What I've Learned In My First Month of Photography

[fjrabon]

So, it was exactly one month ago that I opened my front door to find my Nikon D3100 with the kit lens and a 55-200mm telephoto. My grandfather was a professional photographer, so I sort of, kind of "knew of" photography and I had seen a lot of pictures over the years and studied them pretty closely, but I knew absolutely nothing of the technical aspects of photography and nothing of the artistic aspects other than just knowing what I liked (though very rarely was I exactly sure why I liked it).

Personally, both my job slowed down and me and my girlfriend broke up, so I found myself with a lot of free time, since I don't watch TV or play video games. Photography filled this void quite nicely. I could have very easily let the oncoming winter and personal circumstances create a very dark time for me, but I've found I've been very happy overall. Photography has helped me find out a bit about who I am, and see a little more closely and carefully the world I live in.

I challenged myself to take at least one picture I was at least somewhat happy with every single day. A picture that I'd be fine telling other people that I liked, without making too many qualifications. While at times this meant dragging myself off to take a picture when I didn't actually really want to, after doing it, I never regretted doing so. One thing this taught me was to always look for the beauty and interest in what's around me. There's almost always something pretty neat going on somewhere around you, you just have to find it.

Photography had this weird, seemingly contradictory effect on me where it seemed as if it both helped bring my life into focus, while also being able to help take my mind off things and just relax and enjoy the fact that I'm alive.

Some of this will be technical things I've 'learned' that I found really useful, that might help other beginners. Some of it will be 'arty', stuff about composition, finding subjects, etc. Some of it will be quasi philosophical. I'm by no means a great photographer, or even very good, but I do feel like I've improved a lot, in the sense that I'm just getting happier and happier with the hobby and the results I get.

1) Start with aperture. I mean this in multiple ways: In pretty much every single book you ever read, they start you off with aperture, ISO and shutter speed. Which absolutely must be learned. But in most of the books I read, they seem to give these equal weight. Which, I think hurts the beginner in two ways, first it's too much for them to grasp all at once. The beginner needs, or at least I needed, one prong to attack first here. Secondly, aperture, for most shots, is more important than the other two. With today's cameras, you can shoot with a decent range of ISOs, depending on what's in your shot, and not be able to have much noise. In the old days, you wanted to shoot with the absolute lowest ISO you could get a decent exposure from. Today, you just need to roughly match your ISO to your shooting environment, most of the time. For a very few types of shots, do you care about shutter speed as anything other than what is required to get a proper exposure. Early on, you can let the camera take care of setting shutter speed for you, while you learn aperture. Aperture is how you can control your depth of field (along with moving your feet, subject and background), which is one of the first things that separate snapshooters from people who make photographs. For the novice, it is much more important to quickly understand how aperture works, what changing it does and how to manipulate it to get the shot you want than ISO or shutter speed.

2) Start with aperture. Not repeating myself here, as in this instance I'm talking about individual pictures, not learning photography. What I mean with this point is after you've decided on roughly what your picture is going to be, always consider what aperture you want to shoot it at. Early on, try a lot of different apertures to see what works, to train your photographer's eye what aperture will achieve the effect you want with the shot. It took about two weeks before I really got in the habit of always thinking "what aperture do I want to shoot this at?" It was probably one of the biggest difference makers in helping me shoot more contemplative shots.

3) If you can shoot on a tripod, shoot on a tripod. Of course there are many circumstances where you can't really use a tripod. Most street photography, dogs playing, shots of kids playing, etc. Don't be afraid to take a picture without a tripod. But if it's possible to get the shot you want with a tripod, get your tripod out and use it. Get a good one, it'll outlast your camera. I personally really like ball heads with gun trigger releases, and a quick mount plate, because they allow you to work more efficiently and quickly get your camera off if something happens that you want to capture handshot. Use a shutter release trigger, as it kind of defeats the purpose to stabilize your camera with a tripod and then make it shake by pressing teh shutter button. First, this will allow you more control over your shutter speed and aperture, without having to jack the ISO. On a tripod, you don't really have to consider if you can take the shot without too much camera shake. Thus, you have more control. Second, It allows and/or forces you to think about your vantage point, frame, angles, height, etc. Your compositions become a lot more considered. If you have a level built in, it will also keep you from having to crop a lot of your crooked pictures. Nothing is more frustrating than handshooting a great picture, it looks awesome in the LCD, you felt you didn't need to tripod it, then getting home and when blown up on a 27" screen, you realize the details are blurry.

