So...How Did You Learn Photography?

Graelwyn said:
Did you simply learn as you went along, or did you do a course or degree, or did you read a lot of books on technique?

Thus far, I have done an A Level in it and managed to scrape by with barely any technical knowledge.

I am now seeking to rectify that by reading up on all the stuff I should have read up on before...

At this point, I realise having a good eye alone and intuition simply isn't enough.
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I'm still learning but learned a lot from mistakes No formal education in it but there is a lot to be learned from forums like this
 
4 years on and still learning, bought my 10D and off I went read understanding exposer twice and I read photo plus every month. one day I will get there :bang:
 
I did an HND back in the late 80's / early 90's.

Whilst it was 'film' back then I learned the all important principles of photography - shutter speeds, apertures, exposure, filters, developing, test strips, enlargers, dodging and burning with lollipops etc. I find it all really helps to understand what's actually going on in the digital camera and photoshop. Unfortunately I'm also fully aware (and frustrated) by my kit as I know how much better things could be.

As an illustrator a lot of the basics such as composition, perspective, contrast, colours etc etc also tie in.

Part of me would love to do another course but I'm not very disciplined these days so I just enjoy doing my own thing.
 
Back in 1974 (when I was ten) my father gave me an Agfa Isolette and a Weston Master V lightmeter and showed me how to use both.

From then on I was self taught with a few questions asked of my father.


Steve.
 
Graelwyn said:
been such a long time since I used a darkroom,but I do not recall ever being able to sharpen things in there at the time.
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Where do you think the term 'unsharp mask' comes from? And no, I haven't done it either. It seems a bit too complex for me!


Steve.
 
I always used to have a compact and enjoyed taking photo's but it was only really when I bought my 1000D at Christmas last year that I started to take it a little more seriously.
I have been fortunate in as much that I have been taught all this year by a friend who is a professional. It took a while for the basics to click but when they did I found that I was stunned by the images that I produced.
Having been allowed to play with a D3x I have seen what I can produce with professional quality bodies and lenses which isn't helping right now as I can't afford to upgrade but the main thing is I am having fun taking them :D
 
To be honest, I've found learning the basic technical skills are quite intrinsic but straightforward. Understanding the relationships between ISO, shutter speed and aperture is absolutely key. Following on from that is selecting which exposure element you wish to adjust creatively in a given shot then being able to adjust the others to achieve the correct exposure. This process needs to be almost second-nature so the adjustments can be made quickly and without too much thought or fiddling around with the controls, not easy on many of the fully loaded bodies available now.

What I always find much more challenging is the "eye" for the shot. I guess being an mechanical engineer means I've pretty much extinguished my artistic side.....

A "simple" DSLR body would defintely have a place in the market though.

Russ
 
foz said:
Oh I would also highly recommend:

Understanding Exposure - Bryan Peterson

A very good read.
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Cannot agree more.

Pretty much had the main three elements sorted in my head but that book taught it much better than any other website or book I'd read.

Since buying my first DSLR that book is the best purchase I've made
 
As a 60 year old who taught himself when a teenager I found that the two years I spent as an assistant photographer bought me much more knowledge than if I had spent three years at uni. Just the experience in handling clients setbuilders makeup artists models etc can never be learnt at school. My website may give you some info you are looking for it's all free.
 
brother had a EOS 600 SLR (and an OM40) when i was small, always fascinated by the way it worked, not to mention all of the literature of wildlife/time life books and the photos some people took, made me want to do this. always loved woods/forests/anything outdoors and wildlife'y

got a basic camera years and years ago, progress through cameras with more functions over time, everything didn't click until about 6 years ago (still not too clued up on the multiple flash side of things) sell prints in shops locally, feedback, improve from there

basically no books, no qualifications, no online guides just get out there and learn on your own over time.

drew
 
I did 10 years in labs /studios. then did HND. as jobs wanted experience and the bit of paper.

Books that were handy were those by micheal Freeman.

Perfect Exposure: The Professional Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs by Michael Freeman

The Complete Guide to Light & Lighting in Digital Photography (Complete Guides) by Michael Freeman

Basic Photography by Michael Langford

Basic Photographt - A Primer for Professionals Michael Langford

The studio photographers lighting bible by Calvey Taylor-Haw.
 
