Online Photography Course
Image Design: Revealing Your Personal Vision

Overview
What You Get
Instructor
Student Photos
Course Outline
Requirements
FAQ

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Your Instructor
Tony Sweet

Have a pro at your side - online, all the time

Join 's Course: Image Design: Revealing Your Personal Vision

Learn creative compositional techniques to move your photography to the next level. Whether you're photographing trees, flowers, nature, still-life, mountains, patterns, abstract images, or any other subject, strong and simple design is the hallmark of great photography. There is no luck involved in consistently good photography. Join Nikon Legend Behind the Lens, Tony Sweet, for this inspiring 8-week course guaranteed to jump start your creativity and improve your compositional skills. Various compositional techniques will be explored and fine tuned throughout the course, designed to motivate you to create simpler, cleaner, and more compelling images.

Key Features

Line
Rhythm
Repetition
Balance
Threes/thirds
Framing in the frame
Extracting smaller scenes
Capturing mood

For serious hobbyists through advanced (Skill Levels 2-4)
Increase your ability to "see"
Increase your visual awareness
Increase your ability to edit in the frame
Become consistent in your compositions
Learn to isolate and simplify
Add visual impact to your images

What You Get

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Benefits:
You get direct feedback on your photos from world-acclaimed, professional photographers. You can learn photography in this way from anywhere in the world.

Learn at your pace, with structure.

Be guided by a real pro instructor.

Get your photos critiqued every week.

Join students from around the world.

Go far beyond any book or DVD.

Make great pictures, again and again!

Instructor

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Tony Sweet
After 20 years as a professional jazz artist, Tony changed careers and directed his creative juices towards nature photography. The improvisational, spontaneous, and abstract nature of jazz are also integral elements of nature photography.

Today, Tony's work is published worldwide and is represented by The Getty Picture Agency.

Tony conducts his "Visual Artistry" photography and digital printing workshops from March through October throughout the continental United States and Canada. Tony's articles and photography are featured in Shutterbug and Rangefinder magazines, and as contributor to Nikonnet.com. He’s also a columnist for Nikon World Magazine.

He has authored three books on the art of photography: Fine Art Nature Photography, Fine Art Flower Photography, and Fine Art Photography: Water, Rain, Fog. All are published by Stackpole Books.

He maintains an active speaking schedule on the subjects of nature and flower photography and marketing, addressing professional photography organizations, universities, seminars, and workshops.

Tony is on the instructor staff of BetterPhoto.com, and is a member of the Baltimore chapter of ASMP. And he has been named a Nikon Legend Behind the Lens and is a charter member or nikSoftwares TeamNik!

To learn more about Tony, visit his Web sites:

http://www.tonytsweet.com
http://www.tonysweet.com

Don't miss the BetterPhoto interview with Tony Sweet.

A Couple of Photos by the Instructor

A Couple of Student Photos

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View photos by previous students. You can make pictures like this too!

Course Outline

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Week 1: Line
Assignment: Submit photos illustrating the concept of line

Week 2: Rhythm
Assignment: Submit photos illustrating the concept of visual rhythm

Week 3: Repetition
Assignment: Submit photos illustrating the concept of repetition (visual echoing)

Week 4: Balance
Assignment: Submit photos illustrating the concept of balance

Week 5: Threes and Thirds
Assignment: Submit photos illustrating the concept of threes and thirds

Week 6: Framing Inside the Frame
Assignment: Create compositions illustrating threes and thirds

Week 7: Extracting Smaller Scenes
Assignment: Illustrate extracting a smaller scene from the big picture

Week 8: Capturing Mood
Assignment: Submit photos illustrate the concept of mood

Requirements

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Digital or film camera
Knowledge of - and the ability to control - aperture and shutter speed.
Some software knowledge for correcting and for uploading to BetterPhoto
A willingness to experiment and try new photographic techniques

FAQ

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Do I need any special equipment or filters to take this course?

Nope. All you need is your camera and lenses!

Do I need any special imaging software?

You'll need to have a graphics program that can re-size images for uploading to BetterPhoto.com.

Does it matter if I use a film or digital camera?

Either one will work fine.

Who is this course intended for?

This course is open to any photographer who wants to add more impact to their photography. You should already have a working knowledge aperture and shutter speed.

What are the requirements for the course? What equipment will I need to complete the projects?

Students should have a working knowledge of exposure and how their equipment works. An SLR camera (digital or film) is preferred.

Can I use photo imaging software such as Photoshop?

Sure!

Do I have to be online at any specific time?

No, you do not need to be online at any specific time. The lessons are sent to your email and you are also provided the Campus Square - where you interact with your classmates and instructor. This is also where you upload your photos to be critiqued by your instructor. The instructors are very punctual and respond quickly.

Will I have access to the instructor to ask questions during the photo course?

Absolutely! Students can ask questions in the special Q&A forum set up in the course's Campus Square, or can ask the instructor via email.

Do you offer a money back guarantee?

