New vocabulary

Remember when flare referred to the number of goofy buttons a waitress wore on her suspenders? And F-stop sounded like a train destination? Depth of field makes you think of deep sea diving and composition is something that Mozart is famous for. I won't even mention what exposure or ahem...pocket wizards might evoke. Perspective is what you'll hear if you ask my opinion about the state of the economy (ok, not really. It's what you'll hear if you ask me about the last episode of Teen Mom or Real Housewives). And then we have aperture and bokeh, which are barely real words at all.

Digital photography has become a largely self-taught subject and it certainly took some time for me to learn the vocabulary. But thankfully the fancy words and definitions take a back seat to the most important thing, the imagery itself. Nothing can replace the act of practicing and playing with your camera to create beautiful photos. If you are still learning the ins and outs of photography, don't be intimidated by the confusing banter or complex gear you may encounter. Have fun exploring and experimenting until everything starts to makes sense.

Now's the time to ask a question about photography you've been dying to ask! There is a community of sisters here waiting to help. Or, if you are feeling like you've mastered most photo skills, share a tip with us that you wish you'd known when you started out.

Comments

[Valerie]

I guess my tip would be to take a class if you're just starting out. I know that sounds so simple, but despite two master's degrees I just got bogged down with photography manuals and how-to books. Being able to ask a real person was great and the community adult education course I took was very affordable.
http://journeyleaf.typepad.com/journeyleaf/2012/01/silent-saturday-january-7-2012.html

[Marcie]

I'd offer up a tip about bokeh - and the art of opening your shutter as wide as you can..and looking right into the light:
http://www.marciescudderphotography.com/home/2012/1/13/silver-bells.html

[Ana Eugenio]

I'm portuguese (I live in Portugal) but I've been learning photography with this amazing english community online so it's even harder when I'm trying to learn and translate afterwards! lol

[Sue McB]

I take a lot of macro shots of flowers, bugs and fungi around my garden - my hint would be to make a sand filled bean bag to use as a support when down on the ground, and always go out with a pair of scissors and an old paint brush to clip the odd leaf or blade of grass and to sweep the area around your subject.

[christine]

I still have lots to learn on the techie side of shooting, but my tip would be to take tons of photos but share only your top shots, let go of the good ones and share the great ones. Learning how to self edit can be difficult, have others help if they are willing, show them two shots you love that are similar and then chose only the one that got the most votes. Also, take time away from freshly taken photos, go back and edit a week, a month, even a year later.

http://christinemyoung.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/top-10/

[Gotham Girl aka Robin]

Practice DAILY!

[Anna]

I would suggest that every photographer read - Understanding Exposure: How to shoot great photographs with any camera by Bryan Peterson. To date, this is the best photography book that I've read. From it you will gain the technical skills and know-how to be able to take the photos that you see in your mind's eye. Without this knowledge, we are just clicking away in a manner that can have frustrating results.

I have more of my favorite books and camera gear listed on my blog w/ links. Visit my blog and click on the heading "Camera" -

http://vandemarkdesigns.blogspot.com

Happy clicking!!!

[Katyusha]

Hello! I am Katyusha from Russia. I would like to be a member this blog. How I could register my login? Help me please :)

[Heidi M]

I would suggest trying the Burst/Continuous shooting mode. I've never gone back to single shots.
Using Burst with Manual Focus - and LOTS of shots - practically guarantees the perfect focus.
I have very low vision, and don't have the patience to wait for Auto Focus to make up its mind.
Heidi

[Sarah]

one thing I believe is a must in photography is soul. If you think you're going to take pictures just for a job or money, I would say don't do it. Find the subject you love to photograph most, practice practice practice with that subject, fall deep in love with the art, expand to many subjects, and always take a picture as if you are capturing a part of the subject's personality. something I wish I had learned early on would be expand my subject types early on in my photography.

[Spyros Heniadis]

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I can't think of any one thing that I wish I had known when I started. It is all so deeply connected that there is no one thing stands out as "the thing I wish I knew"

As for a tip, It's important to not get caught up in the gear, which is easy to do. Rather than think, "I need this camera to learn on" or "I need that lens to take better photos", really learn how to use the equipment you have, even if it's just a cellphone camera or a point and shoot. Learn it inside and out, and when you find you've reached the limitations of that tool, then move on to the bigger better camera/lens/whatever.

I cut my teeth for 3 years on a Canon A40 point and shoot. I desperately wanted an SLR, but I couldn't afford one, and looking back it's a good thing because I learned so much with that little camera, and by the time I could afford a DSLR, I was ready to learn how to use it. I used that for 8 years, again really learning to use and understand it.

I only just recently upgraded to a new camera, and it is so nice to have taken all of the time to deeply learn. That kind of learning makes the equipment secondary. The tool is important, but it is far less important than the photographer wielding it.