After reading all of this thread (and it is a good thread), it is right that ISO Aperture and Shutterspeed all combine to make an image in camera as best it can. However (there is always one of them)! I do not think that there can be any excuse for not knowing your subject. No one has mentioned this part of the act of taking a good great image. You can have the best gear available but unless you are very lucky you will not get many photos that are top quality. Light is the all important factor in photography, one must try to learn and understand how light of different quality's from different directions can have an enormous effect on a subject in a final image. So I would say select one subject and photograph it as many ways and times and in many different conditions as is possible.
What would you learn by doing this. Well all of the skills mentioned in the previous threads, plus a knowledge of how to look at and see things from behind a camera or through a viewfinder. Also how to take your time while looking at a subject and really seeing the potential of a specific angle as opposed to a different view to maximize the quality of the photo.
 
I started with my dad's Olympus OM10 which I found in the wardrobe. I asked him why it had a hole in the middle and why the lens had fallen off (I was young and it was the first SLR that I'd seen!) - I thought it was broken.

I started to use it - my dad told me how to put the film in properly and then I just fiddled with it, photographing birds in the garden. When I got the pictures developed, they were rubbish but that just made me want to try hard to get it right.

I looked at books and learnt techniques then fiddled with the camera until I was getting good results. As I had to learn in manual, I developed an understanding of the relationship between shutter speed, aperture etc and I continued to use manual when I got my first DSLR and continue to use it today.

You know, I'll think I'll have a play with the Olly again :)
 
I looked at pictures. Then I bought a camera. The basics of exposure is really easy so that took about two and a half minutes to learn.

Then the rest is just practice.

I've just completed a Diploma in photography, but that was 75% for the visa to stay in Australia, and the rest just to meet people and make useful contacts (worked very nicely too).

So yeah, went out and took pictures I guess. And looked at good photographs by other people.

PS Kudos on the thread revival. Almost a year and a half, not bad.
 
joxby said:
Personally, pp bores the flippin pants off me, that's my incentive, to not be pantless & bored at the same time
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I don't mind being pantless but I'm not going to do it whilst sat at a computer.

PP bores me too - which is why I don't do it.


Steve.
 
KIPAX said:
thats me buggered then :)

everything i know is off the internet messageboards.. posts and asking in private messages.. not read any books or done any courses. apart from using flash i am pretty well up on the rest.. normally a full Manual user (unless feeling lazy)
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Pretty much the same here

Got my first DSLR the summer of 2007 and didn't have a clue, everything i've learn't has been from a couple of guys on POTN, lots of people on here and speaking to some of the agency guys at PNE.

Quite frankly, the improvement in my photography since joining this forum is ridiculous :D

so thanks to everyone on here who has helped :clap:
 
Hmmm, jump straight to DSLR part of my story, cause that's when I really started to get into it, - just before I got a DSLR. I got a bridge camera from Santa last Christmas and in the late spring/early summer my local college were doing free HEFC courses. I thought "meh, why not?" In June (about 2 days before I signed up here!) I bought a DSLR. Passed the HEFC with merit (ok I guess). Desperately want to do a degree but, kinda can't ATM :( Partly cause of qualifications (I need another 2 HEFCs/A levels/a diploma - would prefer the latter TBH) but mostly because of health.

I prefer to shoot manual but if my hands are crap and really playing up, I just use one of the settings. I'd rather have a picture that I'm not totally happy with, than not have any image at all TBH. I have to admit though, I've really been struggling the past few weeks with my hands, so barely been able to play with my camera :(

TP has been my rock though TBH, there's so many lovely people here who have answered questions and given me great advice. When I first came here I didn't understand lenses at all and that was my first query - I wanted a distance lens and a macro lens and I didn't understand a thing! Then lighting (which I'm still getting to grips with the basics I suppose). Seriously though, thank you!
 
Jayst84 said:
The basics of exposure is really easy so that took about two and a half minutes to learn.
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Seriously? :cautious: :shrug:

I found it very difficult to actually get my head around shutter speed, aperture, iso and how they all change the end result, then when you need to adjust each one. Infact it didn't really click until I read Understanding Exposure. Granted I was trying to go directly from Auto to Manual, but that's what its all about for me.

Slow learner I guess :bonk:
 
On a basic camera, there are only three things to set. Aperture, Shutter speed and focus. Once you have the focus right, the exposure is just a function of the two remaining variables. Should be able to master that in a few minutes.

Start with manual only and you will learn it very quickly.


Steve.
 
matthew_rk said:
Seriously? :cautious: :shrug:

I found it very difficult to actually get my head around shutter speed, aperture, iso and how they all change the end result, then when you need to adjust each one. Infact it didn't really click until I read Understanding Exposure. Granted I was trying to go directly from Auto to Manual, but that's what its all about for me.

Slow learner I guess :bonk:
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Different brains work well with different things I guess.

I put my 400D in Av mode when I first picked it up. Soon realised that was going to be more trouble than it was worth, so switched to manual.