Yes. We are confident that you will fully enjoy our courses. All the same, for our 8-week classes, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee before the Wednesday that Lesson #3 is sent out. If for any reason, you are not satisfied and let us know that you would like to withdraw before the Wednesday that Lesson #3 is sent, you will be promptly refunded.

For our 4-week courses, we offer a 100% money back guarantee before the Wednesday that Lesson #2 is sent out from BetterPhoto. If for any reason you are not satisfied and you let the ordering department know that you would like to withdraw before the Wednesday that Lesson #2 is sent, you will be refunded within 7 days. After the second lesson has been sent out, no refunds will be given.

Still have questions about this course? Ask Us

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Only $396.00 USD

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"In a Nutshell"

8-Week Photo Course
Category: Composition Courses

$396.00 USD

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Read all 16 reviews

Course Reviews:

1.5 out of 5

Pam Baumann
member since: 1/6/2009

As I am a huge fan of BP, this was not my first class with them, however, it was my first class with Tony Sweet. While the class content was extremely valuable, the delivery was lacking. The course content will challenge you to bring your images up a notch and step out of your comfort zone, but Tony seemed pretty disengaged from the course. He was pretty much absent from any type of discussion and got by with the mandatory critiques of weekly assignments. As compared with other BP instructors, he was not of the type to encourage any type of dialogue or offer any guidance on additional aspects of an image. He sometimes answered questions but not always. When he did, it was usually a quick one-liner and that was it. He seemed and actually mentioned a few times that he was very busy with other things - which is all fine and good - but when you're spending $400.00, it would be nice to get $400.00 worth of interaction with the instructor.
Often, his feedback or critiques were lacking in specificity and he never took the time to make any changes to a student's image in an effort to illustrate a point. This is pretty much the norm with most other instructors that I have taken classes with. Other instructors have come across enthusiastic and sincerely interested in a student's work and seemed genuinely interested in moving them to the next level. Not so much with Tony. The class and interaction with was very much on the back burner with him.
While the specific lessons were valuable, I would look at taking another course that had similar teaching points with a different instructor. While I learned a few things from the written lessons themselves, I can honestly say that I did not learn or increase my skillsets or knowledge bank from Tony's contributions. I still haven't received my final lesson critiques and the class has been over for about two weeks.

- 5/6/2013 9:55:28 AM

5 out of 5

Steinar Kibsgaard
member since: 5/31/2006

This course with Tony Sweet covers a lot, and I can recommend it.

This was my 20. course, so of course some of the stuff was repetition for me, but I still had advantage of it, because some of the teachings in the lessons was "special" = Tony Sweets approach, and this approach is worth getting.

And also because Tony Sweets critique was always honest and spot on,

- 4/25/2012 8:05:05 AM

3.5 out of 5

Josh A. Friedman
member since: 3/3/2010

There were good & not-so-good aspects of this course. Tony is an extremely talented photographer. His lessons & assignments were thought-provoking, & very useful. However, his feedback was very sparse & it often lacked specificity (at times it was clear that he had cut-and-pasted feedback from one student to another). Other instructors gave both longer, more specific, & more constuctive feedback. In fact, other instructors periodically took a student's photo & made changes to illustrate their feedback -- to my knowledge, Tony did not do this at all. Also, responses in Q&A tended to feel very rushed. All of that said, I thought the course was good, but it could have been better.

- 8/20/2010 7:48:55 AM

5 out of 5

By
Anna Marie Senita
member since: 1/11/2007

This was an excellent course. It helped me to understand why an image has impact and how to achieve that in mine. I began to see the concepts in other people's images as well as seeing before I took my own images.

- 5/19/2010 7:35:38 AM

4.5 out of 5

Peter Lind
member since: 5/1/2007

While doing this course, I found it helped changing were I took my shots so as to add that something little that really helped improve my shots. The comments on my shots were very insightful and helpful.

Further when looking at the masters or great shots, I started to see how there had incorporated these same steps and how I may take similar shots.

It is a hard course but nothing is gained without effect. I highly recommend this course.

- 5/12/2010 3:39:37 PM

Read all 16 course reviews...

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More Delighted Customers:

"This was an awesome class! It really gives me something solid to build on. Tony provided great feedback on my photos. He has helped clear up some personal confusion that I have struggled with in my compositions... I am really glad I stumbled onto BetterPhoto.com!!" -John Christiansen

"If you want to see what an incredible photographer Tony is, check his Web site. You won’t be shooting like him after this class, but you will be able to understand what goes into a great photograph, and how to build your own critiquing capabilities. You will also find Tony very helpful on answering questions... I was once told that if you are going to take a course, learn from the best. Tony is one of the best around." -Douglas J. Eng

"It's one of the best classes I took at BetterPhoto... (With each lesson), you concentrate on a single clean design idea and that idea sticks in your mind. Plus, Tony's critiques are always straight to the point, helping you improve after each lesson." - Irina Kotikova

Online Photography Course Image Design: Revealing Your Personal Vision