Choosing the best camera course can help you better understand your camera and allow you to create better photos, more often. Given all the camera and photography courses out there what I’ve learned will help you choose the course that’s right for you.

The best camera course should be specifically structured around the camera you use, your technical knowledge and experience making photos, and your photography goals. You’ll also need to determine whether a group-based course or a private, one-to-one course will best meet your own, specific needs.

Over the years I've had the good fortune to share the joy of photography, through this blog and as a photography teacher, with many thousands of people all around our world.

I’ve worked in the photography industry for over forty years, including many years as a photography teacher at a range of photography colleges and institutions.

After that I worked as an online photography tutor running a series of communities on the now defunct Google plus platform. It was great fun as I got to work with folks from all over the world.

These days I do a lot less formal, classroom based teaching and, instead, concentrate on running private, one-to-one photography courses in Melbourne, Australia.

Despite the change that's occurring in how folks learn photography these days, there's two questions never seem to go away.

• Which camera should I buy?

• What’s the right photography course for me?

Because these questions are so important, I wanted to spend some time addressing them here.

Don’t Be Fooled By Biased Advice When Buying A Camera

The first question, as to which camera to buy, while easy enough to ask, is somewhat more difficult to answer.

Recognizing that a well considered and thoughtful answer should be preceded with a number of return questions signals the beginning of our journey towards understanding.

In my case I try to determine all manner of things including, but not limited to, the following:

• What's your budget?

• What do you intend to photograph?

• How comfortable are you with a camera that offers lots of options but, as a consequence, has a potentially more complicated menu structure?

• What’s the chance you’ll be offered biased advice from friends and family that might influence your purchase?

A good salesperson understands the need to ask these questions.

After all, by providing you with a recommendation that meets the above criteria, they’re making their own job easier.

As a result you can be more easily guiding towards the camera with the potential to allow you to better explore your creativity.

Beware when someone recommends a camera without first asking you a series of qualifying questions. At the very least you should ask them why they’ve made such a recommendation.

It just makes no sense for a recommendation to be made without first understanding the following:

• Your experience in photography

• Your technical knowledge

• Your photography aspirations

The answer is likely going to be because that's the camera brand and/or model that the other person uses. And that's probably a good time to leave that particular discussion.

Please beware of the well-meaning friend, photography tutor or camera salesperson who doesn’t try to help you by first asking the kind of appropriate questions I’ve listed above.

Clearly the issue isn't what they use, but what camera would be best suited to your specific experience, needs, outcomes and budget.

You might be surprised as to how few people providing recommendations actually understand that simple concept.

You certainly wouldn't want your money being spent to support someone else's brand bias by helping them justify their own purchase.

Do I Have The Right Camera For This Course?

Another question that tends to be directed to me is whether the photographer in question has the right camera for a specific course.

In a larger photography education institution this is an important question to which tutor and customer service personnel alike would want to provide the right answer.

While I can't help everyone out there wanting to buy a camera, at least on a one-to-one basis, I do have a solution which I've been working on for a considerable amount of time.

I’II be in a position to share this solution, through this site, with you down the road aways.

Too Many Cameras Can Compromise A Course

One of the biggest problems faced by beginners undertaking a formal, classroom based photography course is the amount of different camera brands and models other students will bring into the classroom.

Needless to say this situation presents problems for folks looking for a course that will help them understand how to use their own, specific camera.

Similarly, while a tutor can speak to fundamental concepts and techniques such as shutter speed, aperture, focus, exposure compensation and white balance, it can be extremely difficult and time consuming showing each and every student in a packed classroom how to find and change these settings in their specific cameras.

And that's true for both DSLR and Mirrorless cameras.

Needless to say most DSLR and Mirrorless cameras on the market are really good cameras capable of helping you produce really excellent photos.

But they're all so different from the other in relation to specific features, menu structure and short cut buttons.

Frankly it's tough participating in a group-based camera course having to filter out information that's just not relevant to your own camera and your very own, specific creative needs.

