Tips for new photographers

Recently one of my cousins bought her first camera. Now we’ve added cameras and photography among the list of things we text about. It has been quite literally a proud big cousin moment being able to answer any questions she had about them. After all I’ve had some form of camera in my hands most of my life and truly started studying photography for about 14 years now. It got me thinking that if I could organize my chaotic thoughts that I could probably come up with a handy-dandy helpful guide. Learning a new skill or hobby can be daunting. Especially photography with all of its technicals, rules, numbers, BUTTONS AND DIALS OMG. Fret no more, I got you.

Here are some helpful tips for new photographers in no particular order:

1. You are always going to take bad photos.

   As a new photographer I remember thinking the more I learn the better my photos will be and maybe I won’t take bad photos again. Ha! The more you learn the more potential you have to improve your photos or art in general for that matter. But I still take photos that I think are shit. I still miss focus sometimes. I still miss the shot for one reason or another (that’s street photography 🤷🏻‍♂️). I even sometimes still forget to take the damn lens cap off. Shit happens. Or I’m just a mess. Whatever it is don’t beat yourself up if a photo you thought you nailed ends up being shit. Make note of what you do and don’t like about that photo then move on.

2. Never stop learning

   Photographers/artists who’ve reached a certain level of success in their art who think they’ve “arrived” have only arrived to the death of their creativity. When I first began to take photography seriously and wanted to hone my skills I did a lot of Googling and watched Youtube videos on photography nonstop. I still consume a lot of photography content on YouTube including tutorials. Recently as of this posting I watched a photographer with a YouTube channel and watched a few of his tutorials. I was comfortable in my own knowledge on all of the subjects but since this was a photographer I hadn’t come across before I wanted tot take the opportunity to perhaps learn something new from someone new. You’ll hear the word, “perspective” a lot in photography. A fundamental part of my photography journey is to see the perspective from other photographers in the way they see, shoot and edit.

3. Acquire photography related books & magazines

   I have a handful of photography books (I’ve listed two on my website. See: “Read. Inspire. Shoot”) that I love going through over and over again. Pew pew to my head I would choose, “The Suffering of Light” by Alex Webb as my favorite. You can learn so much from photo books. Not just text based photography books either. Whenever you have the opportunity to buy or receive a photography book, do it. Trust me I know how hard it is to have extra cash laying around to buy books. If you are local to the Greater Boston area I’m gonna let you in on where I like to go to buy books for cheap: Used Book Superstore in Burlington, MA. Highly recommend. If you are not in the Greater Boston area check to see if there is a used book bookstore in your area or a local book swap. I also have a habit of checking Little Free Libraries that I come across

4. Bring your camera with you

   This is for the photographers who want to get into street and documentary style photography; bring your camera with you everywhere. If you want to be a street photography it’s important to have a camera that you won’t hate having to pack up and take with you every time you leave the house. When I upgraded my camera last year overall size of the camera was important to me. I don’t want to spend any time thinking, “do I really want to bring my camera with me just to go to the store?” Especially when I know the answer to that question is a resounding, “Yes!” Life happens and I don’t always get to plan dedicated photo walks. So I want a camera I don’t even think twice about if I should bring it. It’s coming with me.

5. The whole world is your composition

   This isn’t an oyster analogy. A helpful mental exercise I started doing as a young photographer is seeing my world, the things that I am seeing at any given moment, as if I were going to photograph it. Whether I am on a dedicated photo walk or not. I even do this when watching photography videos on Youtube. Especially the POV type of videos. If you can learn to see the world in compositions you will take shots that others completely miss.

6. Take the photo!

   Overthinking is the enemy of creativity. Ask me how I know. I am a master of overthinking. But it will kill your creativity. “I don’t know if this shot will work out” Fuck it, take the shot. If it doesn’t work you’re not getting sent to the gulag. Sometimes the best method to learn is to just keep taking photos.

   Unless you shoot primarily film then don’t just take the photo. That shit is expensive as fuck. Ask me how I know. 😭

7. Exposure triangle

   This won’t be in an in-depth explanation. That will be another post. The three components to the exposure triangle are your aperture (f-stop numbers. Think f16 or f1.8), shutter speed (like 1/500 of a second, .5 seconds, 30 seconds, etc.) and ISO (100, 200, 400, 1200, etc). It’s usually best practice to work them cohesively for the best outcome.

   a quick explanation of aperture is how much of the subject you want in focus. If I am taking a portrait of my partner and I want only her to be in focus then I am going to chose a lower f-stop number like f2 to f4. IRL when I am on a photo walk doing street photography I almost always keep my aperture at f8 and will change it accordingly. Think of a cameras shutter as its eye and shutter speed how long the eye is open to receive the visual information. a 1/500 shutter speed is quick and will freeze action. On really bright days my shutter speed can be 1/1000th of a second. The longer the cameras eye is open the more information and light it takes in. On bright sunny days the camera doesn’t need a lot of light so you want a faster shutter speed. ISO controls your cameras sensitivity to light. Increasing your ISO will brighten your image but the higher you go will introduce noise (sometimes confused as grain) into the image. Every cameras limitations are different and most editing software now will have some form of noise reduction. My pro tip here is if you can don’t sacrifice your shutter speed. If you need to adjust your settings to properly expose your image see if you can get away with changing your aperture, ISO or exposure compensation dial (usually a +/- setting like -.3 or +2)

8. Print your work

   This is something I wish I did sooner. There is just something about holding a physical copy of your work. I cannot explain it. I have my art work on my walls and in a photo binder. I’ve also printed work for my partner, family and friends. Print your work. You’ll be happy that you did.

okay I’m tired. These are all of the tips I can think of at the moment. I might revise and add to this later. I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions let me know!