In the event you’ve already taken advantage of all of the other free educational resources that have come to light amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, photo education website Photography Life has announced it is releasing all of its premium photography courses for free on YouTube.
Normally, each course costs $150, Photography Life founder Nasim Mansurov explains, he and his team wanted to give back to the community in these challenging times. In the announcement post, he writes:
‘We spent many months filming our courses both indoors and in remote locations, in order to provide the best education we can possibly deliver to our readers. With the world dealing with possibly one of the worst health and economic crises the world has ever seen, we thought it would be a good idea to give away everything we got to our community. We hope that these courses will help our readers in getting solid photography content to learn from, for many years to come.’
Currently, the first course ‘Level 1: Photography Basics Course’ is available on YouTube, with each chapter broken into a separate video. Photography Life’s two other courses ‘will be uploaded to YouTube in the next two weeks,’ according to the announcement page. Below is the introduction video for the first course:
To be notified when the new videos drop (and to support the Photography Life team for offering up its courses), subscribe to the Photography Life YouTube channel.
I knew most of the material covered in the introductory course, but it's well presented. Chapter 10 - Case Studies - is a nice touch. It walks through the process of taking various photographs, and was for me the best part of the course.
Nassim and Spencer are a gentleman. So they don't title their YouTube videos "GET BETTER IN 5 MINUTES WITH THIS TIP" type of Northrup videos or the classy "SONY DESTROY THE COMPETITION" type of Jared videos...
Their content is awesome! I love how their reviews are always backed up with PRO quality photos they took. Congrats to Nassim and team from Photography Life.
In the comments: Bitter middle-aged men complaining about getting something valuable for free.
PS: Shoutout to Photography Life for putting out consistently high quality stuff, and now making it free. Worth a look, don't let the whiners dissuade you.
Is that the guy who persistently fakes updated date on his review pages, literally every month? Almost all the camera & lens reviews were supposedly updated in April 2020 - there must have been an important, historical discovery concerning every single piece of photographic equipment... You better read on!
Robert, we have made significant changes to the site, and updated many of the reviews with more information (spelling errors, style, etc). Whenever content is updated even a little, the "Last updated" info changes. Hence, the change in dates.
If this annoys you, then please simply ignore the date - the content should still be relevant.
If you have ideas about how to improve our site, or our content, please let us know - we always look for feedback to improve the quality of our work.
Now that you asked, I would suggest avoiding the change of date for "spelling errors, style, etc." Your explanation is vague: "...with more information (spelling errors, style, etc)." - spelling errors and styles are certainly NOT new relevant information. So you fix spelling errors every month, on every page? Just get someone to proofread your pages before publishing!
Also, it is very interesting that your replies have the most "likes" on several comments. Good for you then.
Yeah after getting the new Z, they updated the most of the charts to match the Imatest methodology they developed for the Z. Ex.: when they tested the Z 24-70/2.8 they retested all the 2.8 zooms and updated their charts. When they tested the 24 S; the 50 S; and so on. You are free to be annoyed.
So now that you realized how ridiculous "spelling errors" explanation is, you pull out the Imatest charts... I suppose there's a new "methodology" every month, for every new lens or new sensor?
I am amazed at how I replied back to this comment in the first place and lost 5 seconds of my life for a lost cause.
Block PhotographyLife.com and their YouTube channel from your browser and re-watch once more: "Jared Pollins' "SONY DESTROY NIKON."; or better "IS NIKON STUPID?"
Unfortunately Nasim has chosen to repeat many of the usual fallacies: ISO is a component of exposure (but scene luminance isn't worth a mention, f-stop is the size of the hole the light passes through (no explanation of the 'f' 'in "f-stop" or that the size of hole an f-stop produces depends on your focal length), higher ISO makes your images more noisy and reduces dynamic range), ISO affects the sensitivity of your camera's sensor (though he puts in an aside saying it isn't really sensitivity), increasing ISO makes a sensor more sensitive to light, so if you increase ISO by a stop you are letting in one more stop of light.
There are multiple hints that the presenters know that some of the things they are saying are not true. They seem to have bought into the argument that keeping it simple requires one to lie. So frustrating!
