Online Photography Courses - Finding The Right One!

If you've just gotten a new camera - or you have finally decided that it's time you learned how to use the old one - online photography courses are a quick and easy route to camera mastery.The problem is that there are so many...how do we choose?The easy way to think of this is to consider how much time you are willing to devote to your photo education. There are options ranging from online university level classes that require several hours a day of study, as well as several thousand dollars in tuition. To free tips you can learn (and forget) in just a couple minutes.Where to go?You should first consider your goal in taking the class. Are you interested in learning enough and investing the required time and money to become a professional photographer? If so, the extensive university classes are for you. If you just want to learn one little thing...such as a cute pose to use the next time you take a shot of your kids - some free tips in photography would do the job.For most of us, the middle of the road is best. We want one of the online photography courses that are low cost, yet systematically structured and will fill in any gaps in our photo education - as well as teach us new materials.Most of all, it has to be interesting, easy to understand and it can't take too much time out of our day. Plus, we need to see immediate improvement in our photography or we will never finish the course.Whatever route you choose, the first step is to look to a course that recommends keeping a photo notebook or journal. It's surprising how few of them do and it's one of the most valuable learning tools you can have! Virtually ALL the best photographers keep them! A notebook is by far the quickest route to mastering your camera, and you'll see immediate results.Here's what you do...First: get a little notebook you can keep in your camera bag. The big 3 ring binders are just too bulky and you won't want to carry it around. One of those stenographer notebooks is ideal.Second: Before each shot, write down what you want the final result to be and guess at the proper settings.Third: Shoot.Fourth: Compare the final results with your creative vision. If it is right on, paste the photo in your notebook. Now you can duplicate that photo any time you want just by looking in your notebook.Fifth: If it wasn't what you were after, try to discover what went wrong and re-shoot. Within a few tries you will have the shot you want AND will have learned more about photography than you might think.Warning - As online photography courses go, I'd stay away from ones that don't have you keeping a shot notebook.