Should you make the choice to attend such a group based course try to remember that your tutor has a duty to deliver information, as advertised.

They also need to do so in a manner appropriate to the needs of participants with a wide and varied range of camera makes and models.

That can make the information delivered somewhat generic. It’s important to understand that this is group based study, for better and for worse.

What you may not know is that features, menu structures, naming conventions and short cut buttons can vary considerably not just from camera brand to brand, but from model to model.

There's lots of advantages associated with group based study.

• You get to meet other folks with similar aims and goals

• You may get to participate in photo walks where another participant’s ideas or energy can help elevate your own creativity

• You can be motivated to make great pics based on the photos other participants have made and the positive feedback they’re receiving from the tutor and other class members

However, if you want to spend the entire lesson concentrating on your own camera and your own, individual creative journey then you really should consider a one-to-one private photography course.

And I’m confident in my view as it’s been arrived at after decades of teaching thousands of people how to use their cameras to create beautiful, life affirming photos.

Group Based Photography Course Participants

At the end of the day a tutor probably has very little control over who attends their class.

In my own case I worked extremely hard, over many years to try to provide all participants with a vibrant, informative and fun learning environment.

In the world of group based learning that means providing an experience that engages all manner of people, including the following:

• Teenagers to retirees

• Male and female

• Folks from a diverse range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds

• Attendees with varying degrees of education and, on occasions, folks with learning difficulties

• Geeky, technical types

• Creative, intuitive folks

• Quiet, shy people

• Talkative types

• A range of experiences in photography from complete novice to serious enthusiast

• All manner of personalities

• A range of expectations, often outside of that detailed in the course outline

All are welcome but in no way is it an easy job to help everyone in the way they most want to be helped.

Yet it's an area that has rewards far beyond what I consider to be the barely adequate remuneration paid to tutors in this sector.

I'm always impressed by the fact that folks make the effort, often at the end of a hard day's work, to attend part time photography studies at a formal institution.

No more so than when they're balancing family and work needs to be there.

I always got a real buzz when I saw a participant’s face light up with the realization of new knowledge, particularly when it helps them in their own, unique creative journey.

I feel it’s the greatest joy a teacher can have, outside a successful student folio presentation when participants display their best work in front of their peers.

The fact that, as a dedicated and hard working teacher, you’re able to both inspire and educate participants to immerse themselves in this most creative art form is a truly great privilege.

Make Sure You Enroll in the Very Best Photography Course

It's actually very common for folks to enroll in courses to which they're not ideally suited. They may have the wrong camera or have enrolled in a course for which they're not quite ready.

Here's some common reasons I'm given when folks end up in my classes.

Boy oh boy, here’s a comment I regularly hear, though I wish I didn't.

It’s the sort of comment that folks enrolled in a relatively advanced course make, even though they know almost nothing about photography or how to use their camera.

At times like this tutors simply have to bend like a reed in the wind and adapt, on the fly, so that these good folk are looked after.

However, in the case of group based, formal study it’s critically important for the tutor to stay true to the information that has to be delivered and to the needs of the rest of the participants in the group.

It’s just an example that, while being a photography teacher can be great fun, in no way is it an easy occupation.

The Curse Of The Travel Photography Teacher, As Celebrity

Reaching a certain level of celebrity only makes things worse. Here’s a comment I’d frequently receive when teaching short courses in photography through various educational providers.

Admittedly, the statement is flattering. But I get past that really quickly when I realize just how difficult it’s going to be to accommodate someone who’s actually walked into the wrong classroom.

But it’s a whole lot easier working with them than with the so-called customer service individual who signed them up in the first place. If there’s one thing in this world that drives me to frustration it’s bureaucracy.

As explained earlier, attending a formal group based course that isn’t designed for your camera, abilities or aspirations is problematic.

Frankly, it's neither appropriate nor possible for your tutor to dramatically alter course content or delivery based upon the needs of a single participant.

The best that can be done is to try to catch less experienced participants up by dedicating the first class to a review of the fundaments.