4) Always do a quick check of the whole image. I think it's often easy to just focus on the subject, and then forget to think about the background and foreground. Great, complimentary backgrounds and foregrounds are often what make the difference between a snapshot and a real photograph. There should never be anything in your image that is only there 'because you didn't notice it'. At times there may be things you didn't want in the image, but you couldn't do much about them. But it shouldn't be because they weren't taken into account because they weren't noticed.

5) Learn one lens really well first, preferably a prime, preferably a 35mm (crop frame camera) or a 50mm (full frame camera). I actually think the Nikon 18-55mm VR lens that comes with most of their consumer grade DSLRs is very good actually. It's versatile, take sharp images, and is very good handheld. However, for a beginner, I think the 35mm f1.8 prime that Nikon puts out is better to start with for a few reasons. First, for a beginner, composing wide angle shots is probably too hard. A 35mm on a crop sensor (what most entry and mid level DSLRs use) is roughly what the human eye sees. This means you can look at a scene with your eyes and compose it first in your head, then use the veiwfinder to fine tune. Also, since it can go all the way down to f/1.8, it really helps you learn aperture. You can learn the ins and outs of how aperture affects a shot, like we talked about in points 1&2. If you complicate this by having a zoom lens, early on, the learning curve is a lot steeper, IMHO. The ability to have a very wide aperture (low f stop number) also means you can take more pictures in lower light, without extreme motion blur. Finally, the images are sharper (though I don't think for most beginners they'll be appreciably sharper). It's fine to use other lenses during the beginner phase, there may be times when you absolutely need a telephoto to take a shot you want, but I think you gain a lot by really learning the ins and outs of a 35mm prime first. It's also a very convenient, light lens that is unobtrusive in tight environments. Learning one lens also allows you to quickly home in on what that lenses 'money apertures' are. Lenses usually have certain sweet spots where things are extra sharp and vivid.

6) Learn how to be simultaneously happy with, but critical of your work. In every photo I take, I try to find one aspect that I'm really happy with, and one aspect I'd try to improve. I think that the first helps me learn what I like and what works and keeps my from getting burnt out. The second helps me learn how to improve, or at the very least what needs improvement. Also, try this with the work of others, even professionals. In every photograph you see, try to find at least one thing you like and one you think could be better. Nothing is perfect and nothing is completely devoid of any merit either.

7) Post processing and taking pictures work together and reinforce one another. Early on, I tended to encounter two types of personalities when it came to photoshop: those that considered it cheating and refused to use it at all, and those who thought anything could be fixed in photoshop. I think both extremes are misguided. The former is especially dangerous though, because it does seem to have a sort of naturalist sounding appeal 'don't taint your images in photoshop!' sounds purist, possibly in a good way. But, pretty much every pro image you've ever seen and liked has been fussed with in a post processing program. Secondly, I've probably learned as much about what makes a good photograph by playing around in photoshop as I have taking actual pictures. Cropping an image until I'm satisfied helps teach me how to compose it in the first place. Photoshopping out distracting elements helps teach me what should be out of the shot in the first place. Messing with the contrast, highlights and brightness teaches me how to properly expose it and use exposure compensation to begin with. In the end, all I care about is the final image. If it got there with an average picture in the camera and a lot of photoshop, well it got there. If it got there with a great picture and just at a tiny amount of photoshop, well, it was nice to not have to do as much work. But in the end the quality of the image is what matters, though obviously your best bet is to start with a great photo and then really make it pop with photoshop.

8) Find subjects that you like, others be damned. It seems obvious, but we're kind of awful, for the most part, on making pictures that we think other people will like. Make pictures for yourself, and if other people like them, well, that's cool. You'll be a lot happier if you are shooting things you like. Caveat here, I have no desire to do weddings or paid portraits. You probably need to care about what your clients want in those instances.

9) Don't beat other people over the head with your pictures. If they want to see them, by all means, showcase your work. But they usually don't give a crap. You'll take it as them not liking your work, but it will usually just be because they aren't that into photography to begin with, and would rather be watching cat videos on the internet.

10) Listen to criticism, but you're the final judge. C&C is great, but if you listen to everything people say, you'll create boring images. If you like a picture, you like it. C&C can help you figure out what didn't work in pictures you didn't like. BUt if you love a certain aspect of a picture and somebody says "that same aspect is stupid" well, politely thank them for their consideration, but forget it. If you can't figure out what's off about a given picture, then take it to heart. At the same time, don't get defensive about your pictures. Never try to refute another person's criticisms, they are trying to help you. If you like it, don't worry about it, there's no need to defend the picture, it doesn't have feelings. You may explain aspects about the picture, for clarification's sake, to get better C&C, but don't feel like C&C is a battle ground.