I don't consider this lying. They probably keep it simple enough, so that beginners don't get frustrated. Besides: These technical details do not matter at all when creating a great picture.
Theoretically ISO shouldn’t cause noise, but practically it does in most cameras since most don’t have a perfect signal to noise ratio. As in audio, not all digital to analogue converters are made equal, neither are the components that surround them to preserve digital signals.
FingerPainter, if you rewatch that section, we specifically state that ISO is explained that way for simplicity reasons. I have been teaching photography for many years now, and I can tell you that beginners don't get luminance / brightness, signal-to-noise ratio, equivalence, mathematical formulas and many other complex topics. I think a better approach is to teach beginners in a simple manner that makes sense for them to get started, then let once they fully grasp it, have them look into it more in the future.
At the end of the day though, it really does not matter. I am yet to see a person who can take better pictures just because they understand ISO correctly...
Totally agree, MegaZ. As an educator myself, it's pretty annoying when people who clearly know nothing about how to teach think they know more than someone who has been doing it for years.
Yes you chose to keep it simple by re-using a flawed and misnamed conceptual model. However it is possible to describe reality correctly without using much more complexity than provided by the flawed model. There are several people who post here who not only have been teaching photography for about as long as you have, but who are actually professional educators at accredited institutions. They succeed at teaching beginners without misleading them. They are usually among the ranks of those who object to the propagation of the "exposure triangle" model. People who have been taught how to teach know the perils of employing false conceptual models as a teaching tool. But even a regular user of these fora can see the negative effects of the widespread use of the model Two common symptoms are an unreasonable fear of Auto-ISO and a tendency to fail to raise ISO in low light when the aperture and exposure time have been maxed out as much as tolerable. Both lead to less-optimal photographs.
It's pretty annoying when people who clearly know nothing about evaluating teaching skill think they know more than someone who did it for years. For 10 years I was responsible for assessing the ability of professional educators for the purposes of hiring, setting responsibilities & remuneration, and promotion. Furthermore, I was selected by my peers to serve on an advisory body to government regarding these and related matters. One of the hot issues of the time was the growing desire of politicians to base teacher assessment and pay, and funding of educational bodies, on the results of standardized tests of student achievement.
I'm retired now, but I serve, by invitation, on a government-mandated body that, among other things, advises a faculty of education on training student teachers.
There is nothing in my OP here that could lead to any valid conclusion about how much I know about how to teach. That you would draw such a conclusion shows the limit of your own abilities.
I hate to break the bad news to you. Many of the most well known photographers today (and more so in the past) do not know the technical knowledge that you clearly are interested in. This is the difference between someone who is basically just and engineer (you) and a great artist (the good photographers). You think there is one right answer, the artists think there are many solutions to the challenge
Don't know why you think that would be bad news. Clearly artistic ability is more important than technical knowledge in the production of great art. Though, for instance, if da Vinci had had even more technical knowledge, some of his better works wouldn't have been lost or damaged.
Fact is. many of the best photographers didn't learn the "exposure triangle" either. it is too recent for them.
And technical knowledge can further the work of some photographers. Consider Adams. For others it was irrelevant. Consider HCB.
Cool to see, that Nasim is being featured here with his Site. I've posted Review links here & there the past years. He's a brilliant Photographer, and different from >90% of other Review Sites, his "Samples" are quite excellent.
Another one is Jonas Rask, Fujifilm Ambassador, and also a extraordinary Photographer. Both are one of my faves, and very good, in doing their craft.
Photography Life has taught me so so much about photography. Especially when I first started out into digital. So inspiring what they do and this is the icing on the cake . Quality!
that is nice. Didn't know they have this. I read a few of the articles on photography when I was new to photography (between 2010-now). But I always had a camera before, just didn't care about it like most people. He exampled thing very simply to understand.
In case you find yourself questioning Photography Life's motives:
When their "Level 3 Landscape Photography" course came out a few years ago, I left a comment on the blog that the content looked great and that I'd happily pay once I landed my next job. Next thing I knew, Nasim sent me a very supportive e-mail with a code for a free download. His kindnes meant a lot to me at that moment.
@M Lammerse Probably the price of producing a word storm instead of using KISS. Might wait for one of the "advanced" modules to be released and I'll revisit.
