A beginner’s guide to photography.

NATIONAL — People everywhere always have the need or want to take the perfect photo, be it for their own personal use or for a professional use. The issue is that half the time they do not actually know the first thing about the photo they just took. All that is known is that they took out their iPhone or Android, clicked the camera button a few times and said “looks good” without putting any real thought into it. An automatic response to this article is probably something along the lines of I know how to take photo’s or why would I ever need to take photos. Really though, why would you not want to take photos? Sure you do already know how to take photos or at least you have an idea but just stick around and see maybe you will learn something new and helpful.

“Scary” and “photography” are two words that seem to go together very well. The expensiveness of developing an interest in photography, not necessarily as a business just the hobby of taking good photos. Due to the constant use of the newest, biggest, bulkiest, high-tech cameras, the best lighting, great/expensive computer used for editing alongside the program to edit them and any added props can make the photo go from ten to one hundred. All of the above seem to add up quite quickly which is why you just do the opposite of that, do not go out and spend a load of money on the best photography gadgets, at least in the beginning untill you know for sure whether or not you enjoy it or if you are going to continue taking photos as much as you had first planned. As we all know, plans can change. It is simple, cameras change so often and everyone has to have the newest and the best which is impossible because each camera company brings out a new camera every year with little to no change in them. A possible solution is to just use what-ever phone you have that has a camera on it, or if you have another camera use that even buy one off a friend or family member if you can get one for cheap. As for that nice and expensive lighting, use natural lighting and take advantage of the lights you have in your house. On sunny days, you can make it all work. If you have a computer then find free photo editing software to download such as GIMP to use. There is also the option of just leaving your photos natural, although it is highly recommended that you use a free version if possible it makes a tremendous difference. As for the props buy them cheap or do not buy them at all; depending on the specific prop, your photos could turn out to be a complete waste. Be sure that you have the money you are going to spend on it and be sure that you are okay with it incase it does not turn out how you had hoped for in the begining.

We live in the age of social media, with lots of acsess to online videos and websites. If you are looking into photography as a career then the story may be altered a little, but it still ends the same way. Everything ever needed is on YouTube or in a book online or at the library, all of those options are so much cheaper than the alternative which is paying for classes. A quote from the movie “The Good Will Hunting” goes very well with this argument, “You dropped 150 grand on an education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!” (1) Unless for whatever reasons your online sources and library are not working for you, do not pay it is just going to add to the cost of something you do not know if you are actually interested in. Give it time.

Photography is used more often than thought. Just think of the last time you were at a family get together, party, social event, the last time you posted an image on social media or even saw a photograph and just thought, wow that looks cool. In any of these situations, would it not have been cool if you could have taken a really neat photo to show and been truly proud of. More people get turned away from the whole idea of photography because of the whole aspect of needing to take images of other people or that require the help of others and if you are an introvert, where some of these things may e outside of your comfort zone, then you can see where the issue is. In reality they have it all wrong. It is not necessary to have people to take the photos of, just take a further look into different types of photography such as Aerial which is taking images most commonly from higher ground of the sky and buildings basically whatever you can see from that point of view, Architectural, Street, Food or Landscape Photography. There does not need to be an abundance of people in the process of making a photo that you can be proud of. On the other hand if you want to branch out and take more photos maybe with people in them, and figure out what interests you, maybe fashion photography or war, Candid which is the whole look of taking a photo of someone when they are not really expecting it this way they look more relaxed and overall happy, or even photojournalism. It all depends on what interests you and the only way to ever figure that out is to do it yourself. Experiment. If done properly, anyone can take a simple yet amazingly beautiful picture without spending a large amount of money. It is not as scary or difficult as some people make it out to be as you can do it for little to no money and without going outside of your comfort zone. Take a further look on the styles of photography as they are not all listed above. Give it time and see which style best suits you, remember there is no rush. Photography is simple and easy for anyone.

(1) "Should You Go To Photography School?" Photography Concentrate. Good Will Hunting, 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.