Professional photography!

[Star_Climber]

I really love photography,and i would like to be a professional photographer,i wanna do that my whole life...i am especially interested in fashion photography!my dream...:heart:

but i'm kind of really confused now!
why?
well first of all i'm an amateur...
well i am going on a visual art uni to learn "photography"...
but my professor isn't that good...(not to say she sucks)
first we studied history of photography...then she jumped on composition,then today on light etc.
but all in all she doesn't stay on any presentation/topic for long,she jumps from one thing to an other...and explains it poorly...
so no luck with this!:thumbdown:
i must start learning on my own...the problem is how?

u have any sites that can help a beginner?
any tips?

i really dunno where to start,how to start...:cry:

 

[stevemunoz]

I've always found that forums are the best places to learn. I just found this forum not to long ago, and I frequent fredmiranda.com quite often too.

For photo editing (photoshop/lightroom) I recommend KelbyTV, its free.

For Lighting I recommend Strobist

For overall photography, Chase Jarvis and Co. just launched an amazing project yesterday. You can take photo classes streamed live for free. Only catch is, if you can't watch it when they are showing it for free, then you'll have to pay to download that lesson. Check out CreativeLive

I'm probably missing some obvious sites, but thats what I came up with on the top of my head. I reviewed a few of these resources on my blog, so if you want, go and check it out.

Steve

 

[Boomn4x4]

Honestly, it sounds like you are way too anxious to get rolling. You sound young... you need to slow down.

A career, whether its in photography, basket weaving, or computer programming, doesn't happen over night.

Going to college (or univisersity as you call it) isn't your golden ticket. You can't expect to learn everything you need in your career out of a degree. So don't expect to get that from your professors. My God's honest take out of this, going off of how you described your professor... I think you have a DAMN good one. In my experience the best professors are the ones that DON'T give you all the stuff you need. They only give you enough to get your mind rolling in the right direction, the best professors are the ones that make you think on your own... and from your post, it sounds like that is EXACTLY what she is doing. The bad professors are the ones that force feed you information they way they learned it... this results in a very narrow minded education. The thing about college, is you are SUPPOSED to learn on your own.

Take what they give you with a grain of salt, and use it to expand yourself.

Relax, take everything in, stay positive, and don't rush yourself into this.... stay focused on your goal, and you will get there.

 

[Star_Climber]

I've always found that forums are the best places to learn. I just found this forum not to long ago, and I frequent fredmiranda.com quite often too.

For photo editing (photoshop/lightroom) I recommend KelbyTV, its free.

For Lighting I recommend Strobist

For overall photography, Chase Jarvis and Co. just launched an amazing project yesterday. You can take photo classes streamed live for free. Only catch is, if you can't watch it when they are showing it for free, then you'll have to pay to download that lesson. Check out CreativeLive

I'm probably missing some obvious sites, but thats what I came up with on the top of my head. I reviewed a few of these resources on my blog, so if you want, go and check it out.

Steve

thank u for the sites,will check them out!
crative live looks interesting!

 

[Star_Climber]

Honestly, it sounds like you are way too anxious to get rolling. You sound young... you need to slow down.

A career, whether its in photography, basket weaving, or computer programming, doesn't happen over night.

Going to college (or univisersity as you call it) isn't your golden ticket. You can't expect to learn everything you need in your career out of a degree. So don't expect to get that from your professors. My God's honest take out of this, going off of how you described your professor... I think you have a DAMN good one. In my experience the best professors are the ones that DON'T give you all the stuff you need. They only give you enough to get your mind rolling in the right direction, the best professors are the ones that make you think on your own... and from your post, it sounds like that is EXACTLY what she is doing. The bad professors are the ones that force feed you information they way they learned it... this results in a very narrow minded education. The thing about college, is you are SUPPOSED to learn on your own.

Take what they give you with a grain of salt, and use it to expand yourself.

Relax, take everything in, stay positive, and don't rush yourself into this.... stay focused on your goal, and you will get there.

i don't expect to learn everything from the university...that for sure...but we must start from something!i expect to learn the general stuff...
i am not saying she should fill me with everything she knows...
but she sure should like have classes that are concentrated on actually working with the camera...and with that practice going over the topic we learned previously...which she doesn't!
ok she shouldnt tell us every single thing from one topic...but she should explain what's she's talking about at that moment better!^^
cause honestly presentation with 12 slides...and maybe 5 sentences really aren;t enough!in my opinion...:mrgreen:
btw. i'm 19 years old...and it's my first year of uni!

 

[erichards]

if you're in your first year there will be plenty of classes in the future that go more in depth. You sound like you are talking about an intro class, so it's going to be a lot of overview stuff. Also, if something isn't clear ASK QUESTIONS!!!! that is what they are there for. And if they aren't clear enough do your own research... there is tons of info on the internet and books, (Don't forget books!)...be patient, because, chances are, your photography career isn't going to take off over night.