I can't find a fault in that assertion. I've found that in cr*ppy light even the most beautiful subject becomes dull, while in good light even the most plain/ordinary/uninteresting subject can be used to create good pictures. Skill is also a factor, obviously.
When addressing an entry level photographer, he's right. It takes a long time of practices and understanding to harness available light, especially when it's of poor quality. A lot of photographers can't make the most of great light, let alone poor light.
But yeah, let's crap on the guy that is giving away free classes to everyone.
But this statement is absolutely correct. Without good light, you won't be able to produce good photographs. You'll still be able to produce bland, uninteresting photographs, of course.
Adam Gibbs explains a lot about this on his youtube channel. Highly recommended.
I think its good/generous of some of these sites to offer their content for free during these times. I mean on some, yeah the content isn't all that great, or the video quality isn't very good, but I think even if you learned ONE thing from some of these sites, then it's worth it, and it's not like you are paying for it anyway.
I see people on here bashing various sites saying the video quality is poor, or the content isn't very good or thorough, and while that may be true, they are offering it for free. I'd be more angry if I had to pay for something at the video quality was poor or the didn't cover the topics thoroughly.
So I just looked at their course list this morning... OK so many of them are beginner/intermediate courses, but for someone starting out who maybe doesn't have a lot of money (especially with what's going on today) someone could get up to speed pretty quick using these, Youtube and the other sites offering courses for free. So I mean for someone on a budget or with almost no money, these can be helpful especially for the beginner photographer.
As can be seen by the tremendous drop in new camera sales, not many n00bs are boarding the sinking ship of hobby photography.
They are losing no sales in a world that doesn't buy photo-learning videos any more. Now's a perfect time to to change your business plan. They may, or may not, be using this as a tax write-off—only their accountant knows for sure.
BTW how often do you see an actor speak directly to the audience?
@cdembrey, I always wanted my work to be free for the community, so it has always been the plan. We sold these videos well for a number of years, but decided to give them away during the difficult times now. The only benefit we are getting out of this to be clear and upfront, is a slight boost to our YouTube channel, which we do not monetize.
And no, we are not going to be doing any tax write-offs on this...
Yes, that was the reason for releasing the video. To be honest, I always wanted these videos to end up being free for the photography community. We might release more commercial videos in the future, but they will all eventually end up on YouTube for everyone to hopefully learn from...
I loaded the video with my adblocker off and didn't see any ads. I normally leave adblock plus on and I never really see any ads at all on youtube ;-) But in this case, I tested with it off and didn't see an ad so I assume they're not monitized.
I’m just guessing however one possibility is the courses were not selling well and they would get good PR if they gave them away and drove traffic to their web site.
"I’m just guessing however one possibility is the courses were not selling well and they would get good PR if they gave them away and drove traffic to their web site."
Yes some of the sites do push their paid subscription/sales models but usually (at least in the ones I've used) it's either a quick 5 second ad before the video or at the top of the page. Some will limit the content you can access, but others allow you to view the entire catalog. (If you're concerned about advertising and email/spam, use a junk email address to sign-up for these sites--that's what I do, along with using an ad blocker in my browser).
Unrelated question...I just sampled a few of their videos and noticed a filming technique where the presenter intentionally looks at the "wrong" camera during parts of the presentation. For example, at 1:30 of this video:
At first I thought it was an editing/filming mistake but saw it repeated in their other videos. Does anyone know why this is done? It strikes me as a little odd but perhaps it's a known technique with a specific purpose?
My initial thought is that some people find looking directly in the eyes of a person to be confrontational. So maybe they want to break up the direct stare into smaller periods of time. To give the viewer time to calm down if they are affected that way. Otherwise I don't know.
It was done on purpose. They shot the video with multiple cameras or at least two. They used B camera for a cut away to make it more interesting. It looks like Camera A was the wide angle or master shot and B camera for cut aways or B roll. It is just an editing decision they made. I understand the point of how it is jarring not to match video / eye looking at the camera. Beyond that it is a guess. Check out DSLR video shooter and creative live TV.com they have been helpful even if there are charges to get farther. I believe creative live does have a daily free streaming class or two and you do get sufficient previews of classes for a fee. Many times they have sales.