Actually I worked this way for years and, frankly, everyone benefits from this approach. That’s because even the more advanced participants usually benefit from a review of the fundamental technical aspects of photography.

Of course a caring and empathetic tutor will do all they can to help students for whom they’ve been made responsible.

Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that spending a few minutes, one-to-one, during breaks is hardly going to replace hours of content that the learner may not be ready for.

And this is no more apparent than when the course is based upon image post processing and you're dealing with someone who can barely use a computer.

Clearly, missing classes over a multi-session course only accentuates the problem.

I guess one of the problems that folk's have in identifying the most appropriate course for their needs, and the camera they use, is the way some courses are described.

Let’s face it the terms DSLR, Mirrorless or Micro Four-Thirds are hardly helpful to the uninitiated. Keep reading and I’II help make sense of these unfriendly terms.

Best Definition Of The DSLR Camera

The term DSLR is used to describe a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera.

Welcome to the world of the acronym: individual letters that, when placed together, stand for something that doesn't seem to mean very much at all.

Now let's try to make some sense of the term DSLR.

Clearly, the word digital tells us that it's not a film-based camera. Simple!

Actually the term digital can be used to refer to the chip or sensor onto which light falls. It is here that the image is recorded, though it has to be processed before it makes sense to the human eye.

The result of in-camera processing is usually a JPEG (e.g., 00001.jpg) image.

The term Single Lens Reflex refers to the fact that the camera is designed for a single lens to be mounted to the front of the camera. That’s achieved via a bayonet thread, much like some of those old fashion light bulbs.

You see in a DSLR camera the image, formed by light passing through the lens, reflects off a series of mirrors and up to the viewfinder where you compose the photograph.

You might think that, to fully benefit from a course designed for DSLR cameras, you'll need an interchangeable lens camera that incorporates a mirror system allowing you to see what the lens sees.

As a result it’s possible, when using a DSLR camera, to achieve more accurate metering, composition and focusing than would be possible with a traditional point and shoot camera.

However, it's not quite as simple as that.

A number of Mirrorless cameras, while they do not include mirrors like a DSLR camera do, nonetheless, include most of the features and functionality of DSLR cameras.

That makes mirrorless cameras perfectly acceptable for the average DSLR camera course.

Mirrorless cameras are now quite common and represented by the following manufacturers:

• Sony

• Fuji

• Olympus

• Panasonic

• Leica

• Canon

• Nikon

If in doubt check directly with the institution that's actually running the course.

For what it's worth, these days I choose to use a mirrorless camera system from Sony.

While I believe a mirrorless camera is likely to be the best option for most folks, you still need to consider a range of factors before making your purchase.

• Price

• Size, weight and robustness

• Ergonomics

• Menu structure and how easily you’re able to understand and navigate your way through it

• The genre and style of photography you plan to undertake in the near to mid term

Okay, now let's get back to describing a DSLR camera.

Most digital single-lens reflex cameras, commonly referred to as Digital SLR or DSLR camera, use a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder at the back of the camera.

This optical viewfinder, through which you compose your image, is positioned above the LCD panel on the back of the camera. It's this mirror system that’s referred to by the R for Reflex in the term DSLR.

OK, but what's the relevance of 'SL' (Single Lens) in the term DSLR?

Back in the day there were Twin Lens cameras such as Rolleiflex and Yashica. Here's how they worked.

The lens closest to the top of the camera passed light, by way of a mirror, up to a viewfinder or eyepiece for composition and focusing.

The lower lens would pass light, through a variable lens opening (i.e., aperture), onto the film for an amount of time that was controlled by the shutter speed.

One of the disadvantages associated with this system was the phenomena known as parallax error which would occur when photographing at a relatively short camera-to-subject distance.

What appeared to be sufficient space at the top of the frame, from the viewpoint provided by the camera’s highest lens, might result in a portrait made from a relatively close distance with part or all of the subject’s head cut off.

It’s a perfect example of technology, such as it was, failing the enthusiast photographer.

