Photography Courses - NYIP

[bwolford]

Has anyone taken the NY Institute of Photography course. It looks pretty interesting, but I wasn't sure if it was worth the investement.

How about other photography courses (not PHOTOSHOP or workflow for PS or PSE - photography)?

Brice

[everyxthing]

hey yes i have its very intersing i never finished it tho.. But you get a flash umbrella and all this other stuff to use. I got all my stuff just never really did any of the assignments so i dint get my certificate.

[Grant]

Brice

A number of people in our Photo Club have taken the NYIP course with mixed results. Most agree that it was value for money but the motivation is all within you and if you don't apply yourself it may not be a good investment.

The general consensus was that the course was very similar to a college certificate level night courses. Like one of those courses where you have to take 4 to 6 classes to earn your certificate.

The up sides of NYIP are you don't have to live in an urban area, you can take your time(within reason) and finally you can go back over the material.

The down side is a you don't have the same creative camaraderie with other students as you will in regular classes. You can back slide and take too long to do the course. It is harder to judge your progress as related to your peers.

If you have the luxury of living where there is a camera club or photographer that has a mentoring program that would be my first choice. Second a community college or art school would be my next with emphases on the art school. Then would come places like NYIP or self directed.

My personal recommendation to aspiring photographers is to first take a course on how to use a camera, things like aperture, shutter, exposure, focus and the like. The next courses should be art courses, form, style, colour and the like. As you are doing these things study the master photographers, read lots of photo book. But avoid the technical type books as you can get sidetracked as to which camera can beat up which camera. All this time make photographs, keep records, use the masters as inspiration, be very critical. After a while you will develop a style of your own and become a good photographer.

Just thoughts that worked for me.

-

[Norm F]

I have heard that their "Digital Photography" course is very much focused on processing your images as opposed to taking good photos. The regular photography course is more about the technical issues of your camera, composition etc.

I can tell you that if you send away for their stuff they will mail you forever. The offers do get better, the longer you resist. I'm still resisting.

I am planning to take a night class through the extension division of our university. I don't have a problem with distance learning but I think a photography course with an instructor you can talk with would be a big help.

[bwolford]

Grant good advice. I still haven't decided. I am debating between this and local options. I travel a great deal and need the most flexibility possible.

Norm, I've heard about how the offers keep getting lower. I plan to wait 2-4 months minimum and see how good their offers get.

Brice

[MoGalbreath]

Sorry to bother you right off the bat but...I've just subscribed to the Techniques newsletter and am visiting the site for the first time. I'm interested in the downloads. They seem to download ok but how do I get them into my PSE 4??

I've tried the FAQ but can't seem to even get into that area at all.

Appreciate anyone's help.

[kayser]

Hi- Don't feel bad about asking questions, but to avoid your questions getting lost or buried, I would generally recommend starting a new thread or commenting in a related thread.

Here's a good site that explains where extras go in PSE:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/qt/freegoodies.htm

[Wendy]

Hi ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

Do let us know how you go on with installing them ...

Wendy

[LindaRose]

I went to the Rocky Mountain School of Photography (Ansil Adams school) weekend workshop and thought it wasn't worth what they charged. They have more extensive programs that are probably better. For the weekend workshop you got to choose what classes you wanted to take (between 3 different ones per session time) throughout the day. The only class I felt was worth it was the one on Macro Photography. For one of my classes I was required to arrange and attend 2 seminars/workshops, and one organization/group meeting. The other seminar I attended was free and I got much more out of that one. It was with Frank Cricchio (sp?) The meeting I went to was the photoshop users group and that was great. I'm going to another meeting Thursday night and Ben Willmore will be there. He is in town because he did one of those Photoshop Seminar Tours yesterday.

LindaRose

[virgo1]

The techinical college here offers non-credit photography classes. Finished a class in April and will take it again in the fall if offered. I took the art classes Grant suggests when I was an in college 25 years ago.
Eva