6 Tips on Learning Digital Photography

There are hundreds of online digital photography courses out there, and in essence, they all teach the same thing: the photographer is to blame for great shots, and not the camera. And those courses are right. It’s all up to you.

Here’s a bunch of tips on speeding up the learning process.

• Don’t fret over your camera model. When you get started it doesn’t matter that much what camera you’re using, especially if we’re talking about digital cameras. Don’t waste precious time you can devote to shooting by comparing other cameras to your own.
• Don’t blame the bad shots on the camera. Just keep on taking photos. As you’ll become more experienced, you’ll reach a point when changing your camera becomes necessary to progress. But until then, all that matters is not wasting any opportunity to taking photos.
• Keep your camera e-book manual at hand. Most printed camera manuals cover only the essentials, not being nearly as comprehensive as the e-book manual included on the CD or available online, at the manufacturer’s website.  Grab that e-book manual and read it once to become familiar with it. Then, as you take your first photos and learn the basics, keep it near you and check the specific issues that interest you.
• Focus on shooting rather than on learning the technicalities. Good photographers know all about resolution, file formats and the like. Knowing that will help you become a better photographer too, but you shouldn’t focus on that right now.  Go out there and take as many pictures as you can, to learn the art by practicing it.
• Don’t spend too much time editing photos. Adobe Photoshop and other like software are complex tools, which due to their wealth of features and accessibility can be extremely appealing. In other words, they can eat your time.   Editing is crucial, but always second to taking the photos. When just starting with digital photography it’s usually better to focus most of your energy on the shooting.
• Make photo-shooting a habit, rather than a conscious act. Many apprentices of the art of digital photography err by taking their new interest too seriously. They go into the city determined to take some great shoots, and seek subjects in their surroundings. And when they don’t find any subjects, they return home dejected, with no interesting pictures, and with the feeling that they’re not made to be photographers. It’s a bad habit.
• Keep your camera always with you. Many, if not most, great shots are spontaneous. They occur not when the photographer seeks them consciously, but when he or she stumbles over them while in the right state of mind. To increase your chances of taking some great shots, make your camera an extension of your body. Take it with you everywhere, and use it whenever you feel like it.  

Take your camera with you everywhere, get into the right state of mind, and focus on taking pictures rather than on the technical side of photography, and you’ll became a good photographer soon enough.

Author Box: The article is written by Peter Smith. Peter’s expertise lies in vintage and digital photography, apart from that he is regular contributor to various technology blogs. To know more about his creative powers visit his corporate video production and video production company.