Learning - What works for you?

[lalloyd1]

What do you fellow beginners think is the most effective way to learn when it comes to getting the most out of your camera and starting to take good photos? I realise this question is very subjective but I'd like to know how others are getting on out of curiosity. Have you jumped in at the deep end and gone straight to manual? Have you spent hours on aperture priority and then spent hours on shutter priority? Do you practice every day?

Please let me know how you've been learning, what's helped you, and what you wouldn't recommend. Thanks!

Lewis

 

[pgriz]

Iteration.

Read the manual.
Apply what you learned.
Analyse what you've achieved.
Figure out what worked, and what didn't and why.
Repeat.

At a certain point, replace "manual" with any other source of information that you are able to use.

The point is that reading the manual completely at the beginning doesn't do much good since you don't know what much of the information means, or how it can be used. But picking up the basics, then trying them out generally works as you start creating a mental structure of what belongs with what, and how the different things work together or affect each other. It's also good, once you've accumulated enough mental brick-a-brack, to retest your assumptions and tidy up the structure and clean out the irrelevant bits.

However, building up a solid foundation, and practicing it often, is important whether you're a musician, or a photographer, or an artist, or a craftsman.

 

[480sparky]

Go forth and actuate.

 

[soufiej]

What do you fellow beginners think is the most effective way to learn when it comes to getting the most out of your camera and starting to take good photos? I realise this question is very subjective but I'd like to know how others are getting on out of curiosity. Have you jumped in at the deep end and gone straight to manual? Have you spent hours on aperture priority and then spent hours on shutter priority? Do you practice every day?

Please let me know how you've been learning, what's helped you, and what you wouldn't recommend. Thanks!

Lewis

You have several resources available, some better than others. First, the owner's manual which came with your camera does not instruct you in the why of a setting, only how to turn the setting on or off or somehow alter a setting. For specific examples of how a function alters your final result you need more information - and the realization that photography has many rules which operate on a sliding scale of if this, then that. My personal favorite for this sort of camera-to-result education would be the Magic Lantern Guides for a specific camera. I've placed a link to the series in this section of the forum. Other excellent guides are available in book form or on line. Use them.

IMO educating yourself in the skills required to have good technical results is, of course, only a small portion of the education required. Many personal skills and talents come into play such as having that good eye you have heard discussed so much. Certainly the greatest skill you can possess or acquire would be the patience of the thinking process which occurs before and after the actual shutter click. Studying the results of your own and other photographers surely must be included in this process.

Burn bits. You have a digital camera, no? You can take 1k shots and thrown them all away without costing you a cent. Using your gear to become familiar with your gear is essential. If you only pull out your camera for special occasions, you'll never remember how to get the set up right. Take a lot of photos but, when you are in your learning mode, try to select one subject at any one time and change only one thing at any time. Just as if you were selecting which setting at the optometrist's office gave you the clearest vision - A or B - you should confine your changes to only one value at one time; either/or. Having a choice of A, B and C gets very confusing and results in less learning in more time.

Become good at the basics before you try the more difficult.

I tend to suggest you begin using your camera as a teaching tool. Use the automatic settings on your camera at first and look at the results along with the image profile; f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, etc. Take notes, lots of notes. Pay attention to what the camera detects as a correct setting and determine what you might change in a manual setting. Eventually, you'll want to try those manual settings and change, for example, just aperture (Av priority) for this shot and then again for the next shot by "bracketing" what the camera does automatically; one higher and one lower. (Keep in mind when you change aperture the camera will want to also change shutter speed and possibly ISO.) Then spend time examining your results compared to the camera's results. SD cards and back up hard drives are pretty cheap so fill them up with your saved shots. Shoot in RAW (or RAW + jpeg) format which will enable greater control over your final results. In six month's time, shooting consistently, you should see noticeable improvements in your results. Always look backwards to see where you are headed in the future. Determine what sort of photography interests you and work on, say, your candid shots before you begin your stop action sports shots. Your landscape shots before your low light/nighttime/urban shots and so forth.

 

[Vtec44]

Know your gear.
Understand what makes a good/bad image.
There are no rules only guidelines.
Have a bit of fun.

 

[SquarePeg]

Trial and error has been my way of learning. Sparky's advice is dead on. Just shoot. Then see what you like or don't about the results and use that knowledge the next time.

 

[lalloyd1]

Thanks for your advice everyone. Much appreciated.

 

[Kwenami]

My preferred way of learning it to absorb a ton of knowledge, look for inspiration, then experiment. After you get to go back and see what you liked/didn't like, what worked or not. Then, focus on that aspect for a while until you're happy with your consistency. Repeat, with something else you didn't like

 

[robbins.photo]

What do you fellow beginners think is the most effective way to learn when it comes to getting the most out of your camera and starting to take good photos? I realise this question is very subjective but I'd like to know how others are getting on out of curiosity. Have you jumped in at the deep end and gone straight to manual? Have you spent hours on aperture priority and then spent hours on shutter priority? Do you practice every day?

Please let me know how you've been learning, what's helped you, and what you wouldn't recommend. Thanks!

Lewis

Well I'd recommend you look into the "exposure triangle" and experiment - see for yourself what effect changing ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed has on your final images. I'd also recommend some reading on composition and the rule of thirds, and again experiment.

 

[snowbear]

Learn something about composition (rule of thirds, triangles, frames, leading lines, repetition).
Learn the basics of exposure (aperture, shutter speed and ISO).
Read the camera's manual so you know what the buttons do.
Practice - a lot.
When you are comfortable with your results, post one or two and ask for critique. Don't take any of it personal, take what you are told, then practice some more.

 

[tirediron]

Baseball upside my head.

 

[chuasam]

first and foremost...learn to see
always carry your camera with you (when practical)
when first learning, shoot Program or Auto. When you realise that the camera isn't doing what you want it to do, learn the Manual modes and understand exposure and aperture.

There are tons of Photographers on this Forum who can recite all the technical skills and shooting manual modes...but their photos are horribly boring and torturous to look at. Why? Because they have no vision...no sense of taste.

Learn to See.

 

[pgriz]

Baseball upside my head.

John, is that more or less effective than banging your head against the wall? Is there an optimum velocity at which the best learning experience is obtained?

 

[snowbear]

Bribes are good, too.

 

[tirediron]

Baseball upside my head.

John, is that more or less effective than banging your head against the wall? Is there an optimum velocity at which the best learning experience is obtained?

Not that I've noticed; it's mostly just ensuring that you do it for a long-enough period.