Photography Tips Guide

Posts Tagged ‘Learn Photography’

Starting out with any new venture, or for that fact resurrecting an old venture, there are always the questions where do I start or how do I start? Although the urge is there to try something big, starting at the beginning is essential. Learn to take baby steps first.

If you’ve watched the old time classic movie the Sound of Music, it’s “let’s start at the very beginning”. A very good place to start. So beginning your photography journey you need to look at three fundamentals in order to get going.

1. Get to know your camera

Getting to know your camera is essential for your beginning in photography. A workman who is not competent with the tools of the trade is not going to get very far. I am not talking here of every single little feature but rather all the major features, settings or controls. You need to be able to operate without thinking and often times while you aren’t looking at the controls. Know where they are by feel so that as you’re looking through the viewfinder you can change settings automatically. Do this little exercise and you’ll get to know them fast. Go through your manual and go through each setting on your camera. When you are finished go through it again; this time checking off all the settings you know. Then go through the manual again and learn those settings that you are not sure of. By logically working through your manual and getting to know the camera’s features will be invaluable as you learn photography.

2. Shoot regularly and on every occasion

One of the major benefits digital photography has given us is the ability to take photos without the cost restrictions of film. The problem is that people use this to the detriment of calculated and thoughtful composition of their photos. But if used correctly, digital gives the ability to keep shooting without any constraints. The reason I see that shooting regularly is key to learning is because practise does make perfect. Through trial and error we learn about most things in life. Sometimes you do get a lucky shot amongst the rapidfire shooting sprees but this is the exception. The famous golfer Gary Player always said, “the harder I practise, the luckier I get.” Use every ocasion to practise and then compare images you have taken previously. Evaluation helps to examine your photos and find out where you can improve. But don’t just stop there. Go out and improve the areas you need to and practise more in the areas where you have deficiencies.

3. Focus on the fundamentals of photography

Learning the basics properly is key to anything you do. If you give yourself a good foundation and learn the fundamentals you are going to get off on the right foot and not make the basic errors which need correcting. Find a really good book or e-course take each element of photography and apply it. Don’t try learning a bunch of keys and attempt put them all into one photo at once. Learn good composition before trying to shoot action photos. Rome wasn’t built in a day but our instant society has taught us that we can everything and have it now. It doesn’t work like that with photography. It has step be a logical progression as you learn one step then apply it and move on to the next step. Don’t forget to keep on revising what you have learnt as you need to build on to the foundation of the previous step and so on.

These three steps are just some basics to get you going. There are many others that you gradually need to incorporate into your photograhic learning journey. It’s not all going to happen at once so you need to grasp just a few of the basics to start growing.

The world has gone digital crazy. With many homes having multiple digital camera owners you can’t move without seeing someone taking a digital snap. And the operative word here is a snapshot. Not much thought, creativity or photographic composition. Just lots and lots of digital pollution cramming the millions of hard drives, DVDs and memory cards. Digital has enabled people to take more low quality, thoughtless snapshots. Digital photography could see the death of creativity in photography in general. Why such a harsh statement? Here’s why:

1. Lack of thought.

As a film photographer the consumable costs of photography were much higher. This forced us to think and carefully consider each shot. There was a greater thought process. Using a motor drive for taking multiple shots was for the press photographers who could afford take thirty six images in a few seconds. For the rest of us we had to think more before pressing the button.

2. The Shakespeare effect.

This is the evolutionary idea that if you give a roomful of monkeys a typewriter each and enough time, they will eventually produce a work equal in quality to Shakespeare. There is a similar mindset among digital photographers that if they shoot enough photos, somewhere amongst the thousands will be quality images. You have as much chance as that happening as a monkey.

3. Drive by shooting syndrome.

This is similar to the lack of thought in taking a photo. Because of the multiple shot feature in digital cameras and the low cost of digital photography, it’s quick an easy to take an image. Just like a drive by shooting the camera is pointed in the general direction of the subject and a bunch of images is taken. Then you move on to the next target and fire away again.

So what’s the answer? Plain and simple slow down, right down and smell the roses as the saying goes. The creative process is methodical and well thought out. You need to be able to observe, think and then take action. Because digital photography is so quick, cheap and easy the principles and techniques of photography tend to get sidelined. Here are a few steps to encourage your creative process.

1. Make or allocate time for your creative process.

Creativity won’t be hurried. At times it may come to you quickly but this is the exception rather than the norm. So sit down and absorb the environment. Observe your surroundings, subjects and any activity. Let it become a part of you.

2. Be selective.

Find something that turns you or rather your creativity on. If this is colour then focus on the rich hues and shades. If it’s an object or subject observe it carefully in relation to it’s surroundings. Now close your eyes and picture the final image.

