I am always on the lookout for good quality photography workshops, ranging from paid-for versions that require being taught face-to-face by an expert, to the free YouTube tutorial sort.
It has to be said the quality varies whichever kind you opt for. But if you are looking to spend money on workshops, I wholeheartedly recommend Calumet's courses, which are sensibly priced and well worth the money, while the online videos at Lynda.com are high quality and offer a great range of material for different ability levels.
But I was delighted to find free tutorials on YouTube by the British photographer Mike Browne that were some of the best I had seen in terms of the clarity and breadth of explanation. One thing I liked about Mike's videos was that when he encountered a problem, he didn't shy away from it or even delete it from the video, he found ways to tackle it. I like that honest approach.
Mike has a whole host of videos, arranged into themes for different abilities, and the first I looked at involved shooting interiors.
It offers a good example of Mike's attention to detail. He tells you the settings he has used, naturally, but he also reminds you of the importance of preparing the scene for the photograph - removing unwanted distractions like posters, for example, and making the furniture look neat and tidy.
There were one or two tips I found extremely useful. One was Mike's advice to use the camera's live view when composing the shot and to shoot low to avoid convergance.
I quickly moved on to more of Mike's videos. There are good ones on the use of reflectors, for example, excellent advice for street photography - always a difficult genre for me - and useful tips on avoiding converging verticals. But there are lots more and they come highly recommended.
Mike's own website also gives information on face-to-face workshops he holds on the south coast.
No comments:
Post a Comment