Learning photography on your own is challenging because modern cameras are extremely complicated with a plethora of features.
Camera manuals are not exactly accessible either. Most people don’t get past the first page of tiny print and complicated diagrams.
There are a few things that you can do on your own to kickstart your photography learning.
Start in Manual Mode
Go out with your camera, forget about taking world-beating shots and get to know the manual mode. Make mistakes, take terrible pictures, under and over-expose your shots and don’t worry about composition. See what works, what doesn’t and think about why. We guarantee this one exercise will empower you for future learning.
Golden Opportunity
Have you heard of the golden hour? A common mistake by beginners is taking a well-composed shot or a beautiful landscape at midday, in flat light. Get out in the hour before dawn and the hour before dusk to capture interesting light and colour to lift your images to another level.
Use Aperture Priority
This mode is an absolute gem for a beginner. Once you start using Aperture Priority mode, you won’t believe how easy it is to take great shots that you are actually controlling. You’ll see this mode depicted with A or Av on your camera dial. You can select the aperture value and your camera will select the right shutter speed. This means you can concentrate on getting the depth of field right. We find that students who try this mode get immediate satisfaction and a clearer understanding of the relationship between aperture and shutter speed.
Your Goals
Think about what type of photographer you want to be and how you can stamp your personality on your photography. Social media is full of great-looking shots, so what will make your photography different? Find an angle and you’ll find a passion for the subject and success will follow.
If you decide it’s too challenging to learn photography on your own, get some help from the experts. IOP® provide the most popular online photography courses available. We have over 20,000 students, all over the world, following our program and creating photographs they never thought possible.
