Three weeks of learning photography - what would you do?

I've got some down time at the moment between jobs. I'm new to photography but I've been getting very into it recently, so I'm going to spend the time learning. I plan on treating it like a 9-5 day for the most part (though I've got a couple of other creative projects on the go too).

What would you recommend me, a complete beginner, to do for three weeks to progress my photography as much as possible?

I was thinking of doing an online course like this or getting and following an introductory book (this is about what my budget stretches to). However, I'd love to hear recommendations from some more experienced photographers. What do you wish you had done right at the start? Is there a course, book or exercise you'd recommend?

j_eldritch said:

I've got some down time at the moment between jobs. I'm new to photography but I've been getting very into it recently, so I'm going to spend the time learning. I plan on treating it like a 9-5 day for the most part (though I've got a couple of other creative projects on the go too).

What would you recommend me, a complete beginner, to do for three weeks to progress my photography as much as possible?

I was thinking of doing an online course like this or getting and following an introductory book (this is about what my budget stretches to). However, I'd love to hear recommendations from some more experienced photographers. What do you wish you had done right at the start? Is there a course, book or exercise you'd recommend?

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1) IMHO, get Photo School by Michael Freeman.

The really old book.

It's like a photography class in a book.

https://www.amazon.com/Photo-School...sr=8-13&keywords=michael+freeman+photo+school

The reason I think starting with a book is great is that . . . at the start, you don't know what you don't know. So . . . how do you find what you need to know on the Internet when you don't know what to type into the search engine? LOL.

This book covers a wide range of ideas such as composition, exposure and lighting.

2) Make a project for yourself to accomplish.

IMHO the thing about reading about photography is that you can read something, but not really learn something.

But creating a project (such as deciding to take a series of (self) portrait pictures, or still life pictures or a series of pictures about the colour green, for instance, it will force you to actually use your camera and try to achieve your goal.

If you run into trouble, it will point out areas that you need to learn / improve . . . so you can search for an answer or come here to ask for help.

But . . . in the end . . . once you have completed your project, I believe that you will have learned something, because you were forced to in order to finish your project.

3) Check out "The Strobist" and off-camera flash.

IMHO . . . good to know about this before you get into things.

Either you get interested in it or you don't. But . . . at least you know about it.

Take care & Happy Shooting!

I'd suggest you get a free 30-day subscription to Lynda.com and finish (and/or download) as many courses as you can that appeal to you.

Make a project would be my advice as well. Nothing like a daily assignment to get you out and shooting. You could also try a prompt list-- there are a lot of them floating around. For bonus fun, use a prompt list not intended for photographers.

All good suggestions.

You don't say what gear you have, but assuming you have a zoom lens, a good exercise is to shoot the same scene or subject at different focal lengths. This will teach you that moving your feet is the only thing that changes perspective. That includes back, forward, left, right, up, or down. You will also learn that sometimes moving back in zooming in yields a better result. Other times, moving closer and zooming out does. Learning to see this and anticipate it is a very valuable skill.

Whatever reading or research you do, make sure to include shooting. The best way to make the lessons stick is to practice.

You might also methodically go through your camera's manual and use/investigate EVERY feature/function that it offers. It probably isn't as important as the "daily project" idea but I know there are things about my cameras that I'm clueless about because I have approached digital as just being a camera to replace the film camera that I learned on 50 years ago - possibly not the best approach.

Once you understand the shutter/aperture/iso relationship (and lighting) it tends to become more about composition and then shooting a lot.

If there is a particular "style" of photographer that you aspire to, you might spend some time studying one or two photographers that you admire to determine what it is about their photographs that makes them special to you.

There are not many "course" books that take you through the topic in steps or serious assignments. Where books really stand out is in showing the beginner the many facets of photography. There is more to photography than a beginner can be aware of. And the used book market is pretty soft, easy to find used books selling online for a fraction of their original price. On my blog I have a couple of guides to books -


Kelly Cook

Join a camera club.