I knew, probably from reading on here, about the whole camera making everything mid-grey (or thereabouts) thing.. so it all seemed very obvious.
 
It takes longer than 2 minutes to explain what aperture is (to a complete newcomer), then you have to explain how and why it adjusts the end result, and likely uses for it in different styles of photo.

I can't be completely dim, there's whole books dedicated to the ins and outs of those few "simple" variables.
 
Jayst84 said:
Different brains work well with different things I guess.
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That's true. I don't get on well with formal training and would rather do my own research and work things out myself. I am also quite lucky in that someone can show me how to do something once and I can usually do it myself after that.

Other people seem to like formal lessons or training sessions and like to take lots of notes. Everyone is different.


Steve.
 
Self taught on a film SLR, did a an A level 2 years later and laughed my way through it!
 
I learnt pretty much everything from random websites, messing around, and here. Would love to do a course though and learn about studio lighting or just to play around with more bits of kit seeing as I don't know anyone else who bothers about photography.
 
What you really need to learn is light, how light affect a photo.

Anyone can take a correctly exposed image these days given a modern DSLR. There is enough gizmo and memory card on it that if you shoot enough, you'll get the shot. If you understand exposure then all the better, but understand how light will effect a photo is something else. It's what takes you to the next level, and in a way, how you can find your style.
 
Daryl said:
Steve whats pp? I'm being dense here...
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I'm assuming it's Post Processing. I think we are also referring to computer based processing here.

I do lots of processing but it uses trays, drums and chemicals, not a computer.


Steve.
 
Jayst84 said:
I looked at pictures. Then I bought a camera. The basics of exposure is really easy so that took about two and a half minutes to learn.

Then the rest is just practice.

I've just completed a Diploma in photography, but that was 75% for the visa to stay in Australia, and the rest just to meet people and make useful contacts (worked very nicely too).

So yeah, went out and took pictures I guess. And looked at good photographs by other people.

PS Kudos on the thread revival. Almost a year and a half, not bad.
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The bits in bold are exactly how I did it. The bit in red is, in my view, the most important thing about learning - what else have people actually done.

I also read Understanding Exposure but only after I'd taken a load of pictures so I could see how it related to what I'd done.

I guess the kind of photography I'm interested in doing doesn't necessarily require the same detailed technical approach as other people's.

EDIT:

The first sentence should really read "how I am doing it". I don't ever intend to stop learning.
 
I started with my trusty canon t70 many many moons ago when I were a teenager ;)

Since then I have read many books, tried many things, gone to digital and gone back to film again... over the years I have learnt by trial and error and lots of reasearch and its a method that works for me :)
 
Thanks Steve.

I miss those days in the lab dip n dunking.... (violins play in the back gound)

Big enlargers, dark rooms.... Walk out into the bright light and into a wall...

ahhhh, the smell of Sodium Disolphate as it takes away the oxygene in the room. choke! splutter!

Do I miss it?............................... Nah, not really.

Those winter months where you turn up in the dark, work in the pitch black and go home in the dark.

felt like a bloody Vampyre I never saw daylight from one weekend to the next.....;)
 
As Jayst84 and gingerjon has said, looking at other peoples work helped me out a lot too. Though my suggestion for that would be, don't limit yourself to photography. This below picture was inspired upon a random image I found on t'internet that I assume is a painting, or at least a digital painting.

Original
wlu4x0.jpg


My take on it (click for bigger)


Though totally different, it still gave me an idea of what I wanted to do.
 
I bought a d40 as it was well known as a easy to learn camera and that along with this site i feel i have learned a lot in the one year i have been trying. The first 8 months i filled the recycle bin then one day with the help on here and some filters i finally had a result. For me lanscapes/seascapes was the thing that got me into it and i have tried to stay with it until i can consistantly get a little better each time i go out, my biggest problem is composition and i dont think there is any way to improve on that other than continually trying.
 
i am an engineer...i started photography when i was around 20 and understanding physics and comfortable with numbers and formulae

it wasnt until about 25 years later in the camera clubs i started to appreciate the variants on compositions and exposure

still learning...especially on this forum
 
mrcrow said:
i am an engineer..
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Me too.

mrcrow said:
i started photography when i was around 20 and understanding physics and comfortable with numbers and formulae
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Same here (except that I was ten).

mrcrow said:
it wasnt until about 25 years later in the camera clubs i started to appreciate the variants on compositions and exposure
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And again - same here.

For the first few years of my camera owning life, it was purely an academic and technical excercise. Only later, when I also got interested in music, did the artistic side come out.



Steve.
 
