Lessons learned after six months in photography (pt. 1)
Photography is a quite “fresh” hobby for me and I loved it from the very first moment. I was hooked into that hobby right after my last summer vacation. Long story short, I was on a trip with a friend who owned a semi-professional DSLR. At some point, I started playing around with his camera, then he explained to me some of the basic settings, so that I could properly expose and my photos would at least be bearable for someone to see.
I kept playing around with that camera during our holidays and next thing I know, when we got back from that trip, I bought my first camera. Since then, getting out and making some pictures is one of my favourite activities, something that gives me joy and in some cases keeps me relaxed. I almost started from zero, since my previous experience was mostly taking photos with my mobile and processing them on Instagram before posting. So, here are some of the things that I have learnt after six months in photography that will hopefully help people that are now starting their adventure with a camera in their hands or are just thinking of doing so.
Photography is kind of an expensive hobby
I guess that if you are thinking of starting with photography or have already bought your camera, you must have done some kind of a market research before. This is usually the point when you realise that photography is kind of an expensive hobby. And I am not only talking about the cameras. There are other hidden costs in complementary gear like lenses, ND filters, tripods, monopods, lighting, cloud or hardware storage and post-processing software. You name it. Depending on your photography style and your needs, you will definitely buy some of the above. Make sure you have made your research first. There are always more budget-friendly solutions online for any kind of gear that you may need, but make sure that the quality of the products that you are buying is decent. For example, your lenses are probably something that you will keep in the long term. Maybe more time than your camera body. It is worth the investment to spend a little more money and buy higher quality lenses. Same with tripods etc.
The gear is not that important in the beginning
The most important thing in the beginning is to go out there and make some photos. I see many people asking all those questions like “DSLR vs mirrorless” or “Canon vs Nikon vs Sony”. I am not saying not to do your research or that this is a pointless topic, but when you are a beginner it all comes down to how well a camera feels in your hand and what are your needs. For example, if you want to be more flexible and have a more portable camera, the go-to option is a mirrorless rather than a DSLR. I personally have a DSLR, but this is a matter of taste. DSLRs are usually heavier and have bigger bodies compared to mirrorless. The best advice I have to give is that before you buy a camera or a lens, go to a photo studio, try out a few bodies and lenses, or even rent one or two for a couple of days to test them.
Then, you will be in a much better position to decide. In terms of capabilities and how far a camera can get you, it all depends on your budget. A mirrorless can get you quite far and likewise a DSLR. However, I recommend not to spend much on your first camera. Go for an entry level camera, shoot as much as possible and once you will be more mature with photography, you will have a much better idea of what is the ideal gear for you.
Take some beginner tutorials
There are millions of YouTube videos and articles around photography out there, but a great way to get up to speed with photography is to take some beginners tutorials. They will help you understand the basic rules of photography and let you improve your composition, exposure and general understanding around photography among other things. Another good idea is to get a tutorial on a post-processing photography software like Photoshop or Lightroom, if you are not already familiar with one.
There are quite a few economic solutions out there. The one that I found particularly helpful is Phil Ebiner’s, William Carnahan’s and Sam Shimizu-Jones’ “Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide to Photography”. They cover all aspects of photography end-to-end. From how to choose your gear to post-processing. They even tell you how to start your photography business. It is an amazing online class and I highly recommend this.
Go into places and start making photos
Great, you have bought your gear and maybe took some tutorials. Now get out there and spend as much time as possible on making photos. When I first bought my camera, I tried to keep it with me almost every day. Especially on weekends, I was making some small escapes from the city just to go around places and take some shots. Initially, I used to hit almost 400 clicks in just a couple of hours (poor shutter) and very few of them (less than 10) were photos that I actually liked and could use. But as I was improving (at least that’s what I hope) the number of clicks started to decrease and on the contrary the quality of my photos improved. As in any other case, practice makes perfect.
Follow photographers that you like and join communities for inspiration
A great source of inspiration is following photographers, whose photography style and composition is attractive to you. They will help you get new ideas on how to compose your own photos or even what to do in post-processing. I personally love the style of photographers like Peter McKinnon or Brandon Woelfel.
Another awesome way to inspire yourself is to join photography communities like 500px. They are niche communities and most of the content in there is top quality. There are also thousand of Pinterest and Facebook groups out there that you can join. They are useful as well, but I personally prefer more niche communities, as they are more focused and they do not usually allow noisy content from people trying to promote or sell something.
Experiment across the different kinds of photography
When people are starting to get their hands dirty with photography, they usually have a particular kind of photography in mind. Many of them are more attracted to portrait photography, others in street photography and so on. It is totally cool to have a preferred style, however I suggest to go out there and experiment across different styles.
You may discover things you like more about other styles of photography and even if this won’t happen, you will definitely gain some experience that will help you in your “preferred” style. For example, initially I was more fond of landscapes and street photography. Nevertheless, I started experimenting with other styles as well and found out that I love night photography and in particular long exposure photography. This does not mean that I am not doing any other styles or I do not like the other styles. It is again just a matter of preference.
This is it for now. In the next (and probably last) part of this series of posts, I am going to share some more “hands-on” tips that have proved to be helpful for me while in action.
