Do you own or want a nice camera, the ideal upgrade from a smartphone cam? Have you ever been intimidated to go past an automatic shutter (or better yet, don’t know what an automatic shutter is)? If you feel like you’re not meeting your potential as a photographer but don’t have time to enroll in full time courses, JP Teaches Photo and Groupon have the perfect crash course to better beginner photography.
JP Teaches Photo let me join an informative “How Do I Use My Camera? Part 1” photography classes that take place in Central Park. Having enlightened more than 4,000 novice photographers to date, JP Pullos has also seen his work appear in the New York Times and GQ; more than enough credential to broadcast his photo capability. As both a teacher myself and a self taught photographer, I was extremely excited to learn what JP and his teaching style had to offer. On a beautiful Sunday afternoon I met up with JP and my fellow photographers in Central Park.
JP stresses the idea of intuitive photography: The idea that photography is more like riding a bike than it is taking a math class. In other words, photography shouldn’t have to be calculated.
JP even insisted that we not memorize what he was teaching us (!) so that we could focus on what we were doing instead. He sent all his students a “cheat sheet” of facts covered in the class later on.
In part one of the “How Do I Use My Camera,” JP covered exposure, aperture, and shutter speed. He explained how a photographer’s medium is light, the way a musician works with sounds or a chef works with food. He went on to explain how to manipulate light using exposure, aperture, and shutter speed, along with how these three factors work together to create your image.
Other highlights of the class included taking photos with a strong depth of field (blurry background), as well as motion blur (capturing a moving object) and critiquing well-known photographs, including some of his own pictures, as learning tools. JP breaks downs the ins and outs of every setting most DSLRs have to offer — without overwhelming you with technical information.
