One of the skills I’ve really been working on this year has been my blog photography. I’ve gotten a fancy camera, invested in a nice lens, and now I need some lessons on how to perfect my shots. I’ve gotten the opportunity to try out Lynda.com and have started taking some of the photography courses offered, such as Food and Drink Photography. So far, I am very impressed at the quality of these lessons and I can already tell that it is starting to make a difference in the quality of my shots.
About Lynda
Lynda.com is a member supported community with over 40,000 training videos online. They cover subject matter such as Photography, Business, Design, Software Development, Web and Interactive, Video, and other courses about Computing and Technology. The courses are all delivered via pre-recorded video sessions taught by experienced professionals who are passionate about the subject matter. Looking to take the site for a test drive before registering as a member? They have 5,000 online free video tutorials that you can take! If you want to proceed and become a member, there are many fee-based membership levels available to choose from, including monthly or annual and basic or premium.
The Website
Navigating the Lynda.com website is very easy. You can browse the courses by subject, choose a software, or select the author that teaches the course. Since I am wanting to learn more about photography, I chose it from the menu and got a list of over 200 photography classes to choose from.
Since I am most interested in photography that is going to help me out on this blog, I wanted to start out by taking the Food and Drink Photography course. I love the way that these courses are set up. When you go into the course, you see a complete lineup of videos that make up the class. You can then watch each one individually and it marks the ones you’ve watched for you! I love this feature! Being a busy work at home mom, I often get interrupted during the day. Having the total running time next to the videos really helps me gauge my time into blocks so that I know exactly how much time I will need to compete the course.
Each video conveniently pops up in a new browser and you control when it begins to play. There are many controls on the screen, such as volume control, a pause button, and the ability to maximize the screen.
The nice thing about Lynda.com is that if you aren’t available to watch the video, or if you didn’t understand what the instructor said clearly, the entire course transcript is included and can be accessed via a tab within the course navigation. At the end of the course, you are able to click a button to leave feedback for your course (just as you would be allowed to with an instructor in an actual college course) and you can leave them your thoughts about the material and the instructor.
My Thoughts
I have a thirst for knowledge. I have been this way since I was little and I have often joked that I would be a lifelong student if money would allow it. I love to teach myself how to do things also – in fact, I prefer that method. Before I became a stay at home mom, I worked in the web/technology industry and loved it so much that I am continuing to work from home in blogging and social media while maintaining my own websites. It is very important for me to keep my skills in this area fresh because technology changes so often. I love that I can now do that with Lynda.com without having to leave my house to take classes!
I have taught myself many things online and I must say that the courses I have taken through Lynda.com far exceed any tutorial course I have ever taken. The instructors are clear, concise, and you can tell that they honestly know a lot about the subject at hand. I can’t wait to jump in and start learning even more about photography and I think I even might take some of the web design courses to help maintain my websites and make them look better.
Lynda.com subscriptions cost $25 per month, $37.50 per month with premium, $250 per year, or $375.00 per year with the premium subscription and can be purchased online at Lynda.com. All for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per day, you can expand your knowledge and achieve your goals.
Giveaway
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Disclosure: I received a subscription to Lynda.com to facilitate my review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% honest and are that of my own.
About amanda
I would love to work on the photography courses and maybe some photo editing!!
I would love to take their Foundations of Photography: Exposure course and their Photoshop CS6 Essential Training course.
I’m interested in the photography courses.
Photoshop for Web Design
photography i need to be better at photography
I want the on about learning WordPress Essentials
I’d like to learn Captivate or other e-learning courses.
I’d like to take the Photoshop and Access courses.
The Twitter Essential Training
digital image essentials
I’d love digital publishing or social media!
I love all of the microsoft office courses. Always needing refreshers!
I am still on CS5 – but I would love to learn more about it!
I would like to learn how to open my own ebay shop