Help me learn new techniques?

[Skiermike]

Hi everyone –

In full disclosure, I’m not much of a photographer. Okay, I’m really not a photographer at all! I am, however, going to be quitting my job and spending the summer and fall backpacking around North America. I’ve always liked documenting these types of trips and love nature photography, so I wanted to ping you all to see if you can help me expand my “toolkit,” so to speak, so I can take more interesting/artistic photos on this trip.


Can you help me with some ideas of simple techniques I should know? I’m working with a Nikon D7100 and Nikon 1 J4 and am thinking about simple things like night/low light/long exposure shots, macro shots, time lapse(?), or whatever. The problem is, I don’t know what I don’t know – i.e. I don’t even know what kind of interesting stuff I should learn!


If you can think of some more interesting techniques that I should learn that will work with my cameras, I really appreciate it. If you have links to how-tos, that would be even better!


Thanks in advance…

 

[Andreas Timm Photography]

Hi everyone –

In full disclosure, I’m not much of a photographer. Okay, I’m really not a photographer at all! I am, however, going to be quitting my job and spending the summer and fall backpacking around North America. I’ve always liked documenting these types of trips and love nature photography, so I wanted to ping you all to see if you can help me expand my “toolkit,” so to speak, so I can take more interesting/artistic photos on this trip.


Can you help me with some ideas of simple techniques I should know? I’m working with a Nikon D7100 and Nikon 1 J4 and am thinking about simple things like night/low light/long exposure shots, macro shots, time lapse(?), or whatever. The problem is, I don’t know what I don’t know – i.e. I don’t even know what kind of interesting stuff I should learn!


If you can think of some more interesting techniques that I should learn that will work with my cameras, I really appreciate it. If you have links to how-tos, that would be even better!


Thanks in advance…

Hi Skiermike,

Obviously difficult to give you a full training, but let me give you my top 3 tips:

1. Focus on your subject
- Get close to what you want to photograph. If you think you are close - get closer! Get rid of unneeded elements!

2. Use rule of 3rds
- Make sure you NOT put horizon in the middle - put it in upper 3rd or lower 3rd of the frame
- place people, subjects NOT in the middle - place it outside of the middle: A bit right or a bit left

3. Make photos form unusual viewpoints
- we are all used to see the world form normal viewing hight - i.e. when we walk or stand
- try to make many photos NOT from this hight: Go down, go up, try "extreme angles"

The above is super simple, but I am convinced that just following these "3 rules" will allow you to make better travel photos than 90% of the picture-taking-travelers.

By the way: Tip 4 would be: Break the above 3 rules. But that is a different story! ;-)

 

[The_Traveler]

Before you start doing 'techniques', learn to do simple straight well-exposed, well framed pictures.

 

[weepete]

Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone System - Tuts+ Photo & Video Tutorial

 

[soufiej]

I agree with The Traveler, you need to become competent with the basics - capturing good images in daylight and learning to be critical of your own work - before you try anything else. Doing just this will get you started with your specific cameras which you'll need to know very well if you want to eventually shoot an image you see rather than try to remember how to take a photo before the moment is gone. Make it a point to shoot at least several times a week for about 30 minutes, more often is better, and work on getting to know those cameras very well. Even if you simply take a banana and shoot images in your kitchen, you can learn your camera and that's what will be very important on this trip. (Pets are not great subjects for this since they have a tendency to move around.) There's another thread running right now which has some good tips and is based on a beginner's need to learn.

Learning - What works for you? | Photography Forum

Buy a tripod/monopod. Nothing - nothing! - makes a less experienced photographer's photos look better than a solid support for your camera. Hikers and walkers tend to like monopods because they are lightweight, they can be used as a walking stick and they offer decent support for most situations. Though there are lightweight tripods they are a bit more useful for the city traveller. A tripod can be weighted for further stability on uneven ground or in strong winds. Of course, you'll have to carry a weight. When using a tripod, turn off the image stabilization in your camera or lens. A tripod and IS together can lead to out of focus shots and can prematurely wear on the camera/lens.

Take a class. Camera shops offer them for little cost and community colleges have courses. Your local camera shop is probably the better deal since many college level courses will typically have everyone working with the same camera and that may be a film camera. Taking pleasing, well framed photos is the same between film and digital, virtually nothing else is. Shop's can usually teach more about your specific camera.

Put the model number of your cameras into a search engine and add "tips and tutorials". You should get several useful sites to read, see and participate in. There are also "cheat sheets" for the most popular cameras which condense the owners manual down to one easy to carry version.