what makes photography hard?

ph0toe · Aug 9, 2019

So, I understand nearly all there is to photography , conceptually that is.

-how aperture , iso and shutter speed work together to create a proper exposure
- exposure- knowing how much light or less light we need to compensate a good image.
-Knowing that the lower the iso the better to prevent grainy images
- knowing that shutter speed can create an effect to freeze an object or, alternatively make it blurry (sports)
-knowing that aperture can effect depth of field, either shallow or not.

knowing that lens can effect how close up (macro), telephoto (far away) , wide, fisheye, etc
that is we look at focal point (eg. 35mm or 50mm) & every lense have different f stops range. (f 1.4) or f 4.0

half pressing the shutter before pressing it full way to get the shot you want.

focus. autofocus will focus on the points in your viewfinder. you can either press the af-on, use the viewfinder lcd or just half press the shutter to focus before you shoot in any of the 3 autofocus modes. af servo, af single, etc

now if done correctly, all the images will come out great depending on the lighting conditions and composition. everything else is done in post processing. so, what makes one photographer stands out from another before post processing? why do people claim photography is hard when understanding the fundamental are all there to it?

I am still very much new to the craft, so feel free to enlighten me thanks

Jeff15 · Aug 9, 2019

Don't forget to hold the camera still..................

Scott Whaley · Aug 9, 2019

I think knowing how to frame the shot is important. Just aiming a camera at something and pressing the shutter button is not being a photographer.

tirediron · Aug 9, 2019

Photography isn't necessarily difficult, but there are two aspects. One, you mentioned is the technical. How things work, what affects what... etc, etc. That one is relatively straight-forward. You just need to memorize a bunch of numbers and learn a few relationships, and how things work with each other. No different than learning any other subject. The second is the artistic; this is much more difficult to learn. You need to intuitively understand how certain elements need best be arranged to create the strongest image. You need to understand light, and how adding or subtracting light in a particular way will affect the final work.

smoke665 · Aug 9, 2019

ph0toe said:
now if done correctly, all the images will come out great depending on the lighting conditions and composition. everything else is done in post processing. so, what makes one photographer stands out from another before post processing? why do people claim photography is hard when understanding the fundamental are all there to it?

Because there's much more then just the fundamentals of camera settings, if there wasn't leaving your camera on Auto would produce the same photo as those who stand out.

Strodav · Aug 9, 2019

Photography is a blend of art and science. One can take a technically perfect picture, which is totally boring and one can ruin an interesting artistic image with poor camera skills. Many enthusiasts are better at one or the other side, but not both. Figure out what side you are better at, then work on the other side of your equation.

ph0toe · Aug 9, 2019

tirediron said:
Photography isn't necessarily difficult, but there are two aspects. One, you mentioned is the technical. How things work, what affects what... etc, etc. That one is relatively straight-forward. You just need to memorize a bunch of numbers and learn a few relationships, and how things work with each other. No different than learning any other subject. The second is the artistic; this is much more difficult to learn. You need to intuitively understand how certain elements need best be arranged to create the strongest image. You need to understand light, and how adding or subtracting light in a particular way will affect the final work.

where do i learn the latter part?

an image below is just having the right setting (morning or evening sunny day) positioning the subject in focus at f/1.4 so the windmill behind is out of focus. not much to it...

ph0toe · Aug 9, 2019

smoke665 said:
ph0toe said:

now if done correctly, all the images will come out great depending on the lighting conditions and composition. everything else is done in post processing. so, what makes one photographer stands out from another before post processing? why do people claim photography is hard when understanding the fundamental are all there to it?

Click to expand...

Because there's much more then just the fundamentals of camera settings, if there wasn't leaving your camera on Auto would produce the same photo as those who stand out.

like what? i am trying to know.

ph0toe · Aug 9, 2019

Strodav said:
Photography is a blend of art and science. One can take a technically perfect picture, which is totally boring and one can ruin an interesting artistic image with poor camera skills. Many enthusiasts are better at one or the other side, but not both. Figure out what side you are better at, then work on the other side of your equation.

okay. what else is there to learn other than the fundamentals?

Derrel · Aug 9, 2019

Composition. Design. Aesthetics. The history of photography. Art. These are a few of the things that you should learn in the addition to the technical side of photography

ph0toe · Aug 9, 2019

Derrel said:
Composition. Design. Aesthetics. The history of photography. Art. These are a few of the things that you should learn in the addition to the technical side of photography

can you direct me to those, specificially in order so i can follow along?

stapo49 · Aug 9, 2019

I appears you may be overthinking it a bit.
One way to simplify the process is to choose a genre you like. Say it's landscape photography. Go online and view videos, read books, examine other recognised landscape photographers work to see how they compose, use light etc.
Go out and take some images and if you want come back and post them on this forum for feedback. There is a vast library of photographic knowledge contained in the heads of the people on this forum.
Also don't forget to enjoy it.

smoke665 · Aug 9, 2019

Here's a link to get you started. The 10 Elements of Composition in Photography If you have a local library that's another good place. Look specifically for titles/subjects related to the theory of composition in art. Another area to look at is "Light" how to read it, how it acts, how do the artists use it in their composition.