3. Change your position or viewpoint.

By looking at your subject from different angles, heights or positions the image will change as the subject changes in relation to its environment. All of a sudden you see things you never would have seen.

4. Try something different.

Shoot a traditional tourist shot of your subject and then look for a shot that is completely different, one you’ve never seen before. Make it unrecognisable. Hire a boat and shoot from the the water. Go to the top of a nearby building or if you’re adventurous climb a tree or lie down on your back.

Creativity is often just doing something different. Something that hasn’t been done before. The key element that I have found to creativity is time. So take your time and smell the roses. Your photography will never be the same again. Put photography, creative photography back into digital photography.

You can call it the digital disease of photography or perhaps the death of photography. The reality is that digital has caused a decline in the quality of photography. There are several reasons, one of them being the speed of digital and the resulting lack of thought before the shutter is released. Quick on the draw and not enough careful consideration.

This has been a hobby horse of mine for a few years and some have said get off and stop flogging a dead horse. They may be right and maybe a little wrong. But, there is a solution or rather a number of solutions. The one I want to consider is getting back to basics. In most vocations when skills diminish it’s time to get back to basics. This is where the problem lies in digital photography. The bottom line is that in order to learn digital photography you need to learn the basics of photography.

There are two things that need to be done then. Get back to the basics or if you haven’t learnt the basics, begin with them. Here is where the big question lies. How do we get back or begin with the basics. The operative word is learning. Learn photography or learn digital photography. Picking up a camera and shooting doesn’t make you a photographer. So what do we do? Acquire the skills. This is much easier said than done.

Our current generation is the most fortunate generation as we have the internet and the ability to read, read and read. Again easier said than done. What I would like to suggest is that acquire specific literature i.e. books on photography. The internet is full of them especially electronic downloadable editions. But lets go beyond this and back to the paper books. There are a number I’d consider to be fundamental to any aspiring photographer’s library. So here are a few suggestions:

1. The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby

Scott Kelby gives you the simple insider tips pros use. It’s easy to understand and very simple to apply resulting in great photographs.

2. Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition) by Bryan Peterson

Exposure and how to use aperture and shutter speed always confused me until I read Bryan Peterson’s book on exposure. A must have book in your library.

3. The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman

Michael has been around for donkey’s years and handles a subject that every digital photographer needs. Composition. By understanding composition your photographs will improve a hundredfold.

4. Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography (Updated Edition) by Bryan Peterson

For some of us seeing creatively is a natural ability while with others it’s something we need to learn or acquire. This is one of the best books I have read on creativity in photography.

5. Digital Photography Masterclass by Tom Ang

Tom Ang has been around a long time and with this book takes you further along you photographic journey. Great assignments throughout this book. He will take you to a new level.

6. Understanding Shutter Speed: Creative Action and Low-Light Photography Beyond 1/125 Second by Bryan Peterson

This book is linked with his other one on exposure and helps cement your understanding of how to use your shutter speed.

7. Understanding Digital Photography: Techniques for Getting Great Pictures by Bryan Peterson

Getting the shot is what it is all about. Bryan gets you thinking before your press the shutter button too quickly and succumb to the disease of digital. If there was a one man solution to this problem it’s Bryan Peterson.

These are just some of my favourite authors and photographers who have enhanced my photography dramatically. By going back to the principles of good photographic composition and learning photography and not just digital photography you’ll become a better a more rounded photographer. Don’t allow digital to take you backwards. Take the principles of great photography and apply them to digital. Remember, great photographers take great photos using any medium, digital or film. Keep learning and don’t stop making great images.

Do you want to learn more about photography in a digital world? I’ve just completed a brand new e-course delivered by e-mail. Download it here for free: CLICK HERE. You can also learn to take perfect photos in 21 steps by taking a look at my new ebook 21 Steps 2 Perfect Photos Wayne Turner has been teaching photography for 25 years and has written three books on photography.

Yes, digital photography is dead in the water IF ‘photography’ is taken out of digital photography. As Kodak’s brownie box camera and their Instamatic brought photography to the masses in the 20th century, so the digital camera has done the same in the 21st. But, once the ‘ability to take photos novelty’ wears off, the lack of skills will relegate the digital camera to the hobby drawer.

There is a principle in management science that says in business a person is promoted to the level of their own incompetence and no further. It’s called the ‘Peter Principle’ formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter in his book of the same name. After that they stagnate and can only move sideways. This is true for photography also. Once you reach your level of incompetence or maximum ability, there you sit. It’s at this point the interest wanes and your camera outings become more and more infrequent. In other words, another death of digital photography.

There will always be the hardliners in any field who will continue to practise to the level of their incompetence, but, the average Joe who was once excited by digital photography is no more. The enthusiast has lost his enthusiasm.