The phenomena of parallax error was also shared by inexpensive film-based cameras, including the following:

• Box cameras

• Point-and-shoot cameras

• Single-use (i.e., disposal) cameras

• Inexpensive rangefinder cameras

The fact that a DSLR camera provides a far more exact means by which you can frame, compose and focus your image illustrates the tangible benefits provided by this type of camera.

Without wanting to confuse the issue mirrorless cameras don't need mirrors. They also control light, passing through the lens, and form an image on the camera's digital sensor.

However, rather than the complex system of mirrors used in a traditional film-based SLR and digital DSLR camera, mirrorless cameras display the image reaching the sensor directly in the camera's viewfinder.

In addition to being able to accurately control focus and composition, mirrorless cameras offer the following key advantages.

• Mirrorless cameras allow the photographer to visually adjust exposure to achieve the desired brightness before making the image.

• Mirrorless cameras allow the photographer to adjust white balance before the image is made.

• Mirrorless cameras allow the photographer to view the image, moments after it was created, inside the camera’s viewfinder. This eliminates problems, associated with bright light interrupting the viewing experience, when unwanted reflections form on the camera’s rear LCD screen.

These are critical advantages offered by mirrorless cameras, which should not be understated. If what I say doesn’t make complete sense, please go into a camera store and ask a sales representative to demonstrate these three features and compare them to what happens when using a DSLR camera.

The differences are startling and by adopting the appropriate methodology with your new camera you’ll be amazed at just how much fun and stress free making photos can be.

Have no doubt it’s far easier to master exposure, color balance and depth of field with a mirrorless camera than with a comparitive DSLR. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, it’s only time and persistence that stand between where you are today and the realization of your true, creative potential.

Learn The Basic Operation of a DSLR Camera

The basic operation of a DSLR camera can be described as follows:

• To enable the photographer to see what the lens sees the mirror reflects the light coming through the lens upwards, through a ground glass screen, into the camera's pentaprism and then back, through the viewfinder, towards the eye.

• As an aid to composition, framing and focusing the lens is automatically set to its physically widest aperture.

• Just prior to exposure the aperture usually closes down to help achieve the exposure (i.e., brightness) required.

• The mirror assembly swings upward and the shutter, a visually opaque curtain or blind, opens allowing the lens to project light onto the sensor where the image is recorded.

• The shutter mechanism then closes, ending the exposure and preventing more light from reaching the sensor.

• The mirror returns and the lens’s aperture is set back to its widest opening.

• The camera writes the resulting digital file onto a memory card.

• The camera is now ready to make the next picture.

All of the above occurs, usually within a fraction of a second.

Conclusion: Best Camera Course Will Enable You To Explore Your Creativity

With the right attitude and reasonable expectations, you should finish the photography course in which you’ve enrolled happy and with a far greater understanding of your camera and how to use it to make better pictures, more often.

You can now create photos it in a way that taps into your own, unique creative nature.

But remember that a hammer is still just a hammer and, at the end of the day, camera's don't make photos, people do.

That means learning to take control back from the machine.

The best photography courses and tutors exceed customer expectations by showing them how to use their camera with information that explains how to create compelling and engaging images.

After all, no matter what camera you own, you can't make art without heart, energy and effort.

Please, don’t underestimate the importance of persistence in determining your success as a photographer.

Completing an introduction level camera course should see you gain a reasonable level of proficiency with your camera. It can really set you up for successful photo making into the future.

With this new gained knowledge you can now concentrate on the more important aspects of image making.

By concentrating on composition and the emotive and communicative power of photography you’ll be able to explore the beauty of our world through the art of creative photography.

If you live in Victoria (Australia) and you’d like some help coming to terms with your camera and exploring your creativity feel free to contact me directly.

Otherwise, do feel free to return to this site frequently. I create blog posts several times a week that are designed to educate and motivate keen photographers from all over our wonderful world.

To get you going, check out this page of my most recent blog posts.

I hope you enjoy what you find there.

Glenn Guy, Travel Photography Guru