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Back to Cameras, Exposure, and Photography

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Cameras, Exposure, and Photography by Michigan State University

4.8
stars
5,073 ratings

About the Course

Welcome to Course One of Photography Basics and Beyond: From Smartphone to DSLR! In these first 4 Modules you will gain the knowledge and the confidence that will help you make good choices as you consider qualities of the camera you own, and the qualities of the other types of digital cameras you might be considering. You will learn about the basic functions that most digital cameras have in common. You will also go beyond the "technical" matters and learn about how you can make exciting pictures by emphasizing the aspects of Frame and Vantage Point to interpret old subjects in new ways. Discovering accessories that photographers find useful, and the types of camera bags from mini to carry-on sized, is also in store for you. You will also make your first photographs and, if you are a subscriber to the specialization, upload pictures to the web gallery and start interacting with your fellow learners in our "Gallery." Let's get started with Module One!...

Top reviews

R

Dec 22, 2017

This course was very informative and provided just the right amount of challenge for me to stretch my creativity and newly obtained knowledge. I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the next course.

RP

May 31, 2020

It's a very good course for beginners and I got to learn a lot and improve my photography in every way possible! I recommend it to everyone who's interested in Photography and want to do more with it.

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51 - 75 of 1,556 Reviews for Cameras, Exposure, and Photography

By Nilanjana C

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Mar 12, 2016

I have thoroughly loved and enjoyed watching videos and attempting assignments. Also Prof. Peter and Prof. Mark are really good teachers. I learned all that I could better from them rather than back in college. Hope to do more courses with them and also continue being a Spartan! And yes, hoping to meet the professors in person someday.

By Naeeme M

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Jun 12, 2017

The course is helpful to know about choosing a proper digital camera, learning about different options of digital camera, how to work with digital camera, how to take an artistic photo, how to choose appropriate vantage point and frame for the photos.

The only problem that I have in this course was about not synchronized subtitles!

By Lord L

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Aug 13, 2020

This course is highly detailed in most of the basic and even advanced techniques concerned with photography. My whole perspective on photography has been greatly changed and I have also gained a lot of skills from this course. I'm happy to have been a part of this course and look forward to finishing the whole specialization.

By Edgar A R E

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Jul 19, 2020

As someone who recently started to take photography as something serious I couldn't be more thankful and in love with this course. I have learned so much from how a camera works to being creative with it, I'm really excited to start the next course so in the future I'll be able to complete this awesome camera specialization.

By Jevgenia B

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Jun 4, 2017

I really enjoyed this course. It's very good for beginners - teachers are speaking in understandable terms, the topics are quite interesting and the assignments make you work with your camera. Might be not as interesting for more advanced photographers, but for those who just started their journey - definitely recommended!

By Freddy G

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Jan 2, 2020

I have taken several Photography courses online, all that has taught me to some degree. But this class goes far beyond the basic course. Its by far the best course I've ever taken. I'm learning so much. there's never a due moment and the instructors are very knowledgeable. I promise, this course will be one of your best.

By James R U

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Nov 9, 2017

The course was an excellent introduction into photography. The two professors were knowledgable and engaging. I learned a lot of foundational information that will help me with my passion for taking photographs. I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to take their photography seriously to the next level.

By JENNIFER H

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Mar 6, 2016

I found this class to be very helpful in exploring the art of photography. If you want to learn more of the basics and beginning elements of photography this is a great start. The classes are to the point and not very time consuming. The assignments are well written to make you go out and start using your camera.

By Dr. L G

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Jul 5, 2020

I joined the course just to know about photography. It was quite interesting to listen to the Professors and the details about what are the things you should ensure while purchasing a camera, or what are the details you should see while taking a photograph all were explained in a structured way. I loved the course.

By Matt B

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Aug 7, 2016

I learned a lot. This is a great introduction to photography. When I first saw the course content I thought it might be just a bunch of stuff I already knew. However, I was learning new things from the beginning. The peer reviews and feedback were a bigger influence on my experience than I expected as well.

