Photographers have various expectations when attending a photo workshop or participating in a photo tour. Before I answer the Q of the M, let's define the difference between a tour and a workshop, because, sadly, some photographers blur that definition and compromise both their attendees and the value of a good photo workshop.
A Photo Tour should imply that you, the participant, will be taken or shown shooting locations where, indeed, you will be photographing. On a good tour, the best locations, views, and opportunities are already scouted out so that you have the best chances of making great images. That should be a given, for if they're not you might as well travel to the location by yourself and do your own exploration. The value of a Tour is that the work is already done for you and your chances of making great photo images are maximized. Most Tour leaders take photographs while leading a tour, although most -- and all good tour leaders -- are always available to help and put your photography ahead of their own. Personally, I think it is important that a tour leader does take pictures as it keeps that leader motivated and innovative. Believe me, there have been a few tours where I knew I was growing tired of either the location or the subject and ... and that was the last year I did that tour! I think it is too easy for a tour leader to simply stay with 'a good thing' and go through the motions, taking people back to the same tripod holes each year but not shooting themselves -- they already have the shot, or have it better. If that's the case ... then why go there?
A Photo Workshop, in contrast, should be a learning environment that takes place either in a classroom situation, in the field, or, ideally, both venues. On a Photo Workshop the instructor (he or she is not a leader here) should not be taking pictures but should be available to help you. Some instructors do set up a shot, or take a series of shots on an outing or in an in-the-field exercise to illustrate a point or procedure or technique, and I think that's perfectly acceptible. We actually find this very valuable to do, at times, with our digital courses as it is easiest to show students where and how we've done the initial capture, and then, in class, subsequently shown the class how those captures could be maximized in the RAW converter or via Photoshop.
If, however, an instructor is constantly shooting, or is off 'doing his own thing' and is not available to help you, then you are not on a Workshop. I don't know if you're on a tour, either, but you're not in a quality learning environment.
Now, how can you best prepare yourself for a Photo Workshop?
By reading your camera's instruction manual! I'd bet some of the biggest 'ah hahs!' I see in my students is when they discover some of the nifty things their camera can do. These things aren't secrets I've uncovered but are facts stated in the manuals. True, some manuals appear to have been written in Japanese, translated into Korean, then French, and then Mayan before finally being written in English (they can be obscure) but the facts are there. You may not know exactly how something works after reading about it, or be able to digest its importance, but having some familiarity with a topic (your camera's operation) will certainly increase and maximize your learning curve.
Doing so, it is easy for an instructor to move on, to show how and why a technique works, and to provide you with the type of information he or she has that may not be general knowledge, and that is certainly not found in your camera manual!
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