I attended one of Alan James' Underwater Digital Photography Courses in Nottingham, UK, on the 17th April. This was run by one of the local BSAC dive clubs that allowed me to join in. There were 6 of us on the course.
I suppose I should start and say that you don't get wet on this one, and you may not even take a photo. What the course is all about is getting the most out of the photos you have, as opposed to how to take the best possible photos. So it's really about Post Processing in Adobe Photoshop.
This was quite timely for me as I'd only recently got PS. This part of the course is run by Heather. I really liked her style. I don't think I do her a disservice by saying that she isn't a techie when it comes to computers. This led to a really relaxed course. I'm not saying she doesn't know her stuff, she most certainly does. But I got the impression her knowledge was more self-taught through trial and error than knowing why. Personally I like that.
The basics of PS were taught really well and we were shown all of the things you would normally like to do, crop, rotate, and print, etc. I learnt a lot about levels and how to get the best out of the photos. The section on printing I was expecting to be totally dull, but since the course all of my photos now look much better (but I never found out why there is a sharpening tool called an Unsharp Mask??).
Heather also spent a lot of time with us all showing us what settings our consumer and prosumer cameras should be set to. From those on the course I could see that a lot of these settings were hidden away and news to a few people.
Alan also offered a lot of his wisdom. During the course we were encouraged to work on our material and he offered good advice on composition and other general advice. He showed me how to make one of the photos I've posted on the old digideep board much better. From what he said, I now know things to look for as I'm shooting.
The course was also a timely bonus for me as I was in the market for a strobe. Needless to say I walked away with a Sea & Sea YS25 all ready to go. I was given a lot of advice on strobe work, which I've still yet to try out
They did bring a lot of toys along to dream about
The course in all was a full day, starting at about 10am and finishing about 4:30. It was cheap (about 40 pounds)
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So would I recomend it. This has to be a "depends." For many on this board it would be a basic course in Photoshop. For those like me that can take ok pictures with small housed cameras I would say "yes, if you want to learn more about PS." For those starting out it would be a "definite". Heather and Alan tailor the course to those attending, so I'm sure that everyone would get a lot out of it. I can only comment on the course content I attended. Both Alan and Heather know their stuff inside out.
For me the timing was spot on and I learnt a hell of a lot, even though I thought I probably wouldn't. This was much better than getting it out of a book!
Rob