By Diego N

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May 15, 2020

It was a nice, direct and clear course that allows the student to learn in its own rhytms. The teachers were good, I liked the way Mr. Glendinning explained the topics, I think that Mr. Sullivan could explain the topics more slowly in order to get a better understanding, like Mr. Glendinning. Thank you.

By Carlos T L

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Oct 24, 2019

As a passionate photographer who is picking up his hobby after 15 years, making the jump from Film Photography to Digital (I skipped Smartphone Photography), never liked the feel and control of taking a picture with your Smartphone, this course was very insightful, refreshing and fun to take! Loved it!

By GILDEMAR P D S

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Feb 14, 2019

Linguagem clara e a orientação de profissionais da fotografia altamente gabaritados que fizeram exposições pontuais que me permitiram ter uma clareza do que é e como fazer fotografia de qualidade. Quiz que testaram o meu conhecimento, o que me ajudou a fixar melhor a teoria e poder aliá-la à prática.

By German B

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Aug 6, 2018

I think every photographer should receive this course, no matter if you are a beginner or professional, it have a very nice structure and is very easy to understand, I discovered a new and exciting interpretation of photography and I decided to continue in this path as a career thanks to this course.

By Pratyush T

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Jul 14, 2016

This course was just amazing! A proper and a brief description is given in each and every lesson of the course. People, those who are very new to photography can find this thing very much interesting. My fascination towards photography has doubled! I thank both the professors for their teachings.

By May v H

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Jan 25, 2021

Very useful and interesting material. Looking forward to the other 4 courses to complete the specialization.

By Peggy B

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Feb 22, 2021

I think there was a tremendous amount of good information and the readings really added to the overall understanding for introductory photography. The Peer reviewed exercises were enjoyable and challenging and it was good to hear how others reacted to my work.

I was, however, extremely surprised and very disappointed that neither professor commented on the assignments/ photographs I made during the course. I hope I did not misunderstand but I believed that I would have some feedback from the professionals teaching the course and not just other students.

Also, I think that Professor Sullivan's sections could have been more effective -- I had a hard time following him / his points without stopping the presentations and re-listening or referring to the written notes. He spoke much too fast and jumped from one point to the next too quickly to absorb the content. Also, and this is particularly surprising in a fine-arts related course: Prof. Sullivan showed example photos to make his points but often they were not on the screen for more than a few seconds, making it impossible to consider the visual points he was making. These should be re-taped for greater impact in my opinion.

By Paul K

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Jan 26, 2021

A nice introduction to basic photography with some very helpful tips such as the video on vantage point. The final assignment for "scene and frame" makes you think about how shooting a particular scene can evolve into something completely different than what was first considered.

By Jack V

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Sep 21, 2017

Good intro course but I'd rather see more tutorials on how to think about shooting in different situations

By Rony J H E

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Sep 1, 2020

Didn’t like it. I didn’t learn much from the technical part of photography and not much from composition part. They mention a bit of both but there is no clear module about composition or how to use ISO/Aperture/time, how to properly expose, the light, etc. And the video quality is so bad. The speakers where always under exposed. I know this is a course about photography and not about video, but they do share things in common like a how a good lighting is so important.

I think if you are a beginner in photography you will not gain a lot of useful learning and if you already know photography you will be bored with this course

By Matt S

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Oct 15, 2020

I found a lot of the content to be exactly the same as I could have achieved by watching some Youtube videos/it wasn't particularly useful. The quizzes were helpful to test knowledge but the peer-reviewed assessments were a complete waste of time - the majority of people I graded hadn't understood the task and the feedback I received from others was either rushed so they could get a grade or incomprehensible. Was expecting a lot more from this and sincerely regret paying for this "opportunity"

By Deleted A

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Apr 18, 2020

I started this course because it was free during the quarantine period, after two days they charged me 44 euro on my checking accounts. This is not correct!!!!

By Laura T G

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Jun 4, 2020

One thousand percent useless, it doesn't worth the student's time nor half a penny either.

By Isabelle M

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Feb 12, 2016

very dissapointing to not be able to make the quizzes and the assigments without paying it

By Deleted A

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Jul 3, 2016

This is far too rudimentary to be something produced by a university