There's a lot more, obviously, however, these were things that I think really helped me a lot to realize, that I don't see talked about as much. I didn't mention "learn your camera" and the like because every beginner advice post says that. It's extremely valuable advice, obviously, but you can get that from other advice threads or books.

 

[MReid]

Nice write up. Some good points.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Carolina Gamecocks

 

[blackrose89]

This was very encouraging to read. As someone who just started as well I was feeling a bit discouraged. Mainly because I seem to like a style this is frowned upon in the photography world. See, I've been drawing for a very very long time. I'm pretty good at it. So my perspective on what makes an interesting photo is apparently very different. I can look at a picture of a coffee mug in a cafe setting with nice depth of field, sharpness and exposure and that's great for me because in drawing when looking at photos for inspiration or to draw, you're not looking for any depth of a story, you create the story surrounding your subject. I like the more simple still life photos.

It's also very very hard for me being a beginner again. I've been drawing for about 10 years and I have been really good for a while so it's a bit hard to be sqaure one at something lol..

 

[fjrabon]

This was very encouraging to read. As someone who just started as well I was feeling a bit discouraged. Mainly because I seem to like a style this is frowned upon in the photography world. See, I've been drawing for a very very long time. I'm pretty good at it. So my perspective on what makes an interesting photo is apparently very different. I can look at a picture of a coffee mug in a cafe setting with nice depth of field, sharpness and exposure and that's great for me because in drawing when looking at photos for inspiration or to draw, you're not looking for any depth of a story, you create the story surrounding your subject. I like the more simple still life photos.

It's also very very hard for me being a beginner again. I've been drawing for about 10 years and I have been really good for a while so it's a bit hard to be sqaure one at something lol..

Yes, it's a fine balance. If the very thing you like about a photo is something someone else is complaining about, and you have no real desire to do commercialized work, then forget that. If you are partially unsatisfied with a photograph, or think it could be better, then listen and see how others think it could be improved. But I'd say 50% of the advice given on here, if followed, would make everybody's pictures look like the same workman type photography. That's not to disparage workman like photography, where everything follows the rule of thirds, everything is exposed the same exact way, everything has a clear subject, etc. It clearly works, and clearly has its advantages and strengths. Things don't become cliche because they suck, things become cliche and overused because they work. But if it's not what you want to shoot, figure out what you want to shoot. There are lots of people who take great workman like photos, there aren't a lot of really fresh ideas. If the very style you like is frowned upon, don't worry about it. This place (and C&C in general) is great for figuring out how to do and fix certain specific, mostly technical things. But it's not so great at helping people find their own creative voice.

 

[MTVision]

But I'd say 50% of the advice given on here, if followed, would make everybody's pictures look like the same workman type photography. That's not to disparage workman like photography, where everything follows the rule of thirds, everything is exposed the same exact way, everything has a clear subject, etc. It clearly works, and clearly has its advantages and strengths. Things don't become cliche because they suck, things become cliche and overused because they work. But if it's not what you want to shoot, figure out what you want to shoot. There are lots of people who take great workman like photos, there aren't a lot of really fresh ideas. If the very style you like is frowned upon, don't worry about it. This place (and C&C in general) is great for figuring out how to do and fix certain specific, mostly technical things. But it's not so great at helping people find their own creative voice.

Not everything has to be perfectly exposed or follow all the compositional rules but you kind of have to know the rules and know how to do everything properly before you can break them. Most of the CC given here is for beginners who have only been doing this a little while - thats why it's usually about ROT, composition and subject. You usually have to have the basics down before you can find your own creative voice. I wouldn't say ROT and/or proper exposure is cliche. ROT is based on what is visually pleasing to the viewer. Selective coloring would be something that's cliched.

 

[MTVision]

So, it was exactly one month ago that I opened my front door to find my Nikon D3100 with the kit lens and a 55-200mm telephoto. My grandfather was a professional photographer, so I sort of, kind of "knew of" photography and I had seen a lot of pictures over the years and studied them pretty closely, but I knew absolutely nothing of the technical aspects of photography and nothing of the artistic aspects other than just knowing what I liked (though very rarely was I exactly sure why I liked it).

Personally, both my job slowed down and me and my girlfriend broke up, so I found myself with a lot of free time, since I don't watch TV or play video games. Photography filled this void quite nicely. I could have very easily let the oncoming winter and personal circumstances create a very dark time for me, but I've found I've been very happy overall. Photography has helped me find out a bit about who I am, and see a little more closely and carefully the world I live in.

