Learning photography can be intimidating for some people. Not only do you have to familiarize yourself with new equipment, but you need to learn how to use it to make photos that aren’t terrible. There’s a lot that goes into creating a good image, and beginners can put undue pressure on themselves in a quest for perfection. Striving to produce better work than your last photo is what you should aim for, and you can do so by following these 11 tips for beginner photography.
11 Tips For Beginner Photography
Beginner photographers shouldn’t expect to be shooting National Geographic-quality images right out of the gate. But by concentrating your efforts in certain areas, you can begin taking great photos in no time.
1. Focus On Learning
If there’s one tip you should take with you throughout your entire photography journey, it’s to always be learning. There’s no shame in being the “dumbest person in the room”. In fact, you should embrace it and surround yourself with those that have more knowledge.
Start off with photography 101 basics. These are things like learning the various parts of your camera, how exposure affects your images, and compositional techniques. Are you familiar with aperture? Do you know what f-stops are? Do you know what the rule of thirds is? If you answered no to all of those, don’t get discouraged or intimidated. Simply learn.
Here are some other questions you should ask yourself:
- What kind of camera do you need? Mirrorless or DSLR?
- What type of lens should you get? A prime or zoom?
- Do you need to shoot wide open for bokeh? Do you even know what shooting wide open means? Or what bokeh is?
- What aspect ratio do you want to shoot in? Do you prefer landscape or portrait ratios?
- What software will you use to edit your photos? What kind of editing style would you like to use on your pictures?
- Do you plan to release your photos for everyone to see? If so, where will you post them? Do you want to print and sell them?
2. Don’t Buy The Most Expensive Gear
When we get the itch to embark on a new hobby, it’s easy to get caught up in all the gear we wish we could have. You might be salivating over that $2500 camera body or an equally priced sharp-as-a-tack lens. It’s great to have an idea of what you need for your work, but starting out with high-end gear can be a detriment.
A few months down the road you may find you’re not as gung-ho about photography as you were at the beginning. You might have a life situation arise causing you to shelve your photography aspirations for an indefinite period of time. If for nothing else, you can save money as there are plenty of great cameras for under $1000. When you’re a beginner, it’s nice to have all the bells and whistles but it’s not necessary. You’ll be overwhelmed trying to learn all the techniques that a high-end camera is designed for.
Do some research on cameras you think you’d like. Read reviews, go to a local shop and ask an associate for their advice. Hold different cameras in your hands so you get an idea of how it will feel. Only then should you invest in a camera. A model between $500 and $1000 is more than sufficient for beginners.
3. Shoot As Much As You Can
“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.” – Zig Ziglar
In order to grow, a beginner in any field needs to immerse themself in the work. Musicians practice daily. Writers write daily. Bodybuilders exercise daily. So it should be with photographers. The only way you’ll get better is by shooting as often as you can.
If you have an idea of what photography niche you’re interested in, you’ve got a head start. Be it travel photography, pet photography, food, or portraits, you can focus solely on shooting in that style. As a result, you’ll get better faster.
If you don’t have a clue what style you want to shoot, or if you like all kinds of photography, shoot whatever you want. When starting out, there is no wrong or right way to do things. The takeaway here is to just shoot. Get familiar with the whole process, and your photography will gradually take shape.
4. Find A Mentor
Studies show that a mentor/protege relationship can be beneficial for both parties. For someone just starting out, working with a mentor can equip you with the knowledge to help you achieve more. For mentors, passing the torch to the next generation is all part of life. And let’s be honest, when we can help each other out, we always feel better.
If you don’t want to go down this road and prefer to work in solitude, I’d still strongly suggest finding a photographer(s) that you admire. There are plenty all over the web – from Instagram to photography forums or even YouTube. Not only does it give you a style to aspire to, but their work will also keep you inspired. When you see people working hard on their craft it becomes infectious.
5. Prime Lenses For Creativity
I have a whole article debating the pros and cons of prime lenses vs. zoom lenses. Although there are times where I wish I had a zoom, I’m a big proponent of using primes. For starters, they’re less expensive, let in more light, and aren’t as heavy as zooms. But the main reason is that they require you to learn a focal length, inside and out.
With primes, you can’t just zoom into a shot. You have to physically move to get the framing you want. This helps connect you to the scene better and also forces you to be more creative with your shots. Going back to repetition, shooting with a single focal length will help you master it, and you’ll instinctively know how a photo will turn out before you even pick up your camera.
6. Experiment With Depth Of Field
You want your images to stand out. One of the best ways to do this is by changing the aperture of the lens, which controls the depth of field. Aperture is measured in f-stops, and it brings into focus certain parts of the photo. It also controls how much light is let into the camera, making it part of the exposure triangle.
A wide aperture (ie. f2.8, f1.4) provides a shallow depth of field. This isolates a subject in the foreground. Consequently, it blurs the background, adding bokeh to the image. This technique is used a lot for portrait photography. It puts the focus squarely on a subject’s face and/or body. A wide aperture also lets a lot of light into the camera, making it ideal for night photography.