Make images to enter the challenges on this site (they are announced a week before they open for entries).

j_eldritch said:

I plan on treating it like a 9-5 day for the most part

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Sleep from 9-5. Shoot before 9 and after 5.

j_eldritch said:

I've got some down time at the moment between jobs. I'm new to photography but I've been getting very into it recently, so I'm going to spend the time learning. I plan on treating it like a 9-5 day for the most part (though I've got a couple of other creative projects on the go too).

What would you recommend me, a complete beginner, to do for three weeks to progress my photography as much as possible?

I was thinking of doing an online course like this or getting and following an introductory book (this is about what my budget stretches to). However, I'd love to hear recommendations from some more experienced photographers. What do you wish you had done right at the start? Is there a course, book or exercise you'd recommend?

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One thing that you must have to become a great photography is; INSPIRATION. Without it, you'll be just shooting randomly without any path or idea of what is great photography. Thus, your standards will be low. And your results will be of low value.

To get inspiration, find online resources that curate high end photography. Like 1x.com, or 500px, or any of the photo competition sites. And look at their top photos. Look at them on a regular basis of inspiration. Look at them and strive to unlock the secret of how they got the shot. Look at them and you'll see why they are of greater value than masses of random snapshots posted online every day.

Tune your eyes and think about what you see, and be inspired to emulate the best photos with your own creations. IF they can do it with a camera, know that you can too. Thus, by setting your goals high you'll always have something to achieve. And the inspiration will give you a direct path to get there. And, you'll separate yourself from the masses who spend more time photo dumping on sites vs looking at great photos.

To have this vision early in your photography will allow you to improve the value of your photography much faster than those who have low standards for photography. Also, know that nobody gets amazing photos every time they go out to shoot. Each fail is and should be a valuable learning experience. And there will be many fails. Great photography with high value is rare. And, the failure is part of learning to get to the higher levels of photography. So never let failure dissuade you from photography. Use it as an advantage and learn from it.

Once you know what great photography is, and have a goal to achieve, you'll be able to focus on the shooting technique and processing techniuqes used to get that amazing shot. Thus, you'll be able to learn faster.

j_eldritch said:

I've got some down time at the moment between jobs. I'm new to photography but I've been getting very into it recently, so I'm going to spend the time learning. I plan on treating it like a 9-5 day for the most part (though I've got a couple of other creative projects on the go too).

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Take an art, painting or drawing class so that you learn something about composition and lighting.

j_eldritch said:

What would you recommend me, a complete beginner, to do for three weeks to progress my photography as much as possible?

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If you are not willing to make that investment, go to the art museum and look at paintings in your genre so that you can see how the masters approached composition, posing and lighting.

j_eldritch said:

I was thinking of doing an online course like this or getting and following an introductory book (this is about what my budget stretches to). However, I'd love to hear recommendations from some more experienced photographers. What do you wish you had done right at the start? Is there a course, book or exercise you'd recommend?

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Books are fine but physically being in a class forces you to pay attention. Also, you will learn a lot from the answers to the other students' questions.

Try your local community college.

Tedolph

Have a look at the free tutorials here: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

They will give you a good grounding in the basics (and you can safely ignore anyone who cries out that they are fundamentally mistaken).

Dave

davidedric said:

Have a look at the free tutorials here: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

They will give you a good grounding in the basics (and you can safely ignore anyone who cries out that they are fundamentally mistaken).

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Here we go!

davidedric said:

Dave

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Tedolph

tedolf said:

davidedric said:

Have a look at the free tutorials here: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

They will give you a good grounding in the basics (and you can safely ignore anyone who cries out that they are fundamentally mistaken).

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Here we go!

tedolf said:

Dave

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Tedolph

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Yes, I know :-(

davidedric said:

Have a look at the free tutorials here: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

They will give you a good grounding in the basics (and you can safely ignore anyone who cries out that they are fundamentally mistaken).