So what’s the answer to the problem? The focus, as in any hobby or pastime, is a continual learning process. In the business world we call it upskilling. Adding competency and qualifications to your existing tool bag will keep you moving up the ladder of promotion. It is the same with photography. Learning is imperative.

Most of us are at some stage dissatisfied with our photos. They don’t quite look like those in the glossy magazines and daily newspapers. What is it that they have that rest don’t? They’ve learnt the techniques and disciplines of photography and have applied them on a continual learning journey to great photos.

A hobby, as with any plant or animal, has to be nurtured if it is to show any signs of growth. Buying a digital camera with the sole purpose of just snapping away without the high costs of film, will on most occasions result in the death of digital photography. If your digital photography is going to flourish it will need three key ingredients:

1. Time

As with anything of value in life time is a key ingredient to its success. Unless you take the time to invest in any venture you will probably reap an equivalent reward. Garbage in garbage out. No pain no gain as the old adage goes.  There is no instant photography.

2. Passion

Unless you are enthusiastic about a hobby or pastime it is inevitable that it will gradually diminish with time and eventually fizzle out. I speak from experience. Developing your passion is essential to growth. Passion is the fuel that fires your hobby.

3. Ability

Some are born with natural ability but for most of us we have to work at it. Practise makes perfect. If you don’t have ability then acquire it in whatever way you legally can. Acquiring ability is a process and for many of us a journey of discovery. Something we have to work at.

Take any of these three points out of digital photography and its demise is well on the way. But, the key point is photography. Learning photography and acquiring creative photography skills will nurture digital photography and keep it alive.

Photography is not governed by the medium it uses, digital, film, pinhole or Polaroid. Photography stands alone and independent of the tools or media. As with beauty it’s in the eye of the beholder. It is not contained in a box, a camera or digital sensor. Its results can be seen on a computer, t-shirt or magazine.

Digital photography is the answer to photography because of its ease of use, methods of distribution and costs. But take photography out of digital and it will result in the death of digital photography.

Do you see a future for digital photography? Quite a radical question in the feeding frenzy of digital camera marketing. To me digital photography is the best thing that has ever happened to photography. But, what is its future? A difficult question to answer and possibly a loaded one.

Film photography was always known as just ’photography’, never film photography. It was the standard. With the emergence of digital photography this standard has been challenged. My question is, “will digital photography become the standard or will it remain the ugly sister of photography”?

I think that it will always remain the ‘poor cousin’ of film photography unless two things happen:

1. All digital cameras need to develop to the point that they are equivalent in quality to that of the most basic film camera. They must eradicate the digital vs film debate. There must be no difference between the two formats. The most expensive digital cameras are getting close to that standard but the point and shoot models cannot compete with their film counterparts. I think that with the pace of development, despite an economic crisis,  consumers are demanding that lower end cameras need to improve in quality. Although, true photography is all about the SLR and I think we are on the road to the quality needed to compete with film cameras.

2. There is a mindset change that quantity is better than quality. Thought that went into taking a photograph with film has all but disappeared. The speed with which digital images are taken degrades the results of good photography. This is evidenced by the quality of images submitted to competitions, placed on forums and displayed on blogs. If this mindset changes and we start putting more thought into photography it does bode well for digital as an art form.

How do we change this so that digital is synonymous with photography? I personally think that the key is education and learning. In the same way that digital photography has changed the face of photography digital has changed the face of publishing.

Great learning material is available in electronic form as free education or reasonably priced education. It is now cheap and easy to learn about photography and the techniques of improvement. It doesn’t take an expensive course or diploma to radically improve your images. It’s as simple as buying an ebook or an electronic course. Many have money back guarantees so the risk is minimal. Easy to find and easy to learn. The key is to learn photography and not just digital photography.

When film photography was born it was perceived as an art and much care was exercised in the execution. It was birthed in and developed with this mindset and, linked to the costs involved, remained mostly as an art form. Even the masses exercised care in its practise.

But, with digital photography it is very different. What it has done is make the art form cheaper, simpler and faster. Whenever you add these three factors to anything in life, it opens the door to loss off technique, lower quality and diminished value. This is seen by the billions of electronic images that remain on DVDs, hard drives and memory cards, unappreciated and valueless.

It’s in this world that the art of photography has to find its place and raise its head again from the chaos of digital. Digital is the best thing since sliced bread.  The only question that now needs to be answered is will it rise to the occasion and become the new art form or will it be the vehicle that is responsible for the loss of a great art form?

Do you want to learn more about photography in a digital world? I’ve just completed a brand new e-course delivered by e-mail. Download it here for free: CLICK HERE. You can also learn to take perfect photos in 21 steps by taking a look at my new ebook 21 Steps 2 Perfect Photos. Wayne Turner has been teaching photography for 25 years and has written three books on photography.