Today, photography as a hobby has become even more popular than ever. Significant portion of the result might be due to rapid blooming of technology in digital camera. Competition between manufacturer has made photography more affordable & making good photos are easier than sending a text message or posting a blog post.
But what does it takes than to be a good photographer & how to differentiate professional work from the abundant normal? Well, the answer is very subjective but I try to outline a few things that I myself went through in my journey learning photography.
(I'm not a pros & I don't produce professional photos, but I am an enthusiast who still learn from experience)
Before you can become a good photographer it is important to know what 'photography' really is?
In simple answer it is the art & science of light painting (sorry if its doesn't sound that simple). The keyword here is light. The most essential skill of a good photographer is how well they can read & manipulate the light, not how expensive their cameras are. Good photographer know how to used available light or a setup light to get good balance of light & shadow for example. Without light you'll simply get black photo, too much you'll get all white & bad light produce bad photo.. Well I think you've got my point here, so do remember this formula [ light = photo ] (literary & practically). Anyway because this part would be too long to elaborate, we'll skip this part & save it for another day :)
now lets get back to the tips shall we..
Tips 1- start from below
Nowadays, I see a lot of people buying new DSLR but put them in the 'Auto' or 'Program' mode. Yes, their photo still look nice, but it is the camera that does most of the job. It is not wrong but it's not a good practice either, it will make you become dependent on the camera & not a good photographer yourself instead.
Me & my friends (eg: Hus, http://xofj.blogspot.com) start our photography hobby with point & shoot camera and I don't think we'll become this good if we had never use one. Why? Simply because point & shoot are simple camera with lots of limitation (eg: the noise performance is sucks, the dynamic range is poor, the flash is limited, focusing speed resemble a snail on GP racing track & the list goes on). But because of all this 'camera' limitation, the only way to make better photo is by improving your self. Soon you'll notice that your pictures only getting better when the lighting is on your side (the noise become less, dynamic range increases, awful flash gone, & focusing speed now at least as good as a bicycle on a GP track). This is not the part where you can learn simply by reading (because you can't take photos just by talking either), but by experiencing.
I love my point & shoot but the main reason I'm upgrading to DSLR was because I knew there is nothing more I can do to improve my knowledge unless I move toward a more complex camera (where I can take more control over the camera) & not because I want make great photos the easy way. So for anyone who just about to board in photography world, don't keep worrying yourself for an advance camera if budget is an issue but go now to experiment lighting with your point & shoot.
Below are samples of my photo taken with BenQ point & Shoot. These aren't great photo but bare in mind this was taken using low spec point & shoot without editing when I was just started (this was as much as I can afford back then, today camera phone has gone much better than this).
Below are samples of my photo taken with BenQ point & Shoot. These aren't great photo but bare in mind this was taken using low spec point & shoot without editing when I was just started (this was as much as I can afford back then, today camera phone has gone much better than this).
For beginner who already step in with a DSLR, start experiencing your self to control exposure by using 'Manual' mode. This mode will really help you to improve your light reading skill, and not the 'Auto' or 'Program' mode. I owed my photography teacher (En. Ra'ai, www.ukm.my/raai/) for teaching us by using analog (film) SLR. We only get to take 2 or 4 shoot in a week, and the photos can only be viewed on the following week (you also need to pay for the processing service). So we'll took forever just to take 1 photo because we can only afford a perfect shot or we'll have to wait for another week,.. just like En. Ra'i used to say '1 shoot, 1 kill'. The SLR that we use also doesn't have exposure meter to help calculate shutter speed & aperture so we learn to estimate available light by using our eyes. You can go to this link (http://motivationhijacked.blogspot.com/2009/12/p-s-m.html) to read more on Exposure.
picture above: My friend, Mitch taking her photo of the week
(will be continue)
Thanks bro letak nama aku dlm pos ni. Haha.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I must admit that a good camera doesn't make a good photographer. Its is a good photographer that makes a great picture. Camera is just a tool to get the job done! :-)
Sometimes using DLSR can cause one to pay full attention on the camera setting instead of the composition. Try to understand what is the proper amount of light needed to be exposed (aperture + shutter speed + ISO) in order to get picture. Try to learn from the camera setting e.g using semi auto mode like A/Av or S/Tv, take the reading (shutter speed or aperture value) and use the value in manual mode. It takes some time but using manual will help you understand more better about photography.
Hehe, sama2.. utk belajar gn mode 'M', tp bila dh faham n betul2 nk gi shooting lagi praktikal gn A atau S, save banyak masa, kecuali kalau ada gn lighting tambahan.. hehe
ReplyDeleteBad.. kau xmasukkn pun hasil gmbar aku.. yg ko trjun dr pokok.. hehe
ReplyDeleteoh ya dlm post lamak ada, kelak aku nk gmbr2 pg national park so mungkin aku letak skali lak utk kubah
ReplyDelete