July 22, 2011

NYIP Photography Course Review

Gustavo asked - "Did you like the NYIP course?"

To answer your question, Gustavo, I didn't dislike it.  Well, at least some of it. There were parts of it I liked and parts that really disappointed me.  At this point I don't think it was worth the price, but I haven't turned in any of the assignments or asked for much help from the advisers so I could be wrong.  

On the plus side (in no particular order):
  • it covers a lot of different topics (some better than others),
  • the newer booklets were easy to read and well illustrated
  • the "free gifts" were of better quality than I thought they would be,
  • the one question I've asked of the student advisers was answered promptly and the answer was helpful,
  • I liked the instructors - never met them but they seemed nice when talking with each other on the audio CDs and DVDs,
  • the DVDs were informative, and
  • the audio CDs were interesting.  
On the negative side (in order, starting with most negative):
  • some of the booklets were too old - a few were WAY too old.  I think over 20 years old is too old for a textbook   This was the biggest disappointment for me,
  • some of the topics weren't covered in enough detail so I had to do a lot of additional research,
  • there should have been more DVDs on more topics,  They updated the videos from VHS to DVD but they were the same old videos - mostly pertinent, but they could have added at least one new one,
  • I didn't find the audio CDs as instructive as I thought they should have been,  They were mostly interesting, but .....,
  • I thought each lesson should have its own CD - sometimes there were several lessons on one CD and sometimes a lesson was split over 2 CDs, and
  • I didn't find the comprehensive exams very helpful.   
Some other comments:
  • The school claims that you can continue to ask questions of them after you graduate which would be a plus, but of course I'm not there yet so don't really know.
  • I noticed in the older booklets that they had a page of "homework" - pictures you should take to reinforce the lessons - I don't know why they left those out of the new books.  I think it would have been very helpful. 
  • I finished the reading, audio, and DVDs in under 4 months, but one of those months I hardly touched it and the time includes a lot of additional researching.   I mostly did the course on weekends.  (What I'm saying is that it didn't seem to be a lot of content for the money.) 
  • I learned a lot from the course which to me is more important than liking the course, but I think I could have learned the same information for less money and possibly learned it better.  I did a lot of research before I took the course and I couldn't find one self-study course that offered the structured learning that NYIP offered and I needed that to get started.  I should have looked harder because there are some out there.  Some for more money and some for less.  Update 09/20/2012: for two examples see my posts Fundamentals of Digital Photography 2012 and Karl Taylor's Free Photography Mini-Course.

July 4, 2011

Karl Taylor's Free Photography Mini-Course

This morning I watched a very informative video on lighting, Photography Tips, Essential Skills, Quickly Transform Your Photos, by Karl Taylor. 

That led me to the web site Karl Taylor Photography Masterclass where I discovered he offered a free mini-course in photography as an introduction to his DVD courses.  Look at what you get with this free course:  Over 1 1/2 hours of video tutorials and 8 articles.

Lesson 1 - The Six Essentials - PDF
Lesson 2 - Understanding Light (Part 1) - 6 minutes
Lesson 3 - Understanding Light (Part 2) - 5 minutes
Lesson 4 - A Review of Light - PDF
Lesson 5 - Natural Light Portraiture - 5 minutes



Lesson 6 - Advanced Portraiture Techniques - PDF
Lesson 7 - Shutter Speeds - PDF
Lesson 8 - Action Photography - 6 minutes
Lesson 9 - Six Essentials Review - PDF
Lesson 10 - Travel Photography - 6 minutes
Lesson 11 - Ambient & Artificial Light - PDF
Lesson 12 - Fashion Shoot with Flash & Ambient Light - 6 1/2 minutes
Lesson 13 - Perfect Photo Composition - PDF
Lesson 14 - Converting Images to Black & White in Photoshop - PDF

Bonus Video 1 - Tripods & Maintenance – 8 ½ minutes
Bonus Video 2 - Polarising Filters – 7 minutes
Bonus Video 3 - Lens Hoods – 2 minutes
Bonus Video 4 - Camera Bags & Straps – 6 minutes
Bonus Video 5 - Using on Camera Flash – 3 minutes
Bonus Video 6 - Lens Quality – 5 minutes
Bonus Video 7 - ND Graduated Filters – 2 minutes
Bonus Video 8 - Exposure & Histograms – 4 minutes
Bonus Video 9 - Adding Graduated Skys in Photoshop – 4 ½ minutes
Bonus Video 10 - Preparing Your Images for Print – 9 minutes
Bonus Video 11 - Pro-Lab Printing – 10 ½ minutes
Bonus Video 12 - Enhancing Skies in Photoshop – 5 minutes
Bonus Video 13 - Shooting for Black & White – 2 minutes

If you like the free course, you can buy the DVDs.  For $99.90 you get Introduction to Photography, Travel and Landscape Photography, and Advanced Digital SLR Photography.  Each DVD is about  1 1/2 hours in length; a total of 4 1/2 hours of training for under $100.  That seems like a reasonable price, but that's not all (like they say on TV)!  You get 30 bonus videos for probably an additional 3 hours.   The bonus videos include some Photoshop tutorials.

I haven't seen the DVDs so I can't voice an opinion either yea or nay, but the free stuff is more than worth the price.  Despite his English accent, Karl is easy to understand, explanations are clear, he repeats things for clarity, not fill, and it's information beginners can use.   I did google reviews for the DVDs and didn't see any negative ones (some had issues with some aspects of the intro course, but still liked it),  Here's a "professional" review from ePHOTOzine (which may be somewhat biased as Karl's a contributor to ePHOTOzine). 


The one thing I don't like about his PDF files and his website is the white text on black background.  I don't know why, but I always find that combination online stark, irritating, and depressing.  That has nothing to do with the content or quality of the site or DVDs, but I just don't like it. [Updated 01/22/12 - Karl's main site does not have a black background - it's bright and modern; the training videos page still has a black background, but you're watching the vids not reading so it's more tolerable.]

Addendum 6/28/2012:  I get a lot of hits on this page and for those who want to know - The free mini course truly is free. It's a great way to start learning more about photography.  You do have to provide an email address and Karl will send you emails every few days or so selling his DVDs, but they usually contain tips and videos and other interesting stuff as well.  And you can always unsubscribe.

[Update 6/28/2012: I purchased the 3 DVD professional course about a year ago. I found the Introduction to Photography beneficial. The others less so but they were interesting and educational. The one "con" I had for all the DVDs was that they didn't allow enough time for me to look at the photographs. They weren't shown till the end and special effects made it appear more as if I were watching a movie. I wanted to take my time and study the photos. (I know - I could hit pause on the ol' remote.) Since my purchase Karl has expanded his product line. Some packages include certification and portfolio reviews. Learn more at USA DVD series or UK DVD series.]