This post is sponsored by Bing.

Earlier this year, I wrote that I wanted to take a photography class, and that Bing was working with me to help ‘Bing it to Life.’ I searched for and found a few photography classes in Chicago, and then chose one with help in part from Bing’s social search functions, and also from the comments on this post.

The class I chose was Intermediate Digital Photography at Chicago Photography Center, taught by Arnold Klein (who took these fun photos of me). I enjoyed it, but when I had signed up, I waffled between choosing an intermediate or an advanced class. Turns out I probably should have gone for the advanced one. The intermediate lessons were a good review for what I’d already learned elsewhere, but I didn’t pick up a lot of new information. I want to stress that this had nothing to do with the teacher though! Arnold was great, but to give you a sense of the class level, many people were continuing from the Fundamentals class and had just picked up a camera two months prior.

I decided to take another class after the Intermediate one wrapped up. I could have gone into the advanced class the next time around, but instead chose Studio Portrait Lighting. It was at the same location, taught by Nolan Wells.

I learned so much! Rembrandt lighting, soft boxes, spots, grids, umbrellas, distance ratios, strobes, continuous lighting… the works. And while it was focused on traditional portrait lighting, the lessons have been applicable to my everyday photos too. If you’re interested in learning more about photography and light, I’d definitely recommend the class. It was 21 hours of instruction time, plus another 10 or so of in-studio assignments, but if you can commit for the seven weeks, it’s worth it.

I’d taken online photography classes. I’d taken two-hour workshops and an all-day video class. I’d read books and learned as much as I could on my own, but the in-person classes have been the most beneficial. Thanks, Bing, for helping make this happen.