learning curve up..

Recommendations?
thanks

[jWest]

My advice would be to hang out on digital photography forums (like this one ), and read photography blogs and instructional websites. Practically everything you need to know is out there - it would be a pity to spend money for what you can get for free. You may actually find the information you get free to be more up-to-date and easier to understand.

The New York Institute of Photography has a treasure trove of articles available free on their site. A lot is technically outdated, but the fundamentals are still the same. I also learned a lot from Digital Photography School (google it, it's the first result).

But really, the best education you can get yourself is from that good old School of Experience. Get a DSLR, or a point-and-shoot with manual controls. Put it on Av or manual, and fiddle around, try everything you can imagine up. You'll teach yourself in a jiffy.

[mtclimber]

Community colleges offer a wide variety of digital camera courses at very reasonable costs.

Sarah Joyce

[Mark1616]

I think you've been pointed in the right direction. If you want to go with specific areas such as wedding/portrait then there are some good online options, but they are not really for beginners.

Personally I started and have lived here at Steve's from very much novice to not quite so much novice now. I shot, asked questions, shot, looked at the work of others, shot etc etc.

The advantage of forums over online learning is that you choose the topics, sure everyone needs the basics (you have suggestions where to look) and can build on them.

Using a point and shoot/superzoom etc is going to be able to take you through composition, lighting etc, but it will pretty much leave out the creative control of being able to get shallow depth of field for which a dSLR is generally needed.

I would think about what you want to shoot and take it from there. Feel free to throw up more questions (probably best to start a new thread each time in the Newbie Help section and you will get lots of support.

[TCav]

Many camera manufacturers have a variety of instructional videos and tutorials on thier websites. You might want to start there, just to get familiar.