
Exposing Digital Photography (2015) - itsyogesh
http://digitalphotography.exposed/
======
jdcarter
For those interested in very hands-on advise on using artificial light, the
Strobist [1] blog is amazing. David Hobby is a working photojournalist and
does fantastic work on-site. It's one thing to control light in the studio,
but quite another to bring your flashes to a random site and improvise.

Hobby used to have a DVD set for sale which was probably the best money I've
ever spent on photography stuff, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be
available anymore. (It appears he's got some videos on Lynda.com, however.) I
understand technical aspects of photography quite well but I learned a ton
about creative, improvisational lighting from Hobby.

[1]: [http://strobist.blogspot.com/](http://strobist.blogspot.com/)

~~~
pierrepoutine
I second this. David's site opened my eyes to the importance of colour
correcting the light coming out of your (off-camera) flashes for artistic
effect, and a rough understanding of colour theory is what helps give images
that extra "pop"

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pvdebbe
Sounds excellent. In essence, this course doesn't teach you photographing but
rather, how to maximise what you get out of a digital photograph. Definitely
taking it, such a short course anyway.

I wonder if the actual photographying is taught in any (free) online courses?
I've enjoyed the little nugget called "FART for Fantastic Photos" [0] by Ken
Rockwell, especially how it in its simplicity reminds one to focus on the
subject, that's what matters in the picture. Kinda hope there would be courses
that take the same idea but for 10 hours or so.

[0]
[http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fart.htm](http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/fart.htm)

~~~
iaml
Be aware, Ken Rockwell is kind of a joke [0] in photographic circles.

[0]: [http://anotherangle.eu/posts/why-ken-rockwell-is-bad-for-
pho...](http://anotherangle.eu/posts/why-ken-rockwell-is-bad-for-photography/)

~~~
foldr
It's fashionable to hate on him, but a lot of his advice is very good. The
blog post you link to is quite silly and petty, honestly. A lot of people
don't like to be told that their $5000 equipment is only slightly superior in
terms of image quality to much cheaper equipment, but it's true.

~~~
LeonidasXIV
The point is that he just tells you everything is amazing and to please buy it
from Amazon so he can support his ever growing family.

And sometimes his advice is good, sometimes it isn't but as a newbie you don't
know which part you can trust and which one is one of his peculiarities.
Therefore I would avoid following his opinions. His list of camera/lens specs
is admittedly pretty good.

And the other issue is that his photos are so comically bad that I kinda have
problems taking whatever he says seriously.

~~~
cookiecaper
He doesn't tell you everything is amazing. He usually seems skeptical, IMO,
which is what one would expect from an old-timer in any profession (wish there
was a little more of it in tech). Tells you that L lenses are nice, but he
buys and uses non-L because it works equally fine for him (and yes, I know he
primarily appears to use Nikon anyway :P). Says this about most expensive
things.

I've personally noticed a large difference in the mechanical performance (
_not_ necessarily the image performance) of my L v. non-L lenses and thus
prefer Ls. I have non-Ls but they get used a lot less because they're heavier,
louder, and much slower to focus. This doesn't seem to bother Rockwell which
is more than fine; he's probably a) much less spoiled than me and b) working
in different environments where these issues are less serious.

Newbies never know who or what to trust. That's part of what makes you a
newbie. You just have to come in and start trying things out and figuring out
what does or doesn't work in your particular use case, and not stick
religiously to random guy's blog if you find those techniques are not working
for you.

------
archildress
I was a bit surprised that the lesson on software tools focused on Photoshop
instead of Lightroom. Photoshop is cream of the crop for precise image
adjustments, but Lightroom is such a great photo management software plus
visual editor.

Don't get me wrong - Photoshop is great. But Lightroom is one of the most user
friendly digital asset managers (DAM).

------
brudgers
Related: Mark Levoy's digital photography course:
[https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/home](https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/home)

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greenhatman
That TLD will make any domain look like click bait.

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benesch
This appears to be an (illegitimate?) republishing of a course that Dan
Armendariz has taught at the Harvard Extension School since 2008. (The course
number has since changed from CS E-7 to Digital Media E-10.) You can find the
fall 2015 materials available online for free, better-organized and without
advertising, at
[http://digitalphotography.exposed](http://digitalphotography.exposed).

If you find these materials helpful, or want feedback on your work, consider
enrolling in the course through the Extension School [0]! Part of your tuition
inevitably supports the Harvard bureaucracy, but Dan and his teaching
fellows's stipends are directly tied to the number of students who enroll in
the course, and they've kindly made the entire course available for free. You
can also apply that course credit to an Extension School degree, which is
worth more than whatever certificate of completion Alison is providing.

[0]:
[https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/courses/exposing...](https://www.extension.harvard.edu/academics/courses/exposing-
digital-photography/24825)

Edit: I suppose I should note that the instructor for the current Extension
School offering appears to have changed in the last year, so your mileage with
the current version of the course will vary.

~~~
melling
In response, someone posted a legitimate Stanford course:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5o350c/since_t...](https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5o350c/since_that_suspicious_harvard_course_got_so_much/)

I added it to my photography list on Github:

[https://github.com/melling/DesignNotes_MobileAndWebApps/blob...](https://github.com/melling/DesignNotes_MobileAndWebApps/blob/master/photography.org)

------
PuffinBlue
This particular site generated a lot of discussion in the /r/photography sub-
reddit.

General consensus was that this site is a spammy wrapper/republishing of
another course.

Here's a comment with more info and links to the legitimate/original course
that this site is pertaining to provide:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5nxj2h/harvard...](https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5nxj2h/harvard_has_released_a_free_12_module_online/)

Further, here's a link to another credible course (currently the top post in
the /r/photography sub-reddit) should you wish to expand your options:

[https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/](https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/)

And to the discussion about said course:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5o350c/since_t...](https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5o350c/since_that_suspicious_harvard_course_got_so_much/)

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dr_hooo
The site doesn't seem to be legit - there was a big reddit thread on
r/photography yesterday: this post [0] sums it up, and actually links to the
actual Harvard course.

[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5nxj2h/harvard...](https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/5nxj2h/harvard_has_released_a_free_12_module_online/dcf6es6/)

~~~
sctb
Thanks, we updated the link to the real course page from
[http://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/01/16/harvard-
university-...](http://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/01/16/harvard-university-
launches-free-online-photography-course/) which pointed to
[https://alison.com/courses/Digital-
Photography](https://alison.com/courses/Digital-Photography).

------
lmnt
Is this really new? The course page [1] lists that it was published in 2013.

[1] [https://alison.com/courses/Digital-
Photography](https://alison.com/courses/Digital-Photography)

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evolve2k
> "There’s also a thirteenth module which serves as an assessment of all you
> know. If you pass this with a score of 80 percent or higher, and you can get
> yourself a diploma to print and hang on your wall."

Anyone know if it's a Harvard Diploma/Certificate that you get? I'm guessing
it's probably not.

~~~
manarth
From their blurb: "To qualify for your official _ALISON_ Diploma, Certificate
or PDF" (emphasis mine).

In their Knowledgebase [1], they acknowledge _" ALISON courses are not
accredited or recognised by any institute"_

[1]
[https://alison.com/knowledgebase/entry/44/](https://alison.com/knowledgebase/entry/44/)

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alexp_789
Is it just me that finds the constant panning and zooming really distracting?

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imaginenore
How did this garbage get to the top of HN?

The photographs, on average, aren't even that impressive. Only some are good.

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DannyB2
You should not expose digital photography.

At least not before it has been developed, or that would ruin the film.

