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Are you looking for some photography tips as a beginner? Here are some photography tips for beginners that I can share based on my experience. I love Photography. Pictures can tell a good story and can paint a thousand words. Who doesn’t want to take good pictures?
Even before I started my blogging life, I loved taking pictures on my point-and-shoot camera and mobile phone. Growing up in the Philippines, where everyone loves to take photos. Getting used to being in front of the camera was the norm.
During my trip to Istanbul, I met my friend / co-blogger JP Licudan of The Rustic Nomad. Like me, he is into photography. He inspired me to do more and enhance my skills in photography.
Here are the things that I reckon will help anyone who intends to improve their skills in photography. Trust me, the process of learning photography is never-ending, and I’m merely at the beginning.
Great Photography Tips: How To Enhance Your Photography Skills
The Exposure Triangle
In your quest to learn photography, one of the photography tips that you will have to familiarise yourself with is the three pillars that comprise the Exposure Triangle: the ISO, F-Stop or Aperture and Shutter Speed.
ISO
ISO is the sensitivity of the camera to light. It can make your photos go light or dark and determine the noise of an image.
F-Stop or Aperture
F-stops are one of the things that will determine how sharp or blurry your photos will be. Aperture helps you to separate your subject from the background and gives a blur effect which is known as Bokeh.
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed determines how quickly or slowly the light hits the camera sensor.
The shutter speed can also give you the creative effects of long exposure images and can freeze the moving subjects. Depending on the type of photography, getting the balance of these three will give you an excellent image every time.
Image Composition
The composition is also an important part of a beautiful image. The one that will give you a sense and feel to the image with its leading lines, texture and proportions.
As a rule of thumb, following “the rule of thirds” is important however rules are made to be broken. So be creative! Depending on the subject and goal of the image this golden composition rule can be broken. This is probably one of the main photography tips that you have to make note of!
Support Group and other resources
Having a support system in photography is important. There are plenty of youtube tutorials that you can watch to understand all the nitty-gritty details of photography.
Instagram is one of the famous visual types of social media platforms. I love browsing pictures on IG that tell a story, give inspiration and push you to be more creative. You can find various trending photography tips on this platform from other creatives and you can also implement them yourself.
Follow me on Instagram — @everythingzany
Photography Books & Magazines
Photography books are also an excellent source of information in getting some helpful photography tips from professionals. Since I’m interested more in travel, nature and portrait photographs, I find that these books from Lonely Planet really help a lot. You can also read these excellent photography tips on street photography.
BUY PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS HERE
Local Photography Club / Society
I also joined a local photographic society to help me enhance my skills. It’s nice to be surrounded by people who are also passionate about their craft. I recently joined a PDI photo competition where I won a photographic award for the Long Exposure theme.
Snooker: Commended Photography Award on Long Exposure shot
At each club meeting, there would be a talk from professional experts in certain genres or styles of photography. And some club meetings, we had some practical photo sessions wherein we practice or share ideas to apply our new photography tips or learnings.
Photography Courses
I also took a few photography courses and photo walk here in the UK. It is definitely worth doing it! The photography class prices vary if it’s a classroom or online. Check out some of your local photography clubs or search online if there is one near you. Make sure to read the reviews before actually booking your lessons.
Facebook Groups & Channels
There are also loads of Facebook groups and channels on youtube that can give you support and help you to develop your photography skills. Here are the groups that I actively engage with:
I Shoot People! Photographers by Joe Edelman
Links: Youtube channel and Facebook group
If you want to learn more about portraits and want to take your photography skills to the next level.
Michromatic by Mark Ryan Sallee
Links: Youtube channel and Instagram
This channel will give you loads of handy insights about Micro Four Thirds a.k.a MFT. I own an Olympus camera which is MFT, so I find his videos really helpful.
Digital Rev TV
Links: Digital Rev TV channel, Kaiman’s Youtube Channel and Lok’s Youtube Channel
When it comes to product reviews, I really enjoy watching this channel. Started by Kaiman and Lok, the reliable duo from Hong Kong.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
Link: Youtube channel
As it says on the tin, this channel will help you to develop your post-production skills with Lightroom.
Digital Photography School
Links: Digital Photography School Blog
When it comes to a photography blog and FB page, I love reading stuff from DPS. A reliable resource for learning photography.
