Don't let this be hard work for you...
Hi, my names James Clancy. Like a lot of people I never really thought a digital camera would ever come as close to the accuracy and brilliance of a normal camera. Over the years, I’ve been proven very much wrong. In the last ten years digital cameras have advanced so much that digital photography has become an art by itself. In fact it was the convenience of the digital camera that I began to search in Google for “How to become a photographer”.
My dilemma started 4 years ago when I was asked, because of my interest in the subject, to photograph one of my friend’s weddings. At the time of asking I was thrilled but as the big day got nearer, my nerves got edgier. My friend, let’s call him Phil, was adamant I shot the thing on his rather stylish but ageing Nikon D200. It’s a very nice bit of kit but with a week to go I needed some practise. This was the first time I’d used a more professional digital camera and the first time I’d been required to think in any way what I took a photo of. I quickly realised that to get stylish and decent photographs, an obvious requirement of the wedding, there was a learning curve involved and a steep one.
I spent most of that week taking the camera with me wherever I went and getting as much practise in as possible. I also found, after a great deal of research, a fabulous digital photography course that made the whole process an awful lot simpler and clearer. On the day, it all went extremely well. The standard “family” shots were all good and I got some fantastic and even if I say so myself, stylish black and white photos and a few where I’d put to use what I’d learned about light photography to create some stunning shots of the bride and groom. The digital photography techniques I’d picked up had really paid off. In fact it was a as a result of the digital photography tips I’d learned about that two different couples who attended the wedding asked me to do the same on their big days, all within the same year (and on these occasions I was actually paid!
Forward four years and I now have a very successful photography business and I owe everything to my friend for having the courage to save money on the wedding photos and use me (risking the wrath of his wife to be!), me for finding the courage to do it (!) and the superb course I came across and it’s excellent tips just in the nick of time.
The problem a lot of people have when they use a digital camera is getting to grips with the digital photography basics. So what are some of the big mistakes newbie digital photographers make and how can we turn that into digital photography success?
- Why do people always have to stand up when they take photos? This is a common mistake many people make. You can get some amazing shots standing on a chair, kneeling down or even lying on the ground! It brings about a whole new angle and gives you several versions of the same shot to choose from.
- Get to know your subject. If you’re doing the photography for a wedding or event you need to realise the people you’re photographing will be as nervous as you are. One thing I’ve learned over the last 4 years is to have a really good laugh and a joke with people, walk around and have a chat beforehand, put them at ease and at the least, remain a image of calmness yourself. If you’re nervous, they’ll be nervous and it’ll show on the photos.
- Not taking enough pictures and mass deletion. Too many people take too few photos to begin with and delete them having looked at them on the tiny screen on the camera. This is a common mistake and an often costly one. Some photos that look no good on the small screen are magnificent when you see them at full size. Never delete them before you’ve seen them properly and as you can delete them, take as many as you can.
- Getting to know your camera. In the “gimme gimme” culture we now seem to be in, the general attitude is to start playing with your new toy as soon as it’s out of the box. The problem here is you miss out on 90% of the cameras potential and as technology relentlessly moves forward that figure will get larger. These are complicated pieces of equipment that can do things you potentially don’t realise. Make sure you take the time to sit down, read the manual, experiment and get to know your camera.
- Giving the camera enough time to focus. You’re heard the expression “trigger happy” and that’s what this is about. Back in the good old pre digital camera days and if you’ve ever watched the paparazzi taking photographs you can be forgiven for being trigger happy. With a digital camera it’s important to make sure the camera is actually focused before you shoot. You’ll be surprised how many people make this mistake.
- Not getting close enough to your subject. People are very keen and quick to unnecessarily use the zoom feature not realising they simply need to get closer. The zoom feature is also one of the most misunderstood tools of a photographers arsenal and this small report isn’t big enough to do it justice (My free report goes into more detail if this interests you)
- Lighting. Light can be your best friend and it can be your worst enemy. Because of the cameras sophisticated abilities it can often get confused by too much brightness or darkness which can lead to your photo being over or under exposed. Most cameras have a brightness mode for use on sunny days, these are getting better and better and should be used in very bright situations, failing that you manually control the amount of light by increasing the shutter speed. In darker condition don’t forget to put the camera on night mode or its equivalent or alternately lower the ISO to nearer 100.
One trick I use in darker situations, when 100 causes blurriness is to increase the shutter speed to say 125th (1/25) of a second and the ISO to 200 Now the light that is available makes the sensor react much faster effectively giving us twice the amount of light then we’d have had at 100. It’s also extremely important, if you’re doing this professionally to have a tripod for these sort of shots and if not, something to really steady your hands with.
Learning how to become a photographer isn’t always easy, it requires practise, time and lots of patience but there’s never been a better time. We can now take thousands of photos and see them almost instantly. Technology is moving at such speed even a complete newbie can pick up a digital camera and armed with the right tips and all the mistakes to avoid, make a jolly good job of it, even at a wedding….like me!
I have free book on the top mistakes digital photographers make and whole load of underground tips and techniques you can use in my free report below…Just leave your name and an email address you’d like me to send it to and I’ll have it sent straight away as a thank you for dropping by and visiting my site. Thanks.
You may want to take a look at the course I bought to get started in this, you can get this by visiting www.thedigitalphotographycourse.com