Photo instruction

Has anyone gone through any photo instruction courses, after learning the basics, that they've found particularly valuable?

Aggressor Fleet sent me a booklet recently touting the Jim Church School of Digital Underwater Photography. I have to say that "sample lecture itenerary" didn't sound very interesting, and the promo material made it sound very remedial ("We couldn't manage color or focus until we took this course!"). Yet supposedly people have taken the course 5+ times.

I know that I could definitely have used some more personal instruction on my first dive trip. I made some mistakes that I could have easily corrected in hindsight, and got a lot fewer usable exposures as a result. Though of course digital trial-and-error helped.

- Gus

Hi Gus, you might want to check out the Wetpixel Digital Shootout in Bonaire in June Linked here. Sounds like fun. I'm not sure if they have any spots left though.

Steve

Too soon, I'm afraid. I'm itching to get back in the water with a camera, but I just got back from India, and I went to Hawaii in January on the Kona Aggressor II, so I've spent a lot of money on photo vacations recently. I'm l discussing with my wife when we should go again, which is part of the reason I'm asking - I'm trying to determine if it's worth looking for something like one of those Aggressor photo trips.

- Gus

Here in the UK Martin Edge's courses are very highly regarded.

http://www.edgeunderwaterphotography.com/

He has helps many of the UK's underwater photographers to improve, including some of the UK's most highly regarded photographers. I realise that it would be quite a trek from the States to come over for one of his sessions, but far from impossible.

He runs both personal 1 to 1 tuition and also organising group workshops overseas. He asks that people have attended one of his UK tuition days before going on his overseas trips.

I have never been on any of his courses, so I am not commenting from personal experience. But so many people have told me how useful they are that I have paid for my girlfriend to go on one later this year - she is a very keen underwater photographer.

Alex

Hey Alex,

Why send your girlfriend to Martin Edge when you can do the job???

Damo

Three reasons I guess.

1) Have you ever tried to tell the missus anything? (Luckily Ele doesn't read Wetpixel).

2) Martin is a damn good teacher.

3) I want her to develop here own technique and interests in underwater photography.

Alex

I tried to teach my gf to golf once... bad mistake!

Three reasons I guess.

 

1) Have you ever tried to tell the missus anything? (Luckily Ele doesn't read Wetpixel).

 

Alex

That one is enough.

Debbie may sign up for your class.

Another suggestion is Jeff Mullins in Bali. He can give you one-on-one instruction. A situation where you can have a class tailored to your needs is far more productive regardless of cost. No two students have the same needs or base knowledge.

Years ago I attended a Thom Hogan workshop (land). There were 2 students, including me. We sat at dinner the first night and he asked us what we wanted out of the workshop. For me, he didn't waste any time teaching me about shutter speeds and aperture.

If you have the basics you need to find a small or private class.

1) Have you ever tried to tell the missus anything? (Luckily Ele doesn't read Wetpixel).

2) Martin is a damn good teacher.

3) I want her to develop here own technique and interests in underwater photography.

 

Alex

Wise decision. You can be the best at what you do but you'll always just be Alex to your girlfriend which is a good thing. Even though I dive a lot more than my wife, I'll invest in a refresher class at the LDS rather than try and teach her myself.

Hi Gus,

Credit where credit is due...

I have learnt more about u/w photography from the guys on this forum than any class could ever teach.

Stick around and ask the 'dumb' questions. At least you will get the 'right' dumb answers...

Fair dinkum mate, you have all the legends of the game snooping around the corridors of this forum.

Throw in a hook...

Respect...

Bruce...

Hi

I am really new to all this (First post), but already I find that I can help out - maybe I'm not as dumb as I thought. Check out http://www.jimchurchphoto.com/index_podcast.html and listen to Mike and Mike explain the real basics of U/W photography. These podcasts I found enourmously helpful - even if it just got me in with the jargon.

Cheers

Hal

I followed your link and listened to several of the podcasts. I'm afraid I was a bit disappointed. Each podcast was remarkably drawn out for how little they covered, and they were are all fairly remedial from my point of view. Which reinforces the impression I had from the promo materials for the Jim Church School of Photography. Even the stuff on post-processing was less than what I've already figured out on my own.

If I'd listened to them before getting in the water the first time, it would have been nice to know that you really want to go with manual exposure at all times. But I figured that out myself after my first dive with a camera.

- Gus

Gus,

It might be helpful if you can define what part of your photography you are looking to improve.

Do you simply need to go diving with your camera more often ?

Lots of people who have progressed beyond the basic's still use various methods of instruction / coaching to improve in particular area's.

I'm still very new at the UW part of photography, though I've been taking photos on land for 37 years.

The most obvious things I need to improve are:

* Exposure. On my last (and first) trip, I was shooting manual exposure and manual flash. A lot of my photos are severely underexposed as a result. I have TTL strobes, but I was having trouble with it, and gave up on it early rather than try and figure out on the fly what I was doing wrong. Unfortunately the boat's photographer was no help in that regard.

I'm pretty sure I understand what I was doing wrong, and I'm itching to try TTL again to see if I get better results. I've also learned from my India trip that if you're shooting RAW, slight overexposure is more forgiving than underexposure, contrary to my experience with film or even JPGs.

I did pretty well with my macro and eel shots, because the subject was sitting still and I could take multiple runs at it while adjusting either aperture or flash duration. What I need to work on is getting proper exposures of more distant, moving subjects.

* Focus. I have a fair number of photos where the reef is in focus, rather than the fish. I need to be more careful in that regard, and maybe get in the habit of setting the AF point.

* Strobe placement. My manta photos have an absolute ton of backscatter in them. The boat's photographer on the same dive got photos that are really crystal clear. I probably need to adjust my strobe placement so they're facing more outward rather than directly at the subject.

* Composition. I'm told you do get better looking images if you shoot up and use water for the background. I seem to be mostly shooting down, because it seemed impossible for most subjects to get below them.

* Post processing. I simply do not understand how to use the Curves tool to best effect. I know what it does, but I can't duplicate the effects that a guy on another photography forum got by adjusting some of my photos, and he couldn't really explain to me what he was doing, either.

That's the obvious stuff. I'm also wondering what I don't know, the areas where I simply don't know enough to know where I could improve.

- Gus

Two courses I have done over the years which have been helpful that keep you in the US, reasonable cost and fun.

Tom and Theresa Stack - very good for learning basic and intermediate Photoshop and post-processing for your images - in Key Largo. 3 days I think.

Stephen Frink- runs Beginner and Advanced Underwater Photography courses that are a week long in Key Largo, June every year. These are very well structured, with diving every morning and afternoon and evening classes, tutorials and reviews.

I can't recommend you enough one of Mauricio Handler's weeklong workshop .

Very intensive but your learning curve will be rocketed ! and usually workshops are conducted in great diving locations .

I can't recommend you enough one of Mauricio Handler's weeklong workshop .

 

Very intensive but your learning curve will be rocketed ! and usually workshops are conducted in great diving locations .

I second that, especially if you are looking for more exotic locations. Key Largo is very convenient for folks on the East Coast of the US particularly.