Right, you read the previous blog and you have now chosen your camera, and being excited about it, proceeded to tell other photographers of your choice but rather than encouragement and congratulations on your superb choice, you are met with photography`s biggest problem...snobbery!
"You bought the wrong camera!" or "You bought the wrong model!" and also "That model has been superseded"... and as a beginner, this can be quite overwhelming and has often ended the journey before it has begun. The trick here is to grow a thicker skin, don`t let negative comments stop you striving to improve YOU!
Most of the snobbery associated with photography is actually meant as good natured, most photographers remember that nervous time when they started out themselves, and view the snobbery as a form of welcome, an initiation if you like, to see if you have what it takes, those that are genuinely snobbish are like that in every aspect of their lives and are not worth listening too anyway.
Next on the list is the sheer amount of technical jargon that you will come across Jpeg, RAW, Fstops, ISO, exposure, composition and loads more, and the trick here is to let the whole lot just blow over your head for now, find that one friend you trust with photography, or one youtuber that gives advice tutorials that you find easy to understand, and work through one thing at a time till you get the hang of it. I will give an idiots version of the terms, not because I think newcomers are idiots, but because I am. And photographers in general aren`t really right in the head after a few years anyway.
Exposure; How bright your photograph looks.
F-stop; How much light your lens lets through, and a few more things.
Shutter speed; Exactly what it sounds like, slower lets more light in, faster = less.
ISO; Black magic related to old film, more ISO = More light gathering
Noise; Horrible little speckles on your image, related to high ISO.
RAW; File format, akin to the negative on a film camera. Large size and requires editing.
Jpeg; File format, modern small file size for easy sharing across social media.
Composition; Amount of rubbish you inadvertently squeezed into your frame, besides your subject.
Now that you are armed with such basic info you can research each topic and learn more about what each one does and how they work with each other to produce different effects in your image... I could explain in depth but I`m lazy. Besides, I still believe that my cameras are little boxes of black magic that produce pictures with very little expertise from me.
They say a little knowledge is dangerous, well that is why I give you such little information, I want you to be dangerous, not in the accepted sense, but a danger to the photographic establishment, break every photographic rule you can in your quest to get that image, don`t accept the norm without question. I was told that when I started out, and I love the struggle of getting an image that others told me couldn`t be done like this or like that.
Start off by shooting in auto mode and Jpeg, pretend it`s homework, and work on composition and framing, use one subject and play around with different angles and distances till you find a shot that is visually pleasing then compare the image to the others and see what was missing or, indeed, cluttering, your frames. Congratulations, you have just taken your first "proper" photo... now take out your mobile phone and take the same picture.
Not much difference is there? And that is where all the other little things come into play, and as you learn each one, your photos will come alive with depth, focus, and separation.
You see, it`s the photographer that makes the image, the photographer knows what settings to use for each part of the whole. The camera is just a tool that gives you more control over your image than a mobile phone, although, new mobile phones are improving especially with the integration of Ai.
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