The Year of Learning

I've always loved photography. Since I can remember I've collected old polaroids, and 35mm srl cameras. My eye is naturally drawn to light, and shadows and shapes. I might be describing my ADD but hey, I am going to pretend it's my natural born "eye" for this kind of thing. When I was a kid, I had a dream of becoming a National Geographic Travel Photographer. Although that didn't happen, my interest and love for photography hasn't changed. Late last year, I got tired of wasting my brain capacity on reading about new workouts and diet regiments and decided it was time to invest my energy into a camera. I started this website as a way to document my trials and tribulations as I attempt to navigate the information overload that is the internet and turn this thing into a full time hobby.

Photography isn't easy. In fact, it's hard as shit. Every time you touch that shutter button your brain has already made hundreds of decisions. "Is this the right light? Is my aperture too big, too small? SHIT I totally forgot about my ISO". More often than not, I don't even know I need to think about something until it's too late. Anyone can snap a photo, but to do it well, it takes hours and hours and hours of learning, and practice, trial and error and harsh critiques. I know this because I've taken hundreds of really terrible photos, and somehow over the last 9 months I've managed to take a few photos I am really proud of. I have loads of respect for professionals who do this for a living, it's truly amazing.

Every time I pick up my camera I learn something new. I am not sure I will ever truly be able to master this art, but I have learned a few things over the last few months that have drastically change the images I can create.

1. You cannot make up for poor lighting.

No amount of editing can make up for having bad lighting. Even if you think something looks good, if you don't have a tripod or the right light - your photo will end up fuzzy. I did a little photoshoot for my niece's baptism. I LOVE the composition of this photo, but I will forever be haunted by how fuzzy it looks. Once I realized what I had done, I did research on how to create well lit areas, and how to work with a tripod to ensure crisp photos.

2. Take a step back!

At first when I was taking photos, I was cropping images with my lens. I was getting really close to my subject to try and find a new and interesting way to take the shot. This is all well and good, but sometimes my images wouldn't have any subject in focus. One of the most important lessons I have learned is to take a step back! Cropping can always be done in post production. I have to say, this got my brain thinking in a totally different way.

3. Don't trust your LCD screen

I love digital cameras, and I love that my LCD screen previews my photos. BUT what I don't love is when I don't use the old fashioned view finder and my brain tricks me into thinking something is in focus or at the proper exposure. Now, I make sure to use my view finder and my own two eyes to judge if something is in focus or not.

4. No to JPEG

Speaking of post production cropping...I am lucky enough that my camera shoots in RAW format. I learned the hard way that JPEGs can't be cropped or made bigger so you might have a beautiful thumbnail image, and a super blurry large format image.

5. Forget Everything!

You might have photographers that you admire, or styles that you're trying to replicate. You can read, and test and try to stick to the rules, but the bottom line is that there are no rules! If a photo is fuzzy but you love it - who cares?! If a photo has a busy background, but you love it - who cares?! If a photo is overexposed, or underexposed or out of focus, or grainy or off color, but you love it - who cares?! The bottomline and the most important factor in this entire process is creating things that you love!

I have a lot more to learn, but I am so happy with the progress I have made. Just look at these 2 images, taken about 4 months a part. In a little time, I have been able to take what I've learned and turn it into images that I absolutely love! More to come!

#Lessons #Photography #learning