Growing as a Photographer

I want to give you some inside advise. You are a new photographer, filled with excitement about seeing your visions appear on your computer screen. Above all else, have fun. If and when the time comes that you choose to go beyond the basics of photography, I hope the following words will be of assistance to you.

I have been taking pictures all my life. Back in the day, I shot film, slides and even dabbled in black and white photography. I purchased an enlarger and all the required equipment for developing my own b&w film. It was so much fun. I counted the hours for my color film and slides to be processed at the lab. I had no way of understanding my mistakes or my successes, as by the time I received my prints and/or slides, my memory of which camera settings I used were a thing of the past.

When digital photography came onto the scene, I reluctantly gave up my film camera and bought a digital camera. I have never looked back. The biggest reason why I love digital photography is because digital photography provides the photographer instant feedback. What do I mean by that? In each digital file all the camera settings used are recorded in the Exif file (Exchangeable image file format. Exif is a standard that specifies the formats for images, sound, and ancillary tags used by digital cameras, including smartphones, scanners and other systems handling image and sound files recorded by digital cameras). The photographer has the ability to review which camera settings were applied for each photo. If a photo has flaws, the photographer can look at the settings and make smarter choices in the future. This is such a valuable tool for today’s photographer.

My second piece of advise for new photographers is one they do not want to hear, and may consider unnecessary or trivial. I feel it is one of the most valuable pieces of advise I could give. Read and understand your camera manual. Nikon manuals can be found at: https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-store/camera-manuals.page. If a photographer does not understand how to use their camera, they will not be able to improve their skills as a photographer. As an example, say you are a car mechanic, and someone brings you a vehicle for repair. If you, as a mechanic, do not understand how to repair the vehicle you are asked to repair, chances are you will not stay in business very long.

Additionally, you need a basic understanding of photography. Learn what an aperture is, f-stop, exposure, shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, noise, highlights, shadows and mid-tones. If you really want to fastback your learning experience, take your camera off automatic. Shoot in manual mode (manual mode is where the photographer makes all the decisions about the picture, rather than the camera making the creative decisions). Learn the difference between a jpeg file and a RAW file.

Before long you will have the power of photography in your hands and true growth can prosper.