Peter Mckinnon
Link: Youtube Channel
A fantastic Canadian Youtuber shares fantastic tips and tricks on how you can improve your photography and filmmaking skills.
Gear and Post process
There is a myriad of choices on which camera and gear you should buy to get into photography. Before I bought my MFT Olympus camera, I used a Samsung smart digital camera (point and shoot) and my mobile phone.
Micro Four Thirds is a mirrorless type of camera. The MFT pertains to the size of the photographic sensor of the camera. The popular DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) has a 35mm full-frame sensor size.
RAW vs. JPG
Shooting in RAW and JPG has its own merits and disadvantages. RAW files can give you a great option to manipulate your images in the post-processing stage, but the files can take up so much storage space on your memory card. The JPG files, on the other hand, are compressed files with a limited amount of colour data stored in your image.
Hence, the post-processing of JPG files can be challenging at times. On a good note, since the JPG files are pre-compressed by your camera it takes less storage space on your memory card.
My Photography Gear
My Cameras
Olympus Pen EPL-7 and Olympus OMD EM-10 Mark II.
Enjoy the Olympus Weekly Deals. Find Super Savings on the latest products! Also check out the Olympus OM-D & PEN Lenses: Up to $100 Off!
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I started using my PEN EPL-7 almost a year and I recently upgraded to OMD EM-10 Mark II. I love MFT because of its portability and performance as if I’m using a full-frame DSLR. The MFT range also has a variety of lenses to choose from.
Read More: Best Travel Cameras recommended by Travel Bloggers
My Lenses
Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm 1:1.8 Prime lens, Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm ED 1:2.0 Prime Lens (Manual Focus), Olympus M. Zuiko 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 (Kit lens) and Olympus M.Zuiko 14 -150mm 1:4.0 – 5.6 (Zoom lens)
BUY MICRO FOUR-THIRDS LENS HERE
Each lens has its specific expertise:
The 45mm prime lens is excellent for portrait shots. The 12mm Prime, Kit and Zoom lens are for my travel – landscape and wildlife photography.
Other Photography Gear and Accessories that I use:
These are the other products that I use on a regular basis for the type of photography I do. I will try to make a few more posts about these to explain them in depth.
Sandisk Class 10 memory cards
SanDisk Ultra SDHC Memory Card Up to 80 MB/s, Class 10
I prefer using class 10 memory cards as it has quick capabilities to record heavy data. e.g. HD, raw photos etc.
Travel Tripod
Camera bag
As I do a lot of walking with the type of photography I’m doing, having a little tripod and a small camera bag to carry around is pretty handy. You can read here my personal review of the ThinkTank Urban Approach 10.
Photography Lens Filters
Hoya 52mm EVO Clear Protector Filter
For landscape/travel photography, these are the accessories you should have in your bag. The Polarising filter will help increase your image contrast, and the ND filter will help you with the long exposure shots.
Spare Camera Batteries
As a standard, I always have an extra battery.
Photography Reflectors
An excellent way to bounce the light as a filler or sometimes the main source of light. Especially, when you are shooting outdoors where you can’t fully control all the lighting.
Photo Studio Kit
Neewer Complete Photography Lighting Kit
Since I’m trying to practice more portraiture, so I’ve decided to set up a little home studio. This kit has got everything that you need to start shooting.
Editing Softwares
Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop
A powerful editing software tool. Probably the most popular one. I edit the majority of my photos in Lightroom. It’s easy to learn editing software yet very powerful. I only use Photoshop if I desperately need heavy pixel manipulation, otherwise, I use Lightroom, Spark or Canva.
There you have it! If you have other handy photography tips, please leave a comment below. Be Creative and keep shooting!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryazan Tristram
Travel Writer & Photographer
Ryazan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism and Hotel Management. She also has more than 10 years of work experience gained from working in the hotel and travel sectors in Asia and Europe. Her work has been featured and published on Huffington Post, Reader’s Digest, Discovery Channel, World Travel Guide, MSN, CNBC, GMA, Daily Mail UK, Lonely Planet and many more. She is currently living in the UK as a dual citizen (British – Filipina). Join her in travelling around the UK and beyond with a mission to promote sustainable tourism and share travel guides, travel tips, foodies, history and culture.
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