 

[ghache]

Get you camera, go out and shoot! practice and read. most important, learn how to use your gear, youll learn so much faster if you know your gear, its limitation and what it can do.
there is alot of stuff on the internet, free tutorial , podcast, books.
this forum is also a good place to start asking questions. there is plenty of experienced people on here who is welling to help.

 

[KmH]

I really love photography,and i would like to be a professional photographer,i wanna do that my whole life...i am especially interested in fashion photography!my dream...:heart:

but i'm kind of really confused now!
why?
well first of all i'm an amateur...
well i am going on a visual art uni to learn "photography"...
but my professor isn't that good...(not to say she sucks)
first we studied history of photography...then she jumped on composition,then today on light etc.
but all in all she doesn't stay on any presentation/topic for long,she jumps from one thing to an other...and explains it poorly...
so no luck with this!:thumbdown:
i must start learning on my own...the problem is how?

u have any sites that can help a beginner?
any tips?

i really dunno where to start,how to start...:cry:

A teacher can only be as good as the student. It sounds like you think you know more about how the subject should be taught than the teacher does.

As you look around the forums you'll discover that most of the people taking the time and making the effort to help others use capital letters, proper punctuation, proofread, and spell check their posts before they post them.

That's what professionalism is all about.

If you aspire to be a pro it's to your advantage to immediately start acting like one in all aspects of your life, particularly in your attitude towards your studies and the persona you project to the community.

 

[Boomn4x4]

Honestly, it sounds like you are way too anxious to get rolling. You sound young... you need to slow down.

A career, whether its in photography, basket weaving, or computer programming, doesn't happen over night.

Going to college (or univisersity as you call it) isn't your golden ticket. You can't expect to learn everything you need in your career out of a degree. So don't expect to get that from your professors. My God's honest take out of this, going off of how you described your professor... I think you have a DAMN good one. In my experience the best professors are the ones that DON'T give you all the stuff you need. They only give you enough to get your mind rolling in the right direction, the best professors are the ones that make you think on your own... and from your post, it sounds like that is EXACTLY what she is doing. The bad professors are the ones that force feed you information they way they learned it... this results in a very narrow minded education. The thing about college, is you are SUPPOSED to learn on your own.

Take what they give you with a grain of salt, and use it to expand yourself.

Relax, take everything in, stay positive, and don't rush yourself into this.... stay focused on your goal, and you will get there.

i don't expect to learn everything from the university...that for sure...but we must start from something!i expect to learn the general stuff...
i am not saying she should fill me with everything she knows...
but she sure should like have classes that are concentrated on actually working with the camera...and with that practice going over the topic we learned previously...which she doesn't!
ok she shouldnt tell us every single thing from one topic...but she should explain what's she's talking about at that moment better!^^
cause honestly presentation with 12 slides...and maybe 5 sentences really aren;t enough!in my opinion...:mrgreen:
btw. i'm 19 years old...and it's my first year of uni!

Its pretty obvious to me... The problem is that you aren't asking questions. If you are having a problem understanding something, or feel you aren't getting taught enough... its your responsiblity to speak up to her.

Her job is to teach, your job is to learn. She is going to teach the way she knows how... if that isn't working for you, you need to speak up. She can't possibly be expected to tailor her teaching style to fit the needs of every student. She is going to teach the best she can... and if it doesn't work for you, you need to go to her about it. You need to ask questions in class, you need to take time out of class, and if worse comes to worse... you need to go to your advisor and express your concerns to her/him. If she really is THAT bad of a teacher, the university shouldn't be paying her to teach.

I've got 2 associates degrees, a bachelors degree and will soon be working on my masters degree... I've got 12 years of university under my belt. I know what I'm talking about.

 

[DerekSalem]

Teaching an art is less about the actual art and more about the way it has evolved over time.

For Photography, the best way to *learn* is not to immediately look at how to do it...it's to learn how it's been done before and how it has progressed over time. Your teachers are trying to instill in you some amount of history on the subject...history that will eventually help you more than just the photography itself. Practice shooting and composing pictures in the mean time...but pay attention in your classes and let as much information sink in as possible. The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are to handle the future.

 

[Star_Climber]

Ok thank u all for your opinion and tips!^^
will think about it,and will try to learn as much as possible from the classes!

 

[Alter_Ego]

First year at uni... *thinks back* A whole lot of drinking.

Good luck with that course and thanks for bringing up this topic Bookmarked a few of these pages.

 

[vtf]

Get you camera, go out and shoot! practice and read. most important, learn how to use your gear, youll learn so much faster if you know your gear, its limitation and what it can do.
there is alot of stuff on the internet, free tutorial , podcast, books.
this forum is also a good place to start asking questions. there is plenty of experienced people on here who is welling to help.

:thumbup: I second that