Who Takes Our Courses, Anyway??

After nearly a year of helping camera owners demystify their digital cameras, we still get a lot of questions and inquiries about our Clicks Gone Wild courses. (And we don't mind, we love talking about photography!!)  Where to begin?  I need a really expensive camera to take awesome photos, right?  What class should I take??

Gemma & Rhonda have taught a wide variety of skill levels in the past 12 months - right from true beginners who need to learn the very basics of the basics on a compact camera, through to people who are ready to control all of the settings on their dSLR in Manual Mode.  All three of our courses will certainly assist you in taking your images to a new creative level!!  So if you're hesitant to join in on the fun for any reason, send us an e-mail and ask for advice on which course would best suit you.

What we know is unique about our courses is the environment created in each of our classes and the camaraderie between us as teachers and the the small group of wonderful people.  Whether it's a public course in a library or a gathering in someone's home, we teach you face-to-face, in real time, and provide picture examples.


You can ask questions.  There are no silly questions.  You can laugh.  You can be inspired.  You are with other photography-loving people at your own skill level. Sit back, relax, meet someone new, learn a lot, keep in touch, and come back for more if you wish.  Let us teach and entertain you.

Together, we share our skills and knowledge and make it just as enjoyable as it is informative for you.

Which course should I take?

Do you just know the very basics of your camera and typically keep your camera dialed in on Auto Mode, a.k.a. "the green box"?  Rest assured that we have taught many people like you. We recommend you check out Mastering the Basics, Part 1 where we cover the basics and so much more.  Learn what all the preset modes are for and what they do to your images.  Also learn about how to focus properly to be guaranteed a few non-blurry photos.  We introduce you to the basics of composition and give ample tips on how to capture better everyday moments.

If you have a firm understanding of the basics and know how to get good focus in your images, you may want to take an intermediate course.  Learn all about proper colour, organizing your picture files, zoom, proper printing, metering modes, and more in Mastering the Basics, Part 2.

Both of our Mastering the Basics series have been designed to use with any camera - the concepts are applicable to a basic point and shoot camera to a dSLR.

Bring it all together in our most advanced course, The Magic of Manual Mode. This course is designed for dSLR owners and includes an extended in-person session and online follow-up private forum for questions and assignments.

And if you're not quite sure where you fit in, send us an e-mail or inquire about our private tutoring sessions.

For a list of courses and what they each cover, see here.

Whatever stage of the game you're at, we look forward to teaching you!

Happy Almost Anniversary to Clicks Gone Wild!! Enter to Win Gift Certificates!

Happy Almost-Anniversary to us!   On January 29th of last year, Clicks Gone Wild courses were launched with 2 sessions of Mastering the Basics, Part 1.  Since then, we have taught many people how to capture better everyday photos.  And we love it!  Thanks so much for your continued support and for spreading the word so we continue to fill courses and increase people's confidence with their digital cameras!

In true anniversary fashion, the next public course for Mastering the Basics, Part 1 will be held on Sunday, January 29 at 12:30 pm in Braeside.  Please send us an e-mail for registration information.  As always, registering for our courses requires advance payment.  We would love to see you there!

Mastering the Basics, Part 2, which was scheduled for last night, has been re-scheduled due to the snow storm.  We will be teaching Part 2 less than a week from today on Tuesday, January 24.  There are 3 spaces available in this class, so if you have been waiting for Part 2, now is the perfect chance to get in on the action and take control of the colour in your images, metering, file organization, and your prints!

We're celebrating our anniversary over on our Facebook business page and invite you to come celebrate with us and enter to win one of two prizes - a $25 gift certificate and a $50 gift certificate (that's a free Part 1 or 2, or a nice discount for The Magic of Manual Mode).  Here is the link to our Facebook page:   Clicks Gone Wild on FACEBOOK 

There are 3 ways to win, so be sure to take advantage of all possibilities to increase your number of entries into the draws!

1.  "Like" our facebook business page.  (Liking the page is different from liking the status updates, but we love it when you like a whole bunch of things!).  When we reach 200 likes, we will draw for the $25 gift certificate.  :)

2.  Share our status update about the anniversary draws on YOUR facebook page to be entered in the $50 draw.  The deadline to enter this draw is midnight on Jan. 28 and your odds are fantastic!  Thanks to everyone who has shared so far.  Anyone can do this, whether you have gotten around to taking one of our courses or not.

3.  And as a special thank you to those people who have taken classes, if you leave a comment about one of our classes on OUR business page wall, you will earn an additional entry into the $50 draw.  Thank you!

So pop on over to Facebook to enter.  Even if you have taken all of courses and want someone else to win, we would love for you to share the update and your experience with others.  You all are really the reason why we get to keep doing this, as word-of-mouth is our best advertisement.  Thank you!


Hope everyone is enjoying all that snow - and more importantly capturing lots of seasonal photos!!!  :)


Gemma & Rhonda

Snow can be a photographer's nemesis

But not if you know how and when to properly adjust a few key settings on your camera!  We're here to help you figure out all of the technical mumbo-jumbo, get outside and capture some awesome winter images.  :)

I bet you have taken many, many photos of your kiddies playing in the snow and the person turns out looking darker than they should be and the snow is an icky grey/bluish tone.  Let me show you exactly what I mean... this cutie was having fun playing in the snow with my boys on the weekend and I took this photo of him in Auto Mode on my dSLR:

AUTO

It is nothing like how the scene looked like to me at the time, and what stands out to me the most is that the little boy is underexposed (that's a nerdy photography word for 'dark').

So I flipped the dial over to Manual Mode and adjusted a few settings to get the image I had intended on taking of him in the first place.  I now have a perfect exposure on my subject with white snow, natural skin tones and shows the true vibrant blue colours of his snowsuit.

MANUAL MODE

To get you on your way to taking images like this, Clicks is offering the second installment of The Magic of Manual Mode on Saturday, January 14 for dSLR owners - and it's not too late to join inl!!  We demystify the exposure triangle, teach you to understand light metering modes & white balance, and offer basic editing tips and much more.  If you're serious about mastering your digital camera, this is the class for you!!

If you own a compact point and shoot camera, there is no need to fret.  In our Mastering the Basics, Part 1 (on Monday, January 16) we teach you to confidently take your camera off of Auto Mode, put it in Program Mode and never look back. And with the concepts we teach in Mastering the Basics, Part 2 (on Tuesday, January 17) we take using Program Mode to the next level and really tap into all of the image options.  Here's a similar situation to the above photos, but I used my handy point and shoot camera instead, along with some of the tricks we teach in Part 2:

AUTO

Again, the snow is greyish, and his adorable little face doesn't jump out at you like it should.  In fact, Auto has done a terrible job at focusing properly on my pint-sized subject.  But I have Program Mode ready and waiting for me to use, and tweak a few of the adjustable options. 

PROGRAM MODE

Much better - his face is much crisper, the colours look truer to life and I have white snow!!!  And the best part is that I have unleashed the power of my little digital camera!

We discuss how to get snow looking white (as it should be) with some of the tips we teach in Mastering the Basics, Part 2.  Click on the links at the top of the page for more information about each of our classes.  To sign up, or be the first to be notified when we announce new class dates, send us an e-mail to clicksgonewild (at) gmail (dot) com ... or click here.

edited to add: This information is now in our new Intermediate-Level course, Step it Up, Shutterbug!  ;)

Happy Winter, Everyone!!
Gemma
(Thanks to my little buddies for helping me out taking these example shots!!  Big hugs from Auntie Gemma.)  :)