What I wish I had known when I got my first camera (Collected)

Source: Digital Photo Mag

By William Sawalich

You’ve got your brand new DSLR and you’re ready to move into the ranks of serious amateur photographers. First, here are a few key pieces of advice every new photographer should know—the 10 things I wish someone had told me when I first picked up an SLR. It would have saved me a lot of time, a lot of headaches, and I’m sure I could have become a better photographer.

1. Carry your camera a lot. There’s an old adage that you should carry your camera all the time. That may not be practical for everyone, but if you can carry your camera as often as it’s convenient you’ll find yourself seeing like a photographer better and faster. And that means you’ll start taking better pictures sooner.

2. Keep it simple. Be it compositions, lenses, special effects and any number of things, remember that photographically speaking, less can often be more. Don’t just take bad photos and then apply every photo filter you can think of. Concentrate on doing one simple thing well in every photo.

3. There are rules. Learn them. Then learn to break them. My suggestion for breaking rules doesn't mean you should skip the “learn the rules” stage. It’s a crucial one, as with practice it will help to understand composition and visual storytelling more intuitively.

4. Protect your investment. A good camera bag, protective filter, insurance… The only thing worse than not having a good camera is having a good camera and being too afraid to use it. So take the necessary precautions to make it easier for you to use that camera as often as possible. Free your mind from worry by protecting your gear. After all, it isn’t about the camera—it’s about the pictures.

5. Don’t think, “I’ll fix it in Photoshop.” This mistake is easy to make. I still find myself doing it all the time. But if you can fight the urge to make due in a later step, you’ll find yourself making better pictures too. Think of it this way: If you settle during shooting and spend your post time “fixing,” you’re a step behind. A great photographer makes it as ideal as possible during shooting, then uses that postproduction time to make the image even better.

6. Learn the digital stuff. You don’t have to become a computer master, but you do need to understand the basics. It may have been that you were very comfortable with film photography, and even the techniques that went into making analog photographs. But times have changed, and if you don’t get comfortable with “the digital darkroom” you’ll spend way too much time fighting with the “digital” parts and not enough time working with the “photography” parts. Plus, much of the power of digital comes from empowerment; the tools have the capabilities to create the images we envision—but only if we know how to put them to use. 

7. Get your flash off the camera. I won’t talk bad about portable flashes. Nor will I tell you that you can’t make nice pictures with the flash on the camera. But trust me, if you get the flash off the camera—even if it’s just at arm’s length—you’ll find yourself making huge leaps and bounds both in how you make strobe-lit photographs, but also in how you understand lighting as a whole. And that’s the kind of thing that applies to all sorts of photography, with all sorts of lights.

8. Automatic features are great, but you don’t need to use them all the time. In fact, if you can start to get comfortable learning manual exposures and manual focusing you’ll become a better photographer much sooner. I’m consistently amazed by budding photographers who have used their cameras for years and who still don’t understand the difference between Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority—much less how to create an appropriate manual exposure. Relying on auto features is fine, but feeling in control of those automatic settings is even better. 

9. You’ll never know it all. Prepare to always keep learning. There’s no finish line. I’ve been a student of photography since I was 10 years old. And I still learn every day. Every time I read a magazine article, study a new camera’s specifications on the Internet, or even simply speak to another photographer. There’s no “right” answer, and you’ll never know it all. So embrace it, and enjoy the journey. 

10. Remember, your photography is supposed to be fun. You can get caught up in all the things that are wrong with your camera, or all the things wrong with your lens, or all the things wrong with your technique, or all the things wrong with your prints. There are a lot of ways to approach every scene and there are a lot of ways to make great pictures. If there weren’t, there wouldn’t be so many great photographers. The point is that it can be easy to see the tremendous work of others and get down on your skills or your equipment. Don’t be afraid to seek criticism; quite the contrary. Just remember that just because some anonymous web commenter doesn’t like your photograph doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Never lose sight that it’s supposed to be a fun hobby, not something to keep you up at night. And there's no “right” answer, no single definition of a “good” photograph or a “good” photographer.