Nikon offers free online photography classes

BITS ‘N’ PIECES

Nikon has made its entire curriculum of online photography classes free until the end of April.

Now through April 30th, all 10 classes available at the Nikon School can be streamed for free. The classes are normally priced anywhere between $15 to $50 each.

Each class is taught by a professional photographer and provides in-depth lessons to help you get better at taking photos. Some courses cover Nikon-specific products, but many of them teach you the fundamentals of photography, such as a course that teaches you how to photograph your children or pets or the basics of making a music video. So even if you don’t own a Nikon camera, many of these classes might still be worth a watch.

If you’re interested in streaming the courses, you can do so by going to Nikon’s official website. You will need to sign up by entering your name and email address before you can view the classes, but you can opt out of receiving marketing emails.

TikTok’s competitor is on its way

YouTube used to be the cool kid on the block, but then TikTok showed up and everything changed. Now, YouTube is looking to compete directly with the short-form, user-generated content app by reportedly launching its own version called “Shorts.”

Shorts will allow people to upload brief videos into a feed inside the mobile app, much like TikTok, and take advantage of licensed music that YouTube Music has in its catalog. Those songs can be used within the videos. TikTok operates by letting people choose from a selection of audio, music and otherwise, and create videos using those sounds.

Take a look at any state-of-mobile report and it’s pretty obvious why YouTube wants a piece of the action. TikTok saw more than 125 percent in growth over the last two years, according to reports. The app has hundreds of millions of users and is a cultural force. The Information noted that TikTok had approximately 842 million first-time downloads from both Apple and Google’s app stores over the last 12 months — a 15 percent increase year over year.

This isn’t the first time that YouTube has developed its own version of a popular feature on another social platform. YouTube also brought over its version of Instagram stories to the site. Considering its massive user base (more than two billion monthly active users) and its deep music licensing agreements, building a version of TikTok isn’t surprising. Facebook has also developed its own version of TikTok — Lasso — which they’ve been quietly testing in markets like Brazil.

-SG