I challenged myself to take at least one picture I was at least somewhat happy with every single day. A picture that I'd be fine telling other people that I liked, without making too many qualifications. While at times this meant dragging myself off to take a picture when I didn't actually really want to, after doing it, I never regretted doing so. One thing this taught me was to always look for the beauty and interest in what's around me. There's almost always something pretty neat going on somewhere around you, you just have to find it.

Photography had this weird, seemingly contradictory effect on me where it seemed as if it both helped bring my life into focus, while also being able to help take my mind off things and just relax and enjoy the fact that I'm alive.

Some of this will be technical things I've 'learned' that I found really useful, that might help other beginners. Some of it will be 'arty', stuff about composition, finding subjects, etc. Some of it will be quasi philosophical. I'm by no means a great photographer, or even very good, but I do feel like I've improved a lot, in the sense that I'm just getting happier and happier with the hobby and the results I get.

1) Start with aperture. I mean this in multiple ways: In pretty much every single book you ever read, they start you off with aperture, ISO and shutter speed. Which absolutely must be learned. But in most of the books I read, they seem to give these equal weight. Which, I think hurts the beginner in two ways, first it's too much for them to grasp all at once. The beginner needs, or at least I needed, one prong to attack first here. Secondly, aperture, for most shots, is more important than the other two. With today's cameras, you can shoot with a decent range of ISOs, depending on what's in your shot, and not be able to have much noise. In the old days, you wanted to shoot with the absolute lowest ISO you could get a decent exposure from. Today, you just need to roughly match your ISO to your shooting environment, most of the time. For a very few types of shots, do you care about shutter speed as anything other than what is required to get a proper exposure. Early on, you can let the camera take care of setting shutter speed for you, while you learn aperture. Aperture is how you can control your depth of field (along with moving your feet, subject and background), which is one of the first things that separate snapshooters from people who make photographs. For the novice, it is much more important to quickly understand how aperture works, what changing it does and how to manipulate it to get the shot you want than ISO or shutter speed.

2) Start with aperture. Not repeating myself here, as in this instance I'm talking about individual pictures, not learning photography. What I mean with this point is after you've decided on roughly what your picture is going to be, always consider what aperture you want to shoot it at. Early on, try a lot of different apertures to see what works, to train your photographer's eye what aperture will achieve the effect you want with the shot. It took about two weeks before I really got in the habit of always thinking "what aperture do I want to shoot this at?" It was probably one of the biggest difference makers in helping me shoot more contemplative shots.

3) If you can shoot on a tripod, shoot on a tripod. Of course there are many circumstances where you can't really use a tripod. Most street photography, dogs playing, shots of kids playing, etc. Don't be afraid to take a picture without a tripod. But if it's possible to get the shot you want with a tripod, get your tripod out and use it. Get a good one, it'll outlast your camera. I personally really like ball heads with gun trigger releases, and a quick mount plate, because they allow you to work more efficiently and quickly get your camera off if something happens that you want to capture handshot. Use a shutter release trigger, as it kind of defeats the purpose to stabilize your camera with a tripod and then make it shake by pressing teh shutter button. First, this will allow you more control over your shutter speed and aperture, without having to jack the ISO. On a tripod, you don't really have to consider if you can take the shot without too much camera shake. Thus, you have more control. Second, It allows and/or forces you to think about your vantage point, frame, angles, height, etc. Your compositions become a lot more considered. If you have a level built in, it will also keep you from having to crop a lot of your crooked pictures. Nothing is more frustrating than handshooting a great picture, it looks awesome in the LCD, you felt you didn't need to tripod it, then getting home and when blown up on a 27" screen, you realize the details are blurry.

4) Always do a quick check of the whole image. I think it's often easy to just focus on the subject, and then forget to think about the background and foreground. Great, complimentary backgrounds and foregrounds are often what make the difference between a snapshot and a real photograph. There should never be anything in your image that is only there 'because you didn't notice it'. At times there may be things you didn't want in the image, but you couldn't do much about them. But it shouldn't be because they weren't taken into account because they weren't noticed.

