How to Learn Photography on Your Own?
Why learn to photograph? First of all, learn for yourself. If you feel creative and think a photo is a good way to express yourself, grab your camera, and start creating. You can learn this art and develop a sense of aesthetics on your own. Even if you don’t become a professional photographer, the ability to take beautiful pictures is always useful. So here are some tips for newbies.
Exploring the camera
Before using the camera for the first time, read the instructions for it. Standard settings of the device: a mode dial, one or two control wheels for shutter speed and aperture, several function buttons, zoom control, autofocus, and shutter release button. It’s also worth exploring the main menu items to be able to adjust things like white balance, format, photo quality level, and autofocus settings.
Main options
Exposure is needed to adjust the brightness of the photo. The higher the exposure level, the brighter the image. Set different exposure times to create interesting effects. If fast-moving objects get into the frame, they displace during the shutter opening time and turn out to be slightly blurred in the photo.
Adjust the size of the aperture, the “pupil” of the lens. The narrower the diaphragm opening, the greater the DOF – the depth of field. A small value focuses the viewer’s attention on the main object and blurs all the background. A large depth of field is useful for landscape photography when you want both the foreground and background to be sharp.
Adjust ISO sensitivity, the degree of sensitivity of the matrix to light, to remove graininess, and improve quality. This is especially important if you are shooting in the dark or with little light.
Building a frame
Composition in photography is the relative position and interaction of objects and light sources in the frame, which form a harmonious and complete look. Here are some basic rules.
- Do not place the main subject in the center of the frame, place it slightly to the side.
- The light should be slightly to the side to create shadows.
- Experiment with the position of the light as it is almost the only way to convey volume in a photograph.
- Make the most of natural lighting — it’s more artistic and lively than flash lighting.
- Shoot a portrait from the level of a person’s eye from a distance of at least 2 meters. Do not shoot a portrait from the front.
- When shooting a landscape, make sure that the horizon line does not cut the frame into two halves. Learn the rule of thirds.
It should be borne in mind that photography is not an exact science and, if necessary, the rules can be broken.
Editing
Any photographer, even an amateur, should have at least basic photo editing skills – correct the horizon, frame, adjust the exposure level, white balance. For work, you can choose from a variety of applications and programs. There are times when post-processing is not needed, but they usually happen for experienced photographers.
If you’re taking portraits, learn to retouch. Working with the skin and body in the photo is more difficult than adjusting the characteristics. To get started, you can use RetouchMe app https://retouchme.com/ which also has many editing options
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