Essential Photography Tips for Beginners

Do you remember the first time you got a hold of a DSLR camera? It’s pretty overwhelming at first, and then you get frustrated after messing up a lot of shots. I just had a chat with my friend from Dubai who just got into photography – asked me a lot of questions and our conversation lasted for more than 2 hours. I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure I picked up a few things in my experience. I thought it would be great if I can share some of my insights here.

Your First Lens is The Only Lens You Need (For Now!)

With all the marketing stuff you see every day on the web, it’s pretty hard not to get hyped with the newest offerings from camera and lens manufacturers. If you’re just starting out, the best thing you can do is to go to outdoors and shoot – hone your skills! If you’re sitting right in front of your computer, you’re forgetting about the most important thing in photography – skills! Photographers many years ago didn’t have to rely on auto-focus and other tech gimmicks just to shoot great photos.

Be the Master of Your Camera – Use Manual Mode

I knew I had to use manual mode when I started learning photography. It took some time for me to get used to it, but it allowed me to take pictures that I really want. Try to get off the “P-mode” (this doesn’t mean Professional Mode), and learn how to change settings manually. Browse your camera manual to know more about settings and buttons that you’re going to use pretty often.

Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO – Understand How They Work

These things contribute a lot to the kind of image you’re going to make. Would you like to have your background blurred, or freeze the moment? Are you going to shoot in a low light environment and still get a decent photo out of it? With the right setting, you will be able to capture a moment in any kind of situation. This is the reason why you should be able to understand how these things work.

Rules of Composition

The rules of composition in photography were derived from great artworks many years ago. It gives character or emotion to photos that were captured with your tool – your camera. The rule of thirds, leading lines, etc. – you can find tons on information on the web about these things. However, you don’t have to follow these rules every time you take photos. There is also a difference, whether you are taking photos for others, or for yourself. Do not be tied up with these rules, but knowing these rules will definitely improve your photography skills.

Crop Factor for DX Cameras

If you’re a beginner, you’re probably using a DX camera – this means, the sensor of your camera is not as big as FX cameras (full-frame cameras). The crop factor affects the field of view in your images – for example, using a 50mm on a DX camera will give you about 1.5x crop factor. While you are using a 50mm lens, it actually acts as a 75mm lens. It also applies to smaller sensor cameras like the micro four thirds – the Olympus EM-1 for example, with a 2.0x crop factor. If you use a 50mm lens on a micro four thirds camera, the value would be 100mm.

Shooting in RAW and Post-processing

RAW files contain all the information of the image you captured from your camera. This allows you to manipulate the image to your liking with the use of post processing software – Adobe Lightroom for example. JPEG on the other hand, is a compressed file – it’s smaller in size, but most of the information from your image has already been scrapped. Always make sure to shoot in RAW and learn how to use Lightroom – this is where you can optimize your images for the best results.

Join a Community

Joining a photography community, whether it’s online or locally, allows you to learn from experienced photographers. If you joined an active photography group in your area, you’ll have a lot of opportunities to practice without spending a dime. Just be friendly, even to some members acting like a “Picasso of modern photography”.

Lastly, try to read your camera manual. I know it’s boring, but you might learn a few more things just by reading what your camera is capable of. I’m not a big fan of reading books, but I actually read the entire manual of my D90 years ago – I learned a few tricks like setting up buttons for a different action, or letting me see a preview of the depth of field in the viewfinder.