How About A Photography Class?

Gilles near View of the World (Malindidzimu), Cecil Rhodes’ Grave, Matopos or Matobo National Park, Zimbabwe, Africa

This is probably one of the biggest mistakes we made when preparing for our Trip Around The World in 2007 / 2008. We did not take any photo classes. Our photos would have been so much better, if we had understood some basics, kike how Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO and Focal length influence the final outcome of a photo. Afterwards, it is truly frustrating to realize how poor photos of spectacular motifs could have been easily avoided.

Of course we could look at it that way: we only started looking into photography and travel photography after we came back and despite of our ignorance:

1. We had fun and enjoyed taking pictures and
2. Actually we did take some (very) good photos and even managed selling them through one of the leading Stock Image Agencies in Munich.

So if you do not want to make the same mistake and have the same regrets: invest in some photo classes! You may never go back to some of the places… It does not have to be something really complex, one or two days of classes can provide you with all the basics as well as most of the important tricks to enhance your photo taking…

Anyway, you can start right now. There is lots of excellent and free expertise online:

• How to Use a DSLR Camera – Learn DSLR Camera Basics: Shutter, Aperture, ISO:

• Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, & Light Explained – Understanding Exposure & Camera Settings:

• Creative Photography – 10 easy pieces by Richard Bernabe (Free eBook)

• 20 indispensible Photo Tips by Ian Plant (Free eBook)

• Top 10 Rules of Travel Photography

Taking good pictures is one thing. Managing them properly and enhancing is another one. And this doesn’t have to be Rocket Science… You should therefore also consider taking a class on how to structure and make the most out of a RAW-Workflow (see bellow: RAW or JPEG?) with Adobe Photoshop LightRoom. Here again, you get all this information for free:

• Overall Views of LightRoom (Part 1 & Part 2):

• Specific knowledge, especially on Photo Enhancing possibilities:

For speakers of German, Martin Dörsch from Video2Brain has created an amazing LightRoom Online Training. Obviously, Video2Brain has also trainings in English & French, so you might find good stuff there (we haven’t tested them though). The price (€ 39,95) is not excessive considering the quality of the training videos and the fact that you can download them and watch them as often as you want.