If you want to have uniform sharpness throughout the photo, use a smaller aperture, such as f8 or f11. Group photos and street photography are usually shot at these depths of field to ensure everything in the frame is crystal clear.
7. Shoot In RAW
RAW (.raw) is a file format that most mirrorless and DSLR cameras will allow you to shoot in. They also allow you to shoot in JPG (.jpg) format as well. The main difference is the amount of flexibility you have when working with the photo during the editing process.
If you shoot in JPG format, the camera will spit out a fully rendered photo, with rich colors and deep black levels. It will be how that camera brand feels a JPG photo should look.
If you shoot in RAW, you’ll be given a less vibrant/contrasted photo, but one that contains more digital information than the JPG format. It’s essentially giving you the RAW elements that have been captured on the camera’s sensor.
RAW is more forgiving for beginner photographers. It allows you to sculpt the image however you wish or recover portions of it. If you need to adjust certain levels that weren’t properly exposed (ie. an area is too bright or too dark), it’s relatively easy to balance out using a RAW file. A JPG, on the other hand, contains a lot less information to work with. Adjusting levels on a JPG can lead to things like banding, artifacts, chromatic aberration, and other digital noise.
Additionally, most cameras will allow you to shoot in both JPG and RAW simultaneously. While this gives you more choice, it also takes up more space on your camera’s memory card.
8. Learn To Edit
Unless you’re happy with how the JPG image looks out of the camera (most photographers aren’t), you’ll want to use an editing program on your photos. The two most popular are Adobe Lightroom and Capture One.
With editing software, you can take the photo’s RAW file and make it look any number of ways. You can adjust the tone curve, contrast, shadows, individual color luminosity, black levels, white levels, reduce digital noise, and even add film grain. Once you have your adjustments set, you can save them as a preset which can then be applied to any photo.
Many photographers create and sell their own custom presets. By using them, it gives your work a uniform look with a single click of the mouse. Some are vibrant, some ethereal, while others specialize in black and white. Playing around with presets is a great way to learn how to edit. Once applied, you’ll see how the sliders have been adjusted and understand how they affect different aspects of the image.
Editing isn’t just about presets though. You will want to brush up on your Photoshop skills as well. You may need to touch-up areas, smooth skin, remove objects, or raise/lower exposure levels.
9. Learn Manual Mode
Unless you’re learning on a small point-and-shoot or a phone, the camera should allow you to shoot in manual mode. Manual mode is when you have full control over the exposure triangle: the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO level.
Manual mode accomplishes a few things. First, it will help you learn your camera quicker. At first, you’ll be all thumbs, but that will quickly change just by shooting in manual. You’ll understand how aperture affects depth of field and light. How shutter speed can freeze or blur a moving subject. Or what level your ISO should be set to for proper exposure.
When you shoot in auto mode, you’re doing yourself a disservice by letting the camera pick and choose how an image should look. Additionally, most auto modes won’t shoot in RAW either.
You may also want to look into shooting in Aperture Priority (you pick the aperture, the camera picks the ISO and shutter), or Shutter Priority (you pick the shutter speed, the camera picks the aperture and ISO).
10. Study Light
Photography is all about light. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to capture images!
Travel photographers are at the mercy of the elements. This can be both good and bad. I’ve taken photos that turned out way better than I thought they would and it was all because of the light (or lack thereof). When you study how light affects your subject, you’ll have a better sense of how you can convey a feeling through your work.
To add dramatic light to your outdoor photos, the best times are when the sun rises and sets. The “golden hour” (which rarely lasts a full 60 minutes) is the time just after sunrise, and just before sunset. It’s named this because the sun sits low on the horizon and provides a warm, golden glow. The “blue hour” is just before sunrise, and just after sunset. During these times, this sun is below the horizon, giving images a decidedly cooler tone.
11. Store Your Photos Properly
Digital photography has lots of upsides, but at times data can get corrupted and be lost forever. Digital cameras use memory cards which are what you’re images are captured and stored on. As a beginner, you may not need more than one, but as you progress you’ll likely want to pick up a few. It’s better to invest in multiple cards that store less rather than a single card that stores a lot. If the card ever gets corrupted, you’ll have no pictures left, and nothing to shoot on.
After every photoshoot, you should back up your work. You’ll likely transfer the photos from your camera’s memory card to your computer, where you’ll edit them. You should then transfer them a second time to an external hard drive or cloud storage so you always have a copy of the RAW files.
External hard drives can hold a lot of photos, but their downside is they can fail, and you can lose everything on them. For this reason, you may want to back up the backup. Cloud storage is a good option as well, and it lets you access your photos from anywhere. However, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee for the account, and uploading files can take a donkey’s age depending on your internet speed.
Everyone Starts Somewhere
Hopefully, these tips for beginner photography give a good idea of where to focus your attention. Just remember that everyone starts somewhere. Your first photos probably won’t be that good, and that’s perfectly ok. Mine certainly weren’t! Stick with it and in a relatively short amount of time, you’ll look back at your early work and realize how far you’ve come.
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