Three Photography Tips For Beginners
Feb 28, 2010 Photography Discussion
If you asked me what are the three most important things a beginner photographer should know – I’d say “Know your equipment, know your settings & trust your instincts.”
Sounds simple enough, right? Let’s explore these three photo tips for beginners…
1. Know Your Equipment : When I say know your equipment I don’t necessarily mean spend hours reading the manual that came with your digital camera or with your latest lens. Reading the user manual is always a good start but sometimes I think it leads to more questions than answers. There are a lot of really good camera field guides published for whatever camera you own. (example of after market camera guide) So now that you are familiar with the basic operations of your camera and how it operates – it’s time to go and shoot photos and put your new knowledge into use. Figure out which of your lenses are better for the different photo subjects you are interested in and how they react in the different light situations. You know the stuff that NO book will ever be able to teach you. I am a big believer in going out into the field and learning by doing.
2. Know Your Settings: For every photo situation I embark on I have a mental log (started out on a notepad) of my baseline settings. These are my starting point for ISO, Aperture and Shutter speeds. With that being said they change from time to time depending on lighting conditions and other variables but I always start at my baseline. Experiment with different settings in various conditions, review the image (the most powerful part of digital photography in my opinion), make adjustments and do it all over again. As you become a more seasoned photographer you’ll develop your own preferences for settings and what enables you to make great photographs.
3. Trust Your Instincts: Sounds easy but this is where many beginner photographers stumble. Just because you read something in a field guide or in an article someone like Scott Bourne writes doesn’t mean it’s an absolute. If you develop a strong sense of the first two tips this one will eventually come naturally. If it’s a dark day out and you think ISO 200 will be better than ISO 400 – give it a shot. If you think 1/125 will get you a better photo than 1/60 – do it. Prove or disprove your own theories. There are times when I photograph concerts and I only have a split second to capture an image so I rely solely on my instincts. Trust me, as you develop into a photographer with your own style and sense of surroundings this will fee natural – but in the beginning it will be a struggle. John Coltrane had a saying about music theory that applies well to photography, “Know the theory, know the scales but when it comes time to play – just play!”
This is just the tip of the iceberg and the building blocks to developing into a photographer that makes great photos. If you had to give a beginning photographer a couple of tips what would they be? Post a comment below and share some of your knowledge…
Tags: az photography, beginner photo tips, beginning photography, developing as a photographer, photo discussion, photo how to, photography how to, professional photographer, professional photography
Photos of Photo Sessions
Feb 26, 2010 Family, Friends, Landscape Photography
There are moments when I am shooting photos that I lose track of my surroundings. Let me clarify, sometimes I am so engaged with my photo subject that I don’t realize who or what is around me at that moment. A couple of weeks ago my brother Kevin came to town. Just like every other visitor Kev came to Arizona with a list of things that he wanted to do and see but I didn’t expect landscape photo shoots to be one of them.
Kevin and I took to the road and headed to the Four Peaks Mountains and a couple days later Kevin, Kristina and myself went to Sedona. Two great locations in Arizona for landscape photography.
After our photo trips back at the house in Tempe we sat down to compare images. Kevin surprised me with a couple of magnificent photos of me taking what I consider key landscape photographs for my portfolio. How cool is that! Now I have photographs of me taking some of my favorite photos.
Check out more of Kevin’s photos on his Flickr page by clicking here – Thanks Kevin it was great having you visit and it was a lot of fun shooting photos with you.
Tags: Concert Photography, digital photography, focus web series, Greg Taylor, Gregory Taylor, GRT2, Landscape Photography, photo video, Photography Discussion, portraits, professional photographer, professional photography
