New photographers taking up digital photography often seem
to follow the same path and hit the same snags. They buy
the best digital camera they can afford (possibly their
first digital SLR), after lots of research and discussion
with camera salesmen. They promise themselves that they
will really learn how to use the features of the camera and
start taking some great photos, not just snapshots. After
all, it doesn't cost anything to practice and you can
delete your mistakes, so how can you fail?
Then they try to read the manual.
After a brave effort of trying to wade through pages of
poorly written jargon, most people find the task too
demanding. They switch the camera to automatic, and that is
where it stays.
Does this sound like you? Don't worry, you are not alone.
But it is worth perservering, because taking great photos
is immensely satisfying, and allows you to get the most out
of your digital camera investment. Perhaps you are just
going about it the wrong way.
Why do I feel it is so important to use the manual settings
on your digital camera? Because your camera does not always
know how you want your photo to look. Let's take a look at
three examples.
Example #1. Often you can make your subject really stand
out by shooting it in the sun, with the background in the
shade. This is a great technique for flowers, people,
wildlife...all types of subjects. However, with two
different levels of light in the one picture, it can be
tricky to get the exposure just right. If you leave the
camera on automatic, it might set the exposure for the
background, leaving the sunlit subject badly overexposed.
So you get a perfectly exposed background (which you don't
care about) and a burnt-out subject.
Example #2. Some subjects can only be taken in very low
levels of light. Sunsets and rainforests are two simple
examples that come to mind. In these situations, the light
is only a fraction of normal daylight brightness. With your
camera on automatic, it could set a shutter speed so slow,
your photos will be a complete blur. Of course you can
counter this by using a tripod, but in my experience people
who rely on automatic settings usually don't keep track of
what their camera is doing.
Example #3. Action photos are often spoiled by the wrong
shutter speed. Whether you want to freeze a moving subject
(kids at a school sports carnival) or slow the speed to
create a motion effect (waterfalls), your camera does not
know how you want your picture to look. When you know how
to set your own shutter speeds, and balance them with the
correct aperture and ISO settings, you will get the result
you want almost every time.
Learning the essential skills of photography is not as
difficult as it seems. The mistake people make is to rely
on their camera manual to tell them everything, which is
not really what it is designed to do. Your manual is there
to tell you how to adjust the settings for your camera, but
it is not so good at explaining what the settings are for.
So it will tell you how to operate your camera, but not how
to be a better photographer.
A much better approach is to find a good, basic beginner's
guide that explains the fundamentals of good photography.
There are plenty of books, ebooks and workshops available.
Don't get too involved at first. It may seem that there are
a million things to learn, but you don't need to go that
far. If you can understand aperture, shutter speed, depth
of field and ISO, you will know almost everything you need.
After that, it all comes down to patience and practice.
With the right approach, and less reliance on a
poorly-written manual, your skills will improve in no time.
Like I said at the beginning, it doesn't cost anything to
practice and you can delete your mistakes, so how can you
fail?
----------------------------------------------------
Andrew Goodall believes that with a small amount of
guidance, anyone can become a better photographer, no
matter what sort of camera they have. Andrew's ebook
"Photography in Plain English" is a perfect place to start.
Check it out at http://www.naturesimage.com.au and while
you are there, sign up to the online newsletter for even
more tips...it's free!
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