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That site is full of fundamental errors. That's a fact. Whether he can 'safely ignore' that fact or not depends on how much he wants to be mistaken in the future. The fact that you've gone for it doesn't mean it will suit everyone.

bobn2 said:

davidedric said:

Have a look at the free tutorials here: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

They will give you a good grounding in the basics (and you can safely ignore anyone who cries out that they are fundamentally mistaken).

Click to expand...

That site is full of fundamental errors. That's a fact. Whether he can 'safely ignore' that fact or not depends on how much he wants to be mistaken in the future.

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Sorry, Bob, but that's where we will continue to disagree. I think that it is better to get started with an easy to understand and good enough tutorial, and refine later. You don't. OK?

Dave

bobn2 said:

The fact that you've gone for it doesn't mean it will suit everyone.

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j_eldritch said:

I've got some down time at the moment between jobs. I'm new to photography but I've been getting very into it recently, so I'm going to spend the time learning. I plan on treating it like a 9-5 day for the most part (though I've got a couple of other creative projects on the go too).

What would you recommend me, a complete beginner, to do for three weeks to progress my photography as much as possible?

I was thinking of doing an online course like this or getting and following an introductory book (this is about what my budget stretches to). However, I'd love to hear recommendations from some more experienced photographers. What do you wish you had done right at the start? Is there a course, book or exercise you'd recommend?

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Here's the thing. The most important thing in photography is the eye for the shot. Most cameras can operate themselves perfectly adequately automatically. Many photographers obsess about technical skills, mainly because they don't have that eye for the shot.

So, my advice is set your camera to auto, go out and take lots of photos, then see what you think they're missing. It might be that you do need to gen up on the technical side, in which case, so so (but take care, because many of the free web tutorials, including ones recommended by some other posters, are rubbish). Or, it might be that the automatic is doing OK for you, in which case, don't bother (unless you want to brag to other photographers about how good you are at 'exposure' - they are the only ones who will be interested, normal people don' care).

davidedric said:

bobn2 said:

davidedric said:

Have a look at the free tutorials here: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

They will give you a good grounding in the basics (and you can safely ignore anyone who cries out that they are fundamentally mistaken).

Click to expand...

That site is full of fundamental errors. That's a fact. Whether he can 'safely ignore' that fact or not depends on how much he wants to be mistaken in the future.

Click to expand...

Sorry, Bob, but that's where we will continue to disagree. I think that it is better to get started with an easy to understand and good enough tutorial, and refine later. You don't. OK?

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That's where you're wrong. I strongly agree that it's good to get started with an easy to understand and good enough tutorial and refine later.

All I said is that site is full of fundamental errors. It contains absolutely basic errors about the technical side of photography, which, for a site devoted to teaching people the technical side of photography, is unforgivable.

bobn2 said:

davidedric said:

bobn2 said:

davidedric said:

Have a look at the free tutorials here: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

They will give you a good grounding in the basics (and you can safely ignore anyone who cries out that they are fundamentally mistaken).

Click to expand...

That site is full of fundamental errors. That's a fact. Whether he can 'safely ignore' that fact or not depends on how much he wants to be mistaken in the future.

Click to expand...

Sorry, Bob, but that's where we will continue to disagree. I think that it is better to get started with an easy to understand and good enough tutorial, and refine later. You don't. OK?

Click to expand...

That's where you're wrong. I strongly agree that it's good to get started with an easy to understand and good enough tutorial and refine later.

All I said is that site is full of fundamental errors. It contains absolutely basic errors about the technical side of photography, which, for a site devoted to teaching people the technical side of photography, is unforgivable.

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So do we all agree that CiC contains some fundamental errors, and that the point of disagreement is whether those errors matter to a beginner's learning? Yes? Good.

I understand that Bob is a professional educator. We also have a person on this site who teaches photography courses at the post-secondary level and who has talked about having to take time to un-teach the errors of the sort promulgated by CiC.

IDK what David's background is, but unless we find out that he's a professor of pedagogy, I think I'll go with the professional educators' view on the detriments of a fundamentally flawed conceptual model as a foundation to learning.

Take pictures.

When you learnt how to ride a bike, did you read books, or did you just get on and do it?