If it's a stylistic choice without any specific purpose then I guess to each his own. I find it not only distracting but disengaging as well - it creates an emotional distance between the presenter and viewer.
Watch an evening news network broadcast. You'll see a reporter interviewing someone via Skype (or all the rest). One shot will be of the video feed as the reporter would appear to the interviewee. Then they'll cut to a shot from a camera that is in the room with the interviewer showing the interviewer looking at a laptop. Why? Because they can?
I think it's good to cut to a second camera at times to keep the piece visually interesting. A static shot of a talking head can be monotonous. But... I've never seen where the cut away was to a wide angle like this. I think it's much more effective and less jarring a cut if it were a close up on the person speaking. That's how I've seen it done and it brings the viewer in closer. This wide angle cut away pushes the viewer away and clutters the frame without adding visually important information. So this wouldn't be my choice. I also personally like rule of thirds for interviews and IMO he's on the wrong side of the frame. It would be less jarring if he were camera right looking across the frame, rather than looking out of it from the short end.
I do like an appreciate a walking with the camera video footage. Either walking horizontally or eve towards the camera. Slowly while speaking. Especially when its properly stabilized
I agree that it is way too common and can be extremely annoying. It is done for ease of editing - I remember Tom Scott and/or Matt Gray had a video about this on youtube a while ago, which I now cannot find. Basically: If the speaker mis-speaks you in post-production cut out the wrong word or just an "umm". Then you have a problem because the audio is good but the video doesn't fit anymore, because for example the head is positioned slightly differently, so you have basically a continuity error. If you cut the "umm" and at the same time switch to the second camera, you can basically do a one-take on location, remove all the bad takes and stitch it together with the footage from the second or third camera.
Could also be he's reading off a cue card or something too, but likely they are filming with at least one other camera.
I know in one of Scott Kelby's videos, you can tell he reads off a prompt for some of the courses, because in one (one of his landscape classes) he gets lost in the bullet points of what he was talking about and the prompter (basically the camera person) had to tell him where he left off. It was sort of funny, as most of his videos you can't tell if he's reading off a script or not (many I don't think he does, but for some he must apparently).
Horshack, as others have noted, it was primarily done to be able to switch between different cuts. This was our first video, and we learned a lot from it - on our next videos, we have minimal cuts between different angles. Please note that we don't read scripts and basically freestyled the whole course, with some notes that we referred to in between the cuts...
@MegaZ, Thanks. B-roll would be a much better method to hide audio edits. Since these are instructional videos they lend themselves to B-roll cutaways and would actually enhance the full edit rather than detract from it. An occasional cross-dissolve is fine too.
I've seen this absurd technique used on many shows with professional presenters. It always looks amateur and always looks wrong. A presenter is talking to me, the viewer, so why are they gazing off camera at the crew? It makes any presenter look completely incompetent and rude, as if they are only capable of reading their script off a cue card. Add that to a history show where the clearly distracted presenter is describing events in the present tense... grrrr!
@cosinaphile "Harvard" (and other institutions as well) gives something no YouTube course could ever give... a diploma.
You can't write "attended x and y courses on YouTube" on your résumé... ok, you can, but it will only make you look dumb.
Besides, there's no verification that you actually understood what you watched, so yeah I think conventional education is still here to stay for a while at least.
Looking forward to watch it, although I fear it's going to be quite basic... but... how do they say? _repetita juvant_
of course i agree, no diploma ... VERY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION
if you are after credentials, obviously a prestigious university trumps self-study,without the benefit of monitoring or grading , a recordless endevour.
otoh if its real knowledge you are after, it's up to you how seriously you study your area of concentration and to what degree you fully grasp the knowledge offered
there are many wildly successful people who never achieved a degree like bill gates and others who possess a degree who are clearly mentally challenged morons like trump
bloatfish , keep your "good to think"..." bad to think" orwellian cowardice to yourself
go watch "....barney" ... pray for heaven , or watch your mass media , and live in a fairytale world of ignorance and fear .... and keep it off this site where educated informed people do not fear to think or speak like gutless sheep you're pathetic , you remind me of a cultmember
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