5) Learn one lens really well first, preferably a prime, preferably a 35mm (crop frame camera) or a 50mm (full frame camera). I actually think the Nikon 18-55mm VR lens that comes with most of their consumer grade DSLRs is very good actually. It's versatile, take sharp images, and is very good handheld. However, for a beginner, I think the 35mm f1.8 prime that Nikon puts out is better to start with for a few reasons. First, for a beginner, composing wide angle shots is probably too hard. A 35mm on a crop sensor (what most entry and mid level DSLRs use) is roughly what the human eye sees. This means you can look at a scene with your eyes and compose it first in your head, then use the veiwfinder to fine tune. Also, since it can go all the way down to f/1.8, it really helps you learn aperture. You can learn the ins and outs of how aperture affects a shot, like we talked about in points 1&2. If you complicate this by having a zoom lens, early on, the learning curve is a lot steeper, IMHO. The ability to have a very wide aperture (low f stop number) also means you can take more pictures in lower light, without extreme motion blur. Finally, the images are sharper (though I don't think for most beginners they'll be appreciably sharper). It's fine to use other lenses during the beginner phase, there may be times when you absolutely need a telephoto to take a shot you want, but I think you gain a lot by really learning the ins and outs of a 35mm prime first. It's also a very convenient, light lens that is unobtrusive in tight environments. Learning one lens also allows you to quickly home in on what that lenses 'money apertures' are. Lenses usually have certain sweet spots where things are extra sharp and vivid.

6) Learn how to be simultaneously happy with, but critical of your work. In every photo I take, I try to find one aspect that I'm really happy with, and one aspect I'd try to improve. I think that the first helps me learn what I like and what works and keeps my from getting burnt out. The second helps me learn how to improve, or at the very least what needs improvement. Also, try this with the work of others, even professionals. In every photograph you see, try to find at least one thing you like and one you think could be better. Nothing is perfect and nothing is completely devoid of any merit either.

7) Post processing and taking pictures work together and reinforce one another. Early on, I tended to encounter two types of personalities when it came to photoshop: those that considered it cheating and refused to use it at all, and those who thought anything could be fixed in photoshop. I think both extremes are misguided. The former is especially dangerous though, because it does seem to have a sort of naturalist sounding appeal 'don't taint your images in photoshop!' sounds purist, possibly in a good way. But, pretty much every pro image you've ever seen and liked has been fussed with in a post processing program. Secondly, I've probably learned as much about what makes a good photograph by playing around in photoshop as I have taking actual pictures. Cropping an image until I'm satisfied helps teach me how to compose it in the first place. Photoshopping out distracting elements helps teach me what should be out of the shot in the first place. Messing with the contrast, highlights and brightness teaches me how to properly expose it and use exposure compensation to begin with. In the end, all I care about is the final image. If it got there with an average picture in the camera and a lot of photoshop, well it got there. If it got there with a great picture and just at a tiny amount of photoshop, well, it was nice to not have to do as much work. But in the end the quality of the image is what matters, though obviously your best bet is to start with a great photo and then really make it pop with photoshop.

8) Find subjects that you like, others be damned. It seems obvious, but we're kind of awful, for the most part, on making pictures that we think other people will like. Make pictures for yourself, and if other people like them, well, that's cool. You'll be a lot happier if you are shooting things you like. Caveat here, I have no desire to do weddings or paid portraits. You probably need to care about what your clients want in those instances.

9) Don't beat other people over the head with your pictures. If they want to see them, by all means, showcase your work. But they usually don't give a crap. You'll take it as them not liking your work, but it will usually just be because they aren't that into photography to begin with, and would rather be watching cat videos on the internet.

10) Listen to criticism, but you're the final judge. C&C is great, but if you listen to everything people say, you'll create boring images. If you like a picture, you like it. C&C can help you figure out what didn't work in pictures you didn't like. BUt if you love a certain aspect of a picture and somebody says "that same aspect is stupid" well, politely thank them for their consideration, but forget it. If you can't figure out what's off about a given picture, then take it to heart. At the same time, don't get defensive about your pictures. Never try to refute another person's criticisms, they are trying to help you. If you like it, don't worry about it, there's no need to defend the picture, it doesn't have feelings. You may explain aspects about the picture, for clarification's sake, to get better C&C, but don't feel like C&C is a battle ground.

There's a lot more, obviously, however, these were things that I think really helped me a lot to realize, that I don't see talked about as much. I didn't mention "learn your camera" and the like because every beginner advice post says that. It's extremely valuable advice, obviously, but you can get that from other advice threads or books.

I can't believe you wrote all that! i'm sure it will help a lot of people just starting out!

Nice post!

 

[fjrabon]

Not everything has to be perfectly exposed or follow all the compositional rules but you kind of have to know the rules and know how to do everything properly before you can break them. Most of the CC given here is for beginners who have only been doing this a little while - thats why it's usually about ROT, composition and subject. You usually have to have the basics down before you can find your own creative voice. I wouldn't say ROT and/or proper exposure is cliche. ROT is based on what is visually pleasing to the viewer. Selective coloring would be something that's cliched.

