Thoughts from a beginner photographer

First things first, calling myself a “photographer” is a stretch and an over exaggeration of my current capabilities, but ultimately this is my goal.

Photography has always been something I have wanted to explore more fully, but to be honest, it doesn’t come naturally to me. Photography is hard. The past few years, I haven’t taken photography seriously, I would try for a week or two and then give up. In 2018, I decided to make a commitment to work on my photography skills. Here are some things I have started learning by remaining committed to try, try, try, fail and try some more.

1. Understanding what those buttons on your camera do is important. I watched countless YouTube videos on what these mean. When I went out into the real world, however, I would completely forget and had no context as to what it actually meant for the setting, time of day etc. The only way I have started learning is by doing. Taking my camera out at different times of day, different weather conditions, indoor vs outdoor and experimenting. Understanding how my camera reacts to light, how to tweak the iso etc.
2. Take your time. I have Jared to thank for this tip. When I first started, I would snap a thousand photo’s in hopes one comes out “OK”. Take your time to explore through your viewfinder before taking the snap, waiting for a gap in people, or when the clouds part and working setting up the best shot instead of blindly snapping away.
3. Try to do the work at the time of taking the photo. Assuming you can edit any photo you take and make it look amazing is a wrong assumption. Planning your shots is key. If you have a certain look in mind, plan what would support the best photo without having to heavily edit.
4. Have fun, and know you will make mistakes. Simply having fun and playing around is the best way to learn. Take the thought out of your mind that everything needs to be Instagram worthy. This will only leave you feeling inadequate and hinder the learning process. I also realised I have a really kookie way of standing when I take photos – need to work on that 😉

Photography friends, let me know any other tips you have learnt in your photography journey.