How did you learn?

[laurenivy]

Hi all, I just found this website last night, and am loving it already! Just wanted to know how you all learned to be better photographers. I have had my camera for about a year, I am pretty familiar with all the settings, experimented with different lenses, and have played around with photoshop elements/ shooting in raw format, etc. I'm sure my photos aren NOT that fantastic, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to get better. Did you take classes, find a mentor, read books, or did you just learn as you went a long? Any advice/ recommendations would be welcome!

 

[Kolander]

First as an assistant for a photographer Later, taking all the workshops I could, mostly in lighting.

 

[AsgerT]

I have been Reading a lot! And i have been an assistent As well. I use blogs were the photographers describe how they took their pictures and then i try it out my Self and experiment with the settings, composition, light and so on.

 

[Tee]

A little bit of everything. I posted some pics on here, all proud of myself, only to be served up a slice of humble pie. So I lurked and gathered useful information. At the same time, the store where I purchased my camera offered weekend classes on learning the camera but I found them generic and catering to the P&S crowd. I then found an old school mom and pop store that had more detailed classes and I took a beginners intro to the DSLR and then an outdoor portrait class. I was hooked shooting people after that. I wanted more. I found a meet-up group shoot that focused on photographers and models and the organizer let me come down and help in his studio during the week. I have reached out and networked with local pro's and use their studio for personal shoots and also volunteer to do whatever (sweep, paint, hold lights) just to be around and pick their brains. I should add that I consider myself an intermediate photographer - I know just enough to get me in trouble- but this was the way in which I began to learn more. I found workshops to be the most beneficial. For me, I need that one on one instructor/ student interaction and being able to see it. Books, videos and forum posts are a nice supplement.

 

[Big Mike]

I try to tap into any and all sources of knowledge. "The more you know......."

Ever hear of the 10,000 hour rule?

 

[Joey_Ricard]

Lauren,

A great book I alyways suggest for those interested in learning more about photography is a series of books by Bryan Peterson.
Once specifically is called "Understanding Exposure". Most bookstores carry this book and it is a really great investment into your new hobby.
Search Google, it's available almost everywhere.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I'm still learning. In college photog school now but also more importantly working on the 10,000 hour rule Mike noted above.

 

[mwcfarms]

Starting off reading and then applying that to my images, then coming here and asking for c&c. Then I started taking classes, and more classes, and more practice. Then I kept reading. Wash rinse repeat. My goal this year is to share more and push myself to take less pictures of people and more pictures of landmarks, places, things that dont seem very interesting but try to make them interesting. And to take as many classes on Photoshop and Lightroom as I can because my organization and workflow sucks.

 

[o hey tyler]

I just started guessing on day 1. Haven't really done any research or real world applications. Just blindly guessing 24/7.

 

[nmoody]

I will let you know when I am done learning =)

So far its been the basics with books such as the Kelby Digital Photography series, TPH, and taking lots and lots of pictures. Once you have the basics to work off of I can't express enough how important it is to just go take pictures and see what worked and what didn't.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Reading as much as possible. Also looking at as many different notable and unknown photographers work, past and present, and analyzing it.
You can read as much as you want, but you really won't "get it" until you start applying what you learn to others work, and understand why it works, why it doesn't, how theories are used, and how rules are broken, and why the broken rules work.

 

[pgriz]

Read a lot. Practice, practice, practice. Workshops, mentoring, tagging along as a second shooter... But the fastest learning (in a drinking-from-a-firehose-kind-of-way) was taking some hands-on sessions with a professional. Because they see what you are doing, and correct it immediately. Stuff you don't even know about (yet). It's real easy to get information overload. And if you're doing it with three or four others, followed up with a review/critique, and then followed up with a second pass and another review/critique - then it's nothing short of amazing.

 

[Derrel]

I learned the basics of exposure in one afternoon as a pre-teen boy, so I have never,ever understood the need for a book about "exposure" except Minor White's "The New Zone System Manual". I started off with a 1950's-made KOdak 35mm camera with adjustable lens and no light meter, and soon bought a General Electric light meter, then when that died, a Weston Master II meter. So, exposure, that's literally kid-stuff. Camera's today have built-in meters!!! I then started reading the Time-Life library of photography series of books, as well as The Amateur Photographer's Handbook. And then every single book on photography in my school library,and my town's library. At age 13, my sister got me a subscription to Modern Photography magazine,and I read that and Popular Photography regularly, then at 17 my boss gave me The Encyclopedia of Photography, as well as 10 years' worth of back issues of Pop,Modern, and The Rangefinder magazine.

I spent the ages of 10 to 18 interested in photography as a hobby, but when I got to college, I studied photography in the fields of science, journalism, and fine arts. it wasn't until I began studying fine art that my photography really began to improve,and I was able to see bad composition and poor framing and lousy photography and recognize how to avoid it. I learned a lot of practical and how-to and technical stuff from books and magazines, but the fine arts classes were what really helped me. I then studied the history of photography, as well as fine-art photography. Later, I was trained as a studio portrait photographer by two different people. Today, the web is my most frequent reading room, and the bad thing about it is I see a LOT of half-baked people doing video presentations and talking out of their asses. It's shocking to see the number of newbies who are presenting videos,and along with the videos, are presenting very weak or even erroneous technical "explanations", and making stupid suggestions. Without peer review, or the filter of editors, some of the stuff on YouTube is just flat-out BAD information.

 

[RBL]

Completely 100% self taught amateur photographer here (still not very good, still learning, still practising). Never had any classes, nobody ever taught me any photography related stuff. I read maybe 2-3 books about the basics ('Understanding exposure' by Bryan Peterson was one of them - recommended). Other than that, practice, practice, practice...

Oh and I moved the dial on my camera to 'M' on day 3 of the ownership of my first DSLR and never moved it anywhere else - best thing ever!

 

[Spoe]

Reading as much as possible. Also looking at as many different notable and unknown photographers work, past and present, and analyzing it.
You can read as much as you want, but you really won't "get it" until you start applying what you learn to others work, and understand why it works, why it doesn't, how theories are used, and how rules are broken, and why the broken rules work.

Very well said.