No, I know ROT works. The point I was trying to make is the respondant said that she seems to get criticism along the lines of people just saying they don't like the things she likes. If the very thing she likes about a photograph is the very thing others are saying isn't good, well, she has to follow what she thinks looks right. Like I said, you should definitely know the basic guidelines and all that. But at the same time, you have to follow your eye first and foremost. I was also saying that I've seen some stunning photos on here that somebody just jumped in and said "rule of thirds, follow it". It's obviously a quite difficult balance to find between keeping your vision for what you like and improving your photography. Sometimes I feel like Cartier-Bresson could come on here and people would say things along the lines of "you missed the focus, your background is too busy, study the rule of thirds, you'll get better little guy!" Figuring out what you like and don't like, and how to improve the stuff you don't like while keeping what you do like is the key, and it's obviously very difficult. I was just trying to say, "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater", more or less.

 

[fjrabon]

I can't believe you wrote all that! i'm sure it will help a lot of people just starting out!

Nice post!

Thanks! Learning to type at 120+ for law school has it's advantages, haha. Too bad I didn't do anything with the actual law degree.

 

[MTVision]

No, I know ROT works. The point I was trying to make is the respondant said that she seems to get criticism along the lines of people just saying they don't like the things she likes. If the very thing she likes about a photograph is the very thing others are saying isn't good, well, she has to follow what she thinks looks right. Like I said, you should definitely know the basic guidelines and all that. But at the same time, you have to follow your eye first and foremost. I was also saying that I've seen some stunning photos on here that somebody just jumped in and said "rule of thirds, follow it". It's obviously a quite difficult balance to find between keeping your vision for what you like and improving your photography. Sometimes I feel like Cartier-Bresson could come on here and people would say things along the lines of "you missed the focus, your background is too busy, study the rule of thirds, you'll get better little guy!" Figuring out what you like and don't like, and how to improve the stuff you don't like while keeping what you do like is the key, and it's obviously very difficult. I was just trying to say, "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater", more or less.

No - I do agree with you. CC doesn't seem to be too much about creativity (or at least what i've seen) just the basics. But, then again we have a bunch of beginners, like us, critiquing a bunch of beginners.

That's a pretty fast typing speed. I can type fast on a computer. I type/text pretty fast on my iPhone but it autocorrects so I usually have to go back and fix it.

I once texted someone saying "what a C U Next Thursday" (your smart so you'll figure it) out it autocorrected it and the message I actually sent was "what a Cynthia!"

 

[casegrl]

So, it was exactly one month ago that I opened my front door to find my Nikon D3100 with the kit lens and a 55-200mm telephoto. My grandfather was a professional photographer, so I sort of, kind of "knew of" photography and I had seen a lot of pictures over the years and studied them pretty closely, but I knew absolutely nothing of the technical aspects of photography and nothing of the artistic aspects other than just knowing what I liked (though very rarely was I exactly sure why I liked it).

Personally, both my job slowed down and me and my girlfriend broke up, so I found myself with a lot of free time, since I don't watch TV or play video games. Photography filled this void quite nicely. I could have very easily let the oncoming winter and personal circumstances create a very dark time for me, but I've found I've been very happy overall. Photography has helped me find out a bit about who I am, and see a little more closely and carefully the world I live in.

I challenged myself to take at least one picture I was at least somewhat happy with every single day. A picture that I'd be fine telling other people that I liked, without making too many qualifications. While at times this meant dragging myself off to take a picture when I didn't actually really want to, after doing it, I never regretted doing so. One thing this taught me was to always look for the beauty and interest in what's around me. There's almost always something pretty neat going on somewhere around you, you just have to find it.

Photography had this weird, seemingly contradictory effect on me where it seemed as if it both helped bring my life into focus, while also being able to help take my mind off things and just relax and enjoy the fact that I'm alive.

Some of this will be technical things I've 'learned' that I found really useful, that might help other beginners. Some of it will be 'arty', stuff about composition, finding subjects, etc. Some of it will be quasi philosophical. I'm by no means a great photographer, or even very good, but I do feel like I've improved a lot, in the sense that I'm just getting happier and happier with the hobby and the results I get.

1) Start with aperture. I mean this in multiple ways: In pretty much every single book you ever read, they start you off with aperture, ISO and shutter speed. Which absolutely must be learned. But in most of the books I read, they seem to give these equal weight. Which, I think hurts the beginner in two ways, first it's too much for them to grasp all at once. The beginner needs, or at least I needed, one prong to attack first here. Secondly, aperture, for most shots, is more important than the other two. With today's cameras, you can shoot with a decent range of ISOs, depending on what's in your shot, and not be able to have much noise. In the old days, you wanted to shoot with the absolute lowest ISO you could get a decent exposure from. Today, you just need to roughly match your ISO to your shooting environment, most of the time. For a very few types of shots, do you care about shutter speed as anything other than what is required to get a proper exposure. Early on, you can let the camera take care of setting shutter speed for you, while you learn aperture. Aperture is how you can control your depth of field (along with moving your feet, subject and background), which is one of the first things that separate snapshooters from people who make photographs. For the novice, it is much more important to quickly understand how aperture works, what changing it does and how to manipulate it to get the shot you want than ISO or shutter speed.