[beth]

i think the best advice i could give anyone, is to shoot everyday. no matter what. inside and out.
don't worry about what your friend is shooting with or how many lenses she has. instead learn what your camera can do.
read your manual. go to your local camera store and ask questions. they love to help and won't make you feel stupid.

find out what you love to shoot and don't worry if it's something that nobody else is shooting. having your "own thing" is a good thing.

don't compare yourself to anyone....which is really hard to do....so work on that.

you don't need 10 lenses, but you do need 3 that you really understand. lenses want to be your friend, so take them everywhere and play with them often.

the perfect and beautifully creative photos you see on blogs and websites are rarely straight out of the camera {sooc} and have been edited in photoshop or lightroom or aperture {mac} so learn an editing program. it will be worth your time to learn post processing. i promise.

and last but not least....love having your camera in your hands. if you don't, then photography probably isn't your thing.

http://www.moredoors.blogspot.com/

[Julie]

I've had my SLR for a couple years and understand the definitions of ISO, Fstop, shutterspeed, etc., but I STILL don't get how to get how to get them all to work together in different situations. I've read and reread manuals, read blogs and tutorials, but I don't seem to be growing in my abilities. I especially feel terrible when I read on blogs of others that they've only had their camera a year and they're photo skill are far superior to mine.

[Victoria Meadows - Washington Boudoir Photographer]

I love the shot of the kitty!! My question is this:

-Can you recommend a good training video for the Nikon speed lights?

[olivia]

shoot everyday, the things that mean a lot to you, don't shoot what you "think" you should be shooting. Shoot all around you, look up, look down not just in front of you. Learn everything there is to learn about your camera and how to use it properly. Don't depend on photoshop to fix your mistakes and make you photos look better, shoot your best and learn to use photoshop to enhance your photos. And most of all, don't compare yourself to others, we all have our own styles, make the most of it.

[Spyros Heniadis]

@Victoria,

I don't know of any good videos for using Nikon flash, but the basics of flash (Nikon or Canon) are actually pretty simple.

The most important thing to understand is how the flash and the camera work together. When shooting TTL flash, how the the camera and flash operate varies depending on the mode you shoot in.

In Program Auto, with the flash on camera, the camera assumes your main goal is to get a sharp shot, so it sets a fast enough shutter speed and aperture combo, and the flash fires as the main illumination in the shot. It works like this:

The camera sets the shutter speed (most cameras will set to 1/60th)

The camera sets the aperture (most likely) to it's widest

The flash will fire and act as the primary source of illumination for the shot

This won't be very flattering if you're flash is pointing right at the subject.

If you shoot in Aperture or Shutter priority, the camera will meter and expose for the ambient light, and the flash will act as fill illumination for the main subject. What happens in this case is like this:

You set your priority setting (aperture or shutter)

The camera meters for the ambient light and sets aperture/shutter to exposure for the ambient light.

The flash then reads the main (foreground/focused) subject and fires to add fill illumination.

This will look better than the results in Program Auto, however you will still end up with slow shutter speeds in low light if you haven't compensated with ISO.

In full manual mode, the camera doesn't meter for anything. You set the exposure for the ambient light. This means you can choose as much or as little of the ambient light as you want. The flash fires for the exposure that you have set. It works like this:

You set the aperture/shutter/ISO combination of your choosing

The camera takes the exposure you set

The flash reads output needed for the exposure you set and fires for that.

I find any way is viable, but my favorite way to shoot with flash is in Manual mode. I see in your signature you do Boudoir photography, and I would think Manual with TTL would suit your needs very well.

This is the foundation of how it works, There are other elements that I'm not elaborating on, but this is a good place to start.

If hope this helps. If you have any questions on this let me know.

[Melissa]

Silly question, but I read interviews where photographers say they "crop in camera" as they shoot... can you pretty please shed a speck of light on what this means? Do they mean they are good at eyeballing/judging the size of their composition or does it involve buttons and settings?

[Spyros Heniadis]

@Victoria, I notice you do boudoir photography, and I noticed this free workshop from Creative Live that's coming up, The Boudoir Workshop with Christa Meola.

I don't know that they'll speak specifically to Nikon lighting, but I'm sure lighting will be a part of the workshop. I've attended a couple of the free workshops (they stream them live) and I found them very informative.

http://www.creativelive.com/blog/boudoir-workshop-christa-meola-calls-auditions

@Melissa, "Cropping in camera" refers to adjusting the composition of the shot so that you don't have to spend time at the computer cropping it later in photoshop or another image editing program. This could be zooming the camera in or physically moving the camera to remove elements that you don't want in your photo.

[Tal]

Hi,

I'm a starting photographer (from Israel) so I'm still learning a lot all the time - I'd like to ask how to do the kind of flare like in the pic. above...?

I love this affect so much and did'nt got the chance to cach a nice flare yet....

Tnx

[Flooring Ideas]

I would suggest that every photographer read - Understanding Exposure: How to shoot great photographs with any camera by Bryan Peterson. To date, this is the best photography book that I've read. From it you will gain the technical skills and know-how to be able to take the photos that you see in your mind's eye. Without this knowledge, we are just clicking away in a manner that can have frustrating results.

[Challenge Coins]

I'm a starting photographer (from Israel) so I'm still learning a lot all the time - I'd like to ask how to do the kind of flare like in the pic. above...?