Online photography classes, worth the time and investment?

[PeterTX]

I recently got 2 offers for online photography classes, both at $19 so not a huge investment, but timeless quite a bit since we are talking 20 hours.
Shaw Academy and Hollywood Art Institute.
I have been taking photos as an amateur for quite some time. Some pictures come out great some less and I do feel I have things to learn but is this the right way?

Anyone taken either and have some input or any other comment?

Thanks

 

[MinAZ]

I recently got 2 offers for online photography classes, both at $19 so not a huge investment, but timeless quite a bit since we are talking 20 hours.
Shaw Academy and Hollywood Art Institute.
I have been taking photos as an amateur for quite some time. Some pictures come out great some less and I do feel I have things to learn but is this the right way?

Anyone taken either and have some input or any other comment?

Thanks

I have no experience with either of those, but you should also consider the extension course that is offered online for free by Harvard University (yes the same one in Cambridge, Mass.). It is an actual on-campus extension course, but they post all the classes online. Prior to this year, although they allow anyone to watch online, only students in the class get feedback and participation, but this year they have added a Skype channel that you can join (watch the first class for details) so that you can join in to the community and it should be just as if you were there. The only downside is that I don't think you get college credit for the classs. The best part is of course that it is free.

See here:

Exposing Digital Photography

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

 

[PenPix]

I learned more from talking to photographers than I did reading books. (I learned photography pre-internet).

Having said that, $19 is not much money and is cheaper than a buying a book. A well written course can cover a lot of things you never thought of. From what I can tell, this is not their full "diploma" classes and is likely a photography primer for novices. What you take out of it will depend on your skill level.

The photography class I did take did give me some basic understanding so I could understand more advanced techniques from a mentor. More useful, it did motivate me to go out and shoot.

 

[Kodiak Photography]

In the last 4 years, 70%+ my students and mentorees came from
online photography classes.

 

[jeffcpix]

...but you should also consider the extension course that is offered online for free by Harvard University (yes the same one in Cambridge, Mass.). It is an actual on-campus extension course, but they post all the classes online.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1I2J3eFr6XgIxPgFewb8BA

I saw the post about the Extension class. Watched the first and half the second. I wasn't impressed with the presentation or the presenter. But then again, I aways preferred dealing with the brains at MIT than the 'granola chewers' down the road.

For technique, I think you'd do just as well watching the B&H tutorials.

And even more, watch everything available on youtube about the history of Art (including photography). From what I've seen and read here and elsewhere, most photographers know how to shoot, they just don't know what to shoot... or why.

 

[TonyCr46]

I recently got 2 offers for online photography classes, both at $19 so not a huge investment, but timeless quite a bit since we are talking 20 hours.
Shaw Academy and Hollywood Art Institute.
I have been taking photos as an amateur for quite some time. Some pictures come out great some less and I do feel I have things to learn but is this the right way?

Anyone taken either and have some input or any other comment?

Thanks

I just received the offer for Hollywood Art Institute, which is why I was looking for comments.

I can say I have experience with Shaw Academy. I enrolled in their free (at the time) introductory photography course. Since I live at GMT +7, I was not able to participate in the live course. However, the recordings were good. I received a lot of emails to enroll in their full course offerings, which include a number of courses on several topics. I resisted, since the full cost was about 500USD. However, I was assured that they were developing new courses, so I gave it a try.

There was only one additional course I was interested in, so I began it. I felt that I was missing something by not being able to participate live, so I wrote them and explained the reason. I was told that the additional course I took was something like 1200USD if I took it alone, so I could not get a refund.

Despite the large number of emails I received while they were trying to recruit me, I have received almost none since. I had expected maybe a newsletter of new courses or information that might help me. They seem to have added few, if any, courses and none in photography.

I would advise anyone thinking about this to look closely and explore all the options. As for the $500, another example of "a fool and his money are soon parted."

 

[justinwonnacott]

You must teach yourself or at least be passionate or interested enough to be motivated to do it alone.

Buy a good well illustrated comprehensive txtbook like "photography" by London and Upton by pearson press I think . It will be about a hundred bucks. Memorize it..... Seriously, read it repeatedly until you understand and know it by heart... It will not take that long. While you are studying the book shoot at least fifty pix a day of varying subjects and put in at least an hour or two doing your editing and post production. Go to galleries and browse the art and photo section in local bookstores at least once a week. Make friends with a good photographer who can help. Buy a good illstrated book on the history of photography. Carry your camera with you and use it. Spend your money on books and self teaching rather than equipment, learn to use what you have well before buying more gear.

i am saying that this will get you further than an online course. I am saying this after 25 years as a photography teacher at the post secondary and university level and after 40 years of experience as a photographer.

 

[TonyCr46]

I learned more from talking to photographers than I did reading books. (I learned photography pre-internet).

Having said that, $19 is not much money and is cheaper than a buying a book. A well written course can cover a lot of things you never thought of. From what I can tell, this is not their full "diploma" classes and is likely a photography primer for novices. What you take out of it will depend on your skill level.

The photography class I did take did give me some basic understanding so I could understand more advanced techniques from a mentor. More useful, it did motivate me to go out and shoot.

RE: Hollywood Art Institute course.

I had the same opinion as you...What's 19 bucks? Save your money. It's mostly written and what videos there they have are very poor. Few examples and I wonder if the guy who is doing the "teaching" knows anything about photography or if he's just reading script.

I would suggest diving into this site or check out The Luminous Landscape, a site with a lot of resources, including some very good videos, that's only $12 per year.

 

[Zollie]

I have recently came accross those 2 online courses and signed up for both. The Shaw Academy version has proven to be a rip off, as it is advertised for free, but then you have to pay for course material, etc., so it is not free, which I would not mind if it were not sold as free. The Hollywood Art Institute course is another piece of thing. Yes, it was very cheap, but for God sake, I found it damn basic. I have sweat through all the 22 units to obtain my certificate and the only thing I enjoyed was that embedded video lectures can be speeded up (1.5-2X), so that the narration does not feel like for mentally retarted audience.

Overall, if somebody starts learning photography from scretch, it is worth picking up the basics there and use it to build your own experimentation and learning assignments on that.

My recommendation however, assuming that learning is aimed at practical photography skills as opposed to a certificate, then YouTube tutorials and best practice sharing videos are far more effective. There are highly experienced and capable YouTuber fellows who are willing to share their vast experinece, the only challenge is to find the footage that you really need, but that is beyond photographic skills.

Good luck!