2) Start with aperture. Not repeating myself here, as in this instance I'm talking about individual pictures, not learning photography. What I mean with this point is after you've decided on roughly what your picture is going to be, always consider what aperture you want to shoot it at. Early on, try a lot of different apertures to see what works, to train your photographer's eye what aperture will achieve the effect you want with the shot. It took about two weeks before I really got in the habit of always thinking "what aperture do I want to shoot this at?" It was probably one of the biggest difference makers in helping me shoot more contemplative shots.

3) If you can shoot on a tripod, shoot on a tripod. Of course there are many circumstances where you can't really use a tripod. Most street photography, dogs playing, shots of kids playing, etc. Don't be afraid to take a picture without a tripod. But if it's possible to get the shot you want with a tripod, get your tripod out and use it. Get a good one, it'll outlast your camera. I personally really like ball heads with gun trigger releases, and a quick mount plate, because they allow you to work more efficiently and quickly get your camera off if something happens that you want to capture handshot. Use a shutter release trigger, as it kind of defeats the purpose to stabilize your camera with a tripod and then make it shake by pressing teh shutter button. First, this will allow you more control over your shutter speed and aperture, without having to jack the ISO. On a tripod, you don't really have to consider if you can take the shot without too much camera shake. Thus, you have more control. Second, It allows and/or forces you to think about your vantage point, frame, angles, height, etc. Your compositions become a lot more considered. If you have a level built in, it will also keep you from having to crop a lot of your crooked pictures. Nothing is more frustrating than handshooting a great picture, it looks awesome in the LCD, you felt you didn't need to tripod it, then getting home and when blown up on a 27" screen, you realize the details are blurry.

4) Always do a quick check of the whole image. I think it's often easy to just focus on the subject, and then forget to think about the background and foreground. Great, complimentary backgrounds and foregrounds are often what make the difference between a snapshot and a real photograph. There should never be anything in your image that is only there 'because you didn't notice it'. At times there may be things you didn't want in the image, but you couldn't do much about them. But it shouldn't be because they weren't taken into account because they weren't noticed.

5) Learn one lens really well first, preferably a prime, preferably a 35mm (crop frame camera) or a 50mm (full frame camera). I actually think the Nikon 18-55mm VR lens that comes with most of their consumer grade DSLRs is very good actually. It's versatile, take sharp images, and is very good handheld. However, for a beginner, I think the 35mm f1.8 prime that Nikon puts out is better to start with for a few reasons. First, for a beginner, composing wide angle shots is probably too hard. A 35mm on a crop sensor (what most entry and mid level DSLRs use) is roughly what the human eye sees. This means you can look at a scene with your eyes and compose it first in your head, then use the veiwfinder to fine tune. Also, since it can go all the way down to f/1.8, it really helps you learn aperture. You can learn the ins and outs of how aperture affects a shot, like we talked about in points 1&2. If you complicate this by having a zoom lens, early on, the learning curve is a lot steeper, IMHO. The ability to have a very wide aperture (low f stop number) also means you can take more pictures in lower light, without extreme motion blur. Finally, the images are sharper (though I don't think for most beginners they'll be appreciably sharper). It's fine to use other lenses during the beginner phase, there may be times when you absolutely need a telephoto to take a shot you want, but I think you gain a lot by really learning the ins and outs of a 35mm prime first. It's also a very convenient, light lens that is unobtrusive in tight environments. Learning one lens also allows you to quickly home in on what that lenses 'money apertures' are. Lenses usually have certain sweet spots where things are extra sharp and vivid.

6) Learn how to be simultaneously happy with, but critical of your work. In every photo I take, I try to find one aspect that I'm really happy with, and one aspect I'd try to improve. I think that the first helps me learn what I like and what works and keeps my from getting burnt out. The second helps me learn how to improve, or at the very least what needs improvement. Also, try this with the work of others, even professionals. In every photograph you see, try to find at least one thing you like and one you think could be better. Nothing is perfect and nothing is completely devoid of any merit either.

