DVC Phone Photography Workshop

[JLoane]

Has anyone taken the DVC Phone Photography Workshop? If so, I'd really appreciate any feedback you can offer--did you enjoy the class, did you learn a lot, how basic/advanced is it? I'm considering signing up for an upcoming trip and want to be sure it's time well spent. Thanks so much!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I think that @bobbiwoz reported participating in that class?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Has anyone taken the DVC Phone Photography Workshop? If so, I'd really appreciate any feedback you can offer--did you enjoy the class, did you learn a lot, how basic/advanced is it? I'm considering signing up for an upcoming trip and want to be sure it's time well spent. Thanks so much!

Good memory!KAT4DISNEY

It was very basic.
The better notes you took, the more you would remember....I chose to listen, I thought I would remember, well, not a good idea!
It rained hard just as we went out, so we didn’t stay out.
I do remember that if you put the grids on the screen you can get a better idea about proportion.

The instructor we had was one of the WDW photographers,(not photo pass) and showed many examples of pictures asking us to comment on placement and general composition, lines of focus.

We received a small gift, some sort of lenses to use with our phone, in a neat little container. “Fisheye” is that something? Yet nothing at all was said about how to use. I meant to write a note to DVC, saying that I would have appreciated some sort of guidance regarding the gift.

Now, we probably got just about $15-20 worth of refreshments! ( Disney prices).



My sister and our friend, Tina. You can see the delicious cupcakes and drinks were provided. After we were offered bottled water. . There were four of us friends taking the class, and about 8-10 others.

I could have gotten more out if I had taken better notes. Time went quickly.

 

[princessfionasmom]

When I first saw this class listed I thought it sounded like a great idea to help people learn how to take great photos. . . unitl I saw the price. The class sounds exactly like, if not more basic, than the FREE classes you can get at an Apple Store. If you don’t have an Apple Store near you and want to learn about using your iphone camera this might be a good option and something fun to do with someone else. I almost took it to see what they go over when we were there a couple of weeks ago. But I teach the classes and do the photo walks at an Apple Store and couldn’t force myselft to pay for something I teach for FREE. Of course, you don’t get the treats at the Apple Store, lol. I will say that learning to use your phone’s camera is a great thing to do, these phones are not cheap so why not learn all you can.

 

[jec6613]

Reading the descriptions out and about, and knowing about phone cameras, I'd say this is complimentary to an iPhone photography course. Since many phone cameras are not nearly as sophisticated as Apple's in functionality, there are really only a few things you can adjust on nearly all phone cameras: flash on/off, exposure compensation, and rule of thirds grid lines.

The Apple course teaches you to dive deep into your phone and its unique features, but being taught by a Disney photog means you have a professional with a huge depth of experience in the rest of the photography basics: composition, anticipating peak action, knowing when to dial in EC, et cetera. These are two different skillsets and compliment each other: one is photography basics, and the other is an equipment course.

As an amateur with half a million shutter clicks with 40k keepers behind them in the last 8 years (since my cameras started counting for me), I'm sure there's still something I could learn from a course like this.

 

[curias]

I took this class in March - I was hoping to do more actual photography. It was really basic. Down to teaching people (who didn't realize it) that they had 2 cameras on their phone and how to access them. There were a mix of phones in the room and he knew about most of them. I take thousands of pictures and consider myself an advanced novice. I have taken a DSLR class at our local College as well. Not sure what I thought I would learn, but just wanted to try something new. We spend 2 weeks at Disney, so it gave us something different to do. It's not a class I would recommend if you are well versed in using your phone and are happy with your photos. However, he did teach some tricks on standing and sitting in a photograph to make you and your family look better (thinner). And how to group large groups of people. So that may benefit some. And teaches design elements to set up a better shot.

 

[Donna M]

I took this class in March - I was hoping to do more actual photography. It was really basic. Down to teaching people (who didn't realize it) that they had 2 cameras on their phone and how to access them. There were a mix of phones in the room and he knew about most of them. I take thousands of pictures and consider myself an advanced novice. I have taken a DSLR class at our local College as well. Not sure what I thought I would learn, but just wanted to try something new. We spend 2 weeks at Disney, so it gave us something different to do. It's not a class I would recommend if you are well versed in using your phone and are happy with your photos. However, he did teach some tricks on standing and sitting in a photograph to make you and your family look better (thinner). And how to group large groups of people. So that may benefit some. And teaches design elements to set up a better shot.

What's the secret????

 

[jec6613]

What's the secret????

The two big ones are get above them, as you get a double chin when shooting from below, and have them face so that the their head is at an angle to the camera and having them facing towards the primary light source, so you don't have the broad side of their face lit and it makes them look slimmer in the face.

Also standing at a slight angle works for most body types, depending on what you're trying to emphasize or de-emphasize, and especially for some women can make them look both bustier and slimmer, while men often tend to look better more squared up. For single headshots using a wider angle and standing closer than one ordinarily would (10+ feet away with a 135mm+ lens is considered a normal portrait distance) can make a full face look slimmer when facing straight at the camera due to the distorting effect of the of wide angle lens in your phone, though it also makes their nose look bigger.

 

[curias]

Also the way you sit - to the side with your ankles crossed.