I started getting into photography aged 9 but couldn't afford a camera so borrowed my mums point and shoot film camera constantly. I started buying amateur photographer magazine with half my pocket money and saved the rest for a 'camera fund'.

After 2 years I bought an old minolta 35mm SLR with a 28-70mm lens and flashgun for the grand total of £70 and started to run endless rolls of film through it, trying out all the techniques in the magazine.

I still have this camera, but have since switched to shooting pretty much exclusively digitally (and have switched to practical photographer as my mag of choice). 2 years ago I bought a bridge camera as I was about to start my A levels (including photography), although soon after I was longing for the speed and versatility of a DSLR and so bought a 450D, at this time I was also working in a camera shop so I learnt a fair bit there as well.

Now I'm in my final year of A levels and doing part time work in a local studio in preperation for a photography course at uni next year, as well as to gather the funds for a 5D.

So basically I read up alot on camera settings and techniques, try to get experience wherever I can, and most importantly take a lot of pictures.

Sorry for wall of text :D
 
Self taught with books and time with the camera.

Still very much learning, in all aspects of life but don't currently have much time with the camera, what with the early dark nights and working during the lighter hours :crying:
 
I started as a kid with a cheap 110 film camera, fixed focus etc, you had to buy single use "cube" type flashes for it. Later I "upgraded" to a 35mm fixed focus camera and got some fantastic landscape shots (spent a lot of time in Northern Scotland as a kid)

I suppose these early years developed my photographic "eye". Much later on as a young adult I bought a Canon SLR from a second hand shop, together with a standard zoom and carried on much as I had with the cheap point and click cameras of my childhood, not realising I was not using it to its full potential. It was "auto everything", but although the odd shot was coming out superb (to me) and even after shooting at a friends wedding and getting them an album full of fantastic images they still treasure to this day, I wasn't happy with my photography - I could tell something was missing. I spoke to a "proper" photographer and showed him my camera. He told me to bin it (oh the shock) and buy a full manual one. I didn't of course.

Move along a few more years and I bought a dslr. I carried on as I had before but soon started to dabble with the aperture priority mode, and immediately started to work out what I'd been missing all these years. All this time I thought all that mattered was having "the eye" and that all this settings mallarky was for geeks and nerds. Well, I started buying magazines and books, and spent an unhealthy amount of time on the internet. I was frustrated though as although I understood what I was reading, I couldn't seem to put this knowledge into practice.

In the end I switched to full manual and just started to take as many photographs as I could. I worked out how the metering worked and learnt how to properly expose through a combination of experimenting and reading. I'm not the worlds greatest photographer and nor will I ever be, I know, but I do now have a good understanding of how to expose. Now that this is "out of the way" so to speak I am back to working on my composition and training my "eye" once again. I personally think all those years of using a fixed focal length camera with fixed focusing has certainly helped me in this area. I must admit, my best work these days seems to be when I am using primes...

I don't believe there is a single best way to learn photography. I think some will just take to it immediately, some will learn the technical side of things and never take a great photograph as perfect exposure does not always maketh a great photograph, and some others will have an amazing ability to "see" a photograph but won't be able to realise it because of their lack of understanding or appreciation for the technicalities.

One strange thing I am noticing with my own work. I have always always been most fond of Landscape photography - it's what photography meant to me all my life. I was never ever really that interested in portraiture. So how come, my best work these days are all portraits and my worst images are my attempts at landscapes :wacky: What's that about then?!!
 
Steve Smith said:
Me too.



Same here (except that I was ten).



And again - same here.

For the first few years of my camera owning life, it was purely an academic and technical excercise. Only later, when I also got interested in music, did the artistic side come out.



Steve.
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cheers
i was in structures...steel concrete and masonry..some piping and petro chem..coal board and shipbuilding..latterly oil rig module design
small world
 
I started in the mid 70's with a duty free Pentax MX and 50mm lens, bought whilst serving in Germany. Learn by trial and error along the way. Camera's lasted in those days! It gave up the ghost after a pretty tough time being dragged round Saudi, Iraq and Kuwait the first Gulf War. First digital was a Minolta 7Hi bridge camera that cost around £1100 at the time. Won a magazine photo contest and spent 4 days at Peak Photo Center with Simon Watkinson. Everyone else had Canon 10d's - real dSLR, felt a bit daft with my bridge camera, but got to play with Simons 1DS. Came home and sold my race rep motorbike and spent the procedes on a new Canon 20d and 17-40L, Manfrotto and flash. Did an NVQ level4 in Digital photography a few years ago, and now have a couple of 5d's (Mk1 & 2) and far too much other stuff.
Still having fun though, and sometimes hanker after an old MX just for a bit of fun.
Webby
 
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