7) Post processing and taking pictures work together and reinforce one another. Early on, I tended to encounter two types of personalities when it came to photoshop: those that considered it cheating and refused to use it at all, and those who thought anything could be fixed in photoshop. I think both extremes are misguided. The former is especially dangerous though, because it does seem to have a sort of naturalist sounding appeal 'don't taint your images in photoshop!' sounds purist, possibly in a good way. But, pretty much every pro image you've ever seen and liked has been fussed with in a post processing program. Secondly, I've probably learned as much about what makes a good photograph by playing around in photoshop as I have taking actual pictures. Cropping an image until I'm satisfied helps teach me how to compose it in the first place. Photoshopping out distracting elements helps teach me what should be out of the shot in the first place. Messing with the contrast, highlights and brightness teaches me how to properly expose it and use exposure compensation to begin with. In the end, all I care about is the final image. If it got there with an average picture in the camera and a lot of photoshop, well it got there. If it got there with a great picture and just at a tiny amount of photoshop, well, it was nice to not have to do as much work. But in the end the quality of the image is what matters, though obviously your best bet is to start with a great photo and then really make it pop with photoshop.

8) Find subjects that you like, others be damned. It seems obvious, but we're kind of awful, for the most part, on making pictures that we think other people will like. Make pictures for yourself, and if other people like them, well, that's cool. You'll be a lot happier if you are shooting things you like. Caveat here, I have no desire to do weddings or paid portraits. You probably need to care about what your clients want in those instances.

9) Don't beat other people over the head with your pictures. If they want to see them, by all means, showcase your work. But they usually don't give a crap. You'll take it as them not liking your work, but it will usually just be because they aren't that into photography to begin with, and would rather be watching cat videos on the internet.

10) Listen to criticism, but you're the final judge. C&C is great, but if you listen to everything people say, you'll create boring images. If you like a picture, you like it. C&C can help you figure out what didn't work in pictures you didn't like. BUt if you love a certain aspect of a picture and somebody says "that same aspect is stupid" well, politely thank them for their consideration, but forget it. If you can't figure out what's off about a given picture, then take it to heart. At the same time, don't get defensive about your pictures. Never try to refute another person's criticisms, they are trying to help you. If you like it, don't worry about it, there's no need to defend the picture, it doesn't have feelings. You may explain aspects about the picture, for clarification's sake, to get better C&C, but don't feel like C&C is a battle ground.

There's a lot more, obviously, however, these were things that I think really helped me a lot to realize, that I don't see talked about as much. I didn't mention "learn your camera" and the like because every beginner advice post says that. It's extremely valuable advice, obviously, but you can get that from other advice threads or books.

Photography has been a Great addiction for this stay at home mom.......lots of learning......never thought learning would be this fun!! I'm new to all this!

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, you figured this out in a month !?

I think that there are some "photographers" here that should pay more attention to what you just outlined as your experience.

Keep up the work.

 

[fjrabon]

Hmm, you figured this out in a month !?

I think that there are some "photographers" here that should pay more attention to what you just outlined as your experience.

Keep up the work.

ha, thanks! Though just because I've learned it doesn't mean I do it right all the time, many of these things are things I have to constantly remind myself of and that I constantly forget. There's a big difference with photography with knowing these things and really being able to put them all together consistently. Though I feel pretty good about the direction I'm going with it.

 

[Rockadile]

Nice post :thumbup:

For #4 is it about checking with your eyes before taking a picture or checking the screen after taking a picture? I once heard to just keep shooting without checking your screen every time because you might miss a great moment. It's funny though when you realize there's a pole sticking out of someone's head.

 

[fjrabon]

Nice post :thumbup:

For #4 is it about checking with your eyes before taking a picture or checking the screen after taking a picture? I once heard to just keep shooting without checking your screen every time because you might miss a great moment. It's funny though when you realize there's a pole sticking out of someone's head.

Somewhat depends on what you're shooting. If your subject isn't really going anywhere, more contemplation before and after is almost always a good thing. For primarily static subjects, I try to think about the shot for a few minutes in advance, take a couple, review them, figure out what I like and don't like, try new angles, apertures, exposure compensations, frame it differently, etc. If it's a fast moving kid, or out on the street, an animal, etc. then it's mostly about being able to constantly see your image in the view finder and getting yourself into a vantage point that removes the poor elements and enhances the contributive elements, while being able to snap a shot at any moment. It's better to have a great moment with some bad elements than not have the moment. Sometimes it can be fixed. But obviously the best is to have the moment, and have a great foreground and background already set up for it. I think the biggest key when shooting a highly dynamic scene is being able to anticipate the moment, and already have the foreground and background set up, so that when the 'decisive moment' comes about, you can just focus on capturing the decisive moment instead of composing the background and foreground.