I first started to seriously learn about photography about six years ago before my son was born. I wanted to capture every moment of his birth so I devoured books on photography from the library.
The first digital camera I used was a Sony DSC-F707. It's probably the only good Sony digicam I have ever used. I learned about Aperture and Shutter using that camera. But only up to a certain point. I was a bit disappointed in some of the close up shots of my son in the hospital as some were quite blurry. This lead me to learn about macro and close up shots.
The next camera I had was a Canon Powershot S50. This is the camera where I truly experimented with different manual settings. It is still a point and shoot camera, but the manual settings helped me learn more about photography like shooting moving subjects using fast and slow shutter speed.
I also learned how to use aperture by setting the camera to Aperture Priority mode. This way, I was able to make portrait shots where the background is blurry and the subject very sharp using F/2.8 aperture. I also shot photos where the subject is sharp from front to back using F/8.0 aperture.
It was a great learning about different ways to make the effects you want, but all in all, my photos were still only ordinary at best.
I still read photography books to improve my shots. Technically, my shots looks better, but it still doesn't have the oomph I'm looking for. I always thought that I needed a better camera and I almost bought an SLR camera.
My breakthrough came when I read Ken Rockwell's blog last year and how you he says that you don't need an expensive camera to take great photos. He also has a lot of great tips on how to take great photos.
From his blog, it lead me to other photo samples where he has a link to a guy using only a Canon A620 to take great photos. Those photos inspired me to learn even more about my camera and rely on my eyes rather than just the technical adjustments of the camera. I also learned how to tweak the exposure compensation which I never used before.
Another blog pointed me towards Bryan F. Peterson. He is a photography book author and also does a lot of stock photography. Our local library has a couple of this books and I have read two of his books, "Beyond Portraiture" and "Understanding Exposure". The best one I would say would be Understanding Exposure. It taught me how to take the proper meter reading and where to aim your camera if you want to take photos of snow, sunset, or intense colours.
My point is, photography is a learning process. Even experienced photographers learn something new. It's not just buying the most expensive gear or reading all the books you can. You have to go out and shoot and check your photos. You'll make a lot of mistake, but learning from them makes you better on your next photo shoot.
I feel that I have learned more in the last year than the first five years of learning about photography and I'm still learning. It is a process, don't be afraid to experiment. Keep learning.
The first digital camera I used was a Sony DSC-F707. It's probably the only good Sony digicam I have ever used. I learned about Aperture and Shutter using that camera. But only up to a certain point. I was a bit disappointed in some of the close up shots of my son in the hospital as some were quite blurry. This lead me to learn about macro and close up shots.
The next camera I had was a Canon Powershot S50. This is the camera where I truly experimented with different manual settings. It is still a point and shoot camera, but the manual settings helped me learn more about photography like shooting moving subjects using fast and slow shutter speed.
I also learned how to use aperture by setting the camera to Aperture Priority mode. This way, I was able to make portrait shots where the background is blurry and the subject very sharp using F/2.8 aperture. I also shot photos where the subject is sharp from front to back using F/8.0 aperture.
It was a great learning about different ways to make the effects you want, but all in all, my photos were still only ordinary at best.
I still read photography books to improve my shots. Technically, my shots looks better, but it still doesn't have the oomph I'm looking for. I always thought that I needed a better camera and I almost bought an SLR camera.
My breakthrough came when I read Ken Rockwell's blog last year and how you he says that you don't need an expensive camera to take great photos. He also has a lot of great tips on how to take great photos.
From his blog, it lead me to other photo samples where he has a link to a guy using only a Canon A620 to take great photos. Those photos inspired me to learn even more about my camera and rely on my eyes rather than just the technical adjustments of the camera. I also learned how to tweak the exposure compensation which I never used before.
Another blog pointed me towards Bryan F. Peterson. He is a photography book author and also does a lot of stock photography. Our local library has a couple of this books and I have read two of his books, "Beyond Portraiture" and "Understanding Exposure". The best one I would say would be Understanding Exposure. It taught me how to take the proper meter reading and where to aim your camera if you want to take photos of snow, sunset, or intense colours.
My point is, photography is a learning process. Even experienced photographers learn something new. It's not just buying the most expensive gear or reading all the books you can. You have to go out and shoot and check your photos. You'll make a lot of mistake, but learning from them makes you better on your next photo shoot.
I feel that I have learned more in the last year than the first five years of learning about photography and I'm still learning. It is a process, don't be afraid to experiment. Keep learning.
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