Which course? Creative Photography or Digital Photography course?

christof

Hi
I need advise. I was looking at a photography courses in the Dublin Gallery of Photography.
I can't decide between Creative Photography and digital photography and image editing.
I usually use my DSLR on auto so could do with learning the basics of capturing but the digital could be useful too . Has anyone gone to one of these courses? Or knows if the digital one includes much capturing as well as editing?
Thanks in advance

kc56

christof wrote: »

Hi
I need advise. I was looking at a photography courses in the Dublin Gallery of Photography.
I can't decide between Creative Photography and digital photography and image editing.
I usually use my DSLR on auto so could do with learning the basics of capturing but the digital could be useful too . Has anyone gone to one of these courses? Or knows if the digital one includes much capturing as well as editing?
Thanks in advance

Have a look at the Institute of Photogtaphy. They run courses suitable for moving beyond auto. http://iop.ie/courses/shortterm/digital1.htm

TheQuietFella

In order to be creative I would think you need you know the basics &

you'll never learn to be creative using a camera in auto mode!

Out of curiosity what are you shooting with?

dinneenp

Call into our phone them up, explain your level and ask them.
But you have to learn to walk before you run so you want a c beginners course that will explain different modes etc.

DaireQuinlan

TheQuietFella wrote: »

you'll never learn to be creative using a camera in auto mode!

Of course you can. 'Learning how to operate your camera' and 'being creative' are two pretty orthogonal concepts.

magicbastarder

Daire has orthogonads, so he knows about these things.

DaireQuinlan

magicbastarder wrote: »

Daire has orthogonads, so he knows about these things.

Balls to that, though you've taken the right angle all right, they're not acute pair. I can be a little more obtuse about these things.

thebaz

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Of course you can. 'Learning how to operate your camera' and 'being creative' are two pretty orthogonal concepts.

agree with this - Andy Warhol been the prime example

p.s. 1 but still not sure what orthogonal is

p.s. 2 also recommend Institute of Photography as a good place to learn the basics about how to function camera

TheQuietFella

thebaz wrote: »

agree with this - Andy Warhol been the prime example

p.s. 1 but still not sure what orthogonal is

p.s. 2 also recommend Institute of Photography as a good place to learn the basics about how to function camera

How can you be creative when you don't understand how the camera works?

DaireQuinlan

TheQuietFella wrote: »

How can you be creative when you don't understand how the camera works?

Perhaps it's best to define precisely what you mean by 'creativity' in this context.

braddun

http://petapixel.com/2014/07/03/best-free-online-photography-courses-tutorials/

thebaz

TheQuietFella wrote: »

How can you be creative when you don't understand how the camera works?

if you can use the camera in auto mode, as the OP says, of course you can be creativity with photography;

Seeing something uniquely, differently has no bearing on your understanding of the workings of camera - obviously it helps the more you know.

christof

Sorry it's an introduction to creative photography. So it does go through the basics (can't post link as im a new user)
It goes through lighting and composition but the digital photography course goes through f stops and Shutter speed. Not sure which one would be the most useful?
Thanks the IOP course looks good too.
Also saw the Dublin Camera Club has a beginners course.

Tiriel

christof wrote: »

Also saw the Dublin Camera Club has a beginners course.

There's one starting in January in the camera club!

TheQuietFella

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Perhaps it's best to define precisely what you mean by 'creativity' in this context.

I suppose being creative in my view is the photographer making the decisions regarding everything about the shot, aperture, B&W or colour, long exposure, a fast shutter speed, type of filter to use if any & not letting the camera do the thinking for you. It's going against in part what the camera is telling you.

There is a lot more to photography than just auto mode & if you believe that's being creative you don't know what you're talking about!

magicbastarder

technical prowess =/= creativity.
in fact, you can see creativity fall away with a lot of amateur photographers as they learn more technical skills (there's a graph which is commonly used to illustrate) and the benefit of learning is knowing when to dispense with technical skills.

the skill with a camera is first and foremost where you point it.
and you've created a straw man argument with your 'using auto mode is creative' comment above. he's precisely arguing that is not the case.

thebaz

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I

There is a lot more to photography than just auto mode & if you believe that's being creative you don't know what you're talking about!

Daire probably knows more about cameras than most here - but seeing an original beautiful image/frame in our day to day mundane world ,through a viewfinder with a human eye, is creativity , nothing to do with knowledge of camera workings - it helps if you know camera functionality, as there is less risk of botching the exposure.

Put it this way , not sure Picasso ever took a picture, but I guarantee he would have been creative.

pete4130

It's a double edged sword. You can be creative and see things to capture and not have the technical knowhow to capture them how you see them or want them to be represented.

On the other hand you can get wrapped up in the technical side of things and get stuck in what I call "ADPMM" or Amateur Digital Photography Magazine Mode. This is where you see the (generic) technical photos people submit to magazines and assume that is how all photos should attempt to look and seek to recreate these images with tripods, filters, post processing and gimmicks...it usually results in a loss of creativity chasing the technical "perfection".

I think creativity & technical prowess can go hand in hand, with creativity being the greater influence in the long run. If you see something you want to achieve you will work out the technical stuff to achieve it. Thats how it worked for me. The creativity forced me to seek out the technical solution to achieve my end goal. Now, at this point I photography as being science. It is all physics at the end of the day and granted, understanding the physics behind exposure, lenses, apertures, focal lengths etc does help you to be more creative. It gives you a clear idea of how you set about to get the end result.

DaireQuinlan

TheQuietFella wrote: »

I suppose being creative in my view is the photographer making the decisions regarding everything about the shot, aperture, B&W or colour, long exposure, a fast shutter speed, type of filter to use if any & not letting the camera do the thinking for you.

So your definition of creativity is 'NOT AUTO MODE' then :rolleyes: You have a very narrow definition of creativity. I've seen as many dull as dishwater shots taken in manual mode as I have crappy unimaginative shots taken in auto mode.

TheQuietFella

You're problem is Daire you're just looking through a small view finder!

How can you be 'creative' when the work is being done for you?

eoglyn

thebaz wrote: »

Put it this way , not sure Picasso ever took a picture, but I guarantee he would have been creative.

Picasso was into light painting, and yes he was awesome...

http://honestlywtf.com/art/electric-pablo/

magicbastarder

TheQuietFella wrote: »

How can you be 'creative' when the work is being done for you?

so if you take a photo using the same settings the camera would have chosen in auto, are you being creative or not, given the end result is the same?

anyway, since daire built his own camera (several in fact, iirc), i think he wins the pissing contest on who can be the most 'manual'.