Now that you have your brand new camera, lens, and tripod, you are ready to conquer the world of landscape photography. So, how do you go about taking a good photo? It’s time to learn how to use your photography gear.
“Now that I have the right photography gear, what should I do next?”
When you acquire a brand new piece of equipment you need to get familiar with it. You will need to know what various buttons on the camera are for, how to mount filters on the lens (if you are using them), and how to quickly adjust your tripod to get it in position. I highly recommend spending time with your new equipment before you go on a workshop or head for a faraway, exotic location. You don’t want to be struggling with camera settings as the sun sets in a blaze of awesome glory over the Grand Canyon. So, get familiar with your gear, and be ready to use it when you arrive on location.
“How should I go about learning how to take photos?”
You can learn to use your camera with the help of the Internet, or by taking classes at a local photography club. Most photography classes start with a focus on composition, but we prefer to start out by teaching exposure. A clear understanding of how to get a proper exposure is critically important. Technical skills take patience and practice – but once you understand them, they will help you take great photos no matter the conditions. Learning to expose properly will also teach you to recognize light conditions that are suitable for taking a good photograph.
If you are not familiar with ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, that’s where you should start. Get a book at the library (if books are too old-fashioned for you, there are plenty of eBooks that will give you the information you need) – or check out basic photography classes at your local camera club. I always encourage beginners to set their camera to manual mode and work to understand how ISO, aperture, and shutter speed work together. I also advise students to learn to use the histogram on the back of their camera to determine the proper exposure for the subject. This exercise may prove a bit frustrating if you’re looking to create great photos right from the start, but it will prove invaluable in your future endeavors. Once you have mastered exposure in manual mode, learning to use other shooting modes (fully automatic, aperture priority, and shutter priority modes) should be a piece of cake.
If you’ve purchased a GND or ND filter, it’s a good idea to incorporate them into your workflow for controlling exposure. Read everything you can, take a few classes, and spend time working with your equipment. There’s nothing more important than learning the basics.
“Next Step: Learn to Compose”
Exposure is a technical skill grounded in math. Once you understand it, you’ll be able to use the principals for every image you create. Composition, on the other hand, is an artistic skill that has almost limitless potential… and it’s something you’ll never stop learning.
You can start out by learning the basic “rules” of composition by taking a class, reading any number of books on the subject, or purchasing our eBook. (Of course, we recommend the latter – and when you’ve finished it, you might be interested in taking things further with our eBook on the Gestalt Principles of Perception.) ;)
Some people find artistic skills even more difficult to master than technical skills. Even those who are intuitively “artistic” will find that their vision and understanding evolve over time. Do keep in mind that the “rules” of composition are not set in stone. Once you understand why they are useful, you can break them as often as you like. Remember – you are the artist. So, you make the rules.
Am I Ready Now?
Once you can control your exposure and you know a bit about composition, you are ready to try your hand at creating some great photographs. Some photographers start out believing that they can just fix their errors in Photoshop. That attitude will make you a lazy photographer – and can often mean you’ll spend a lot more time in post, trying to make corrections that could have been avoided if you’d taken the time to do it right in the first place. Rather than relying on post-processing to make things right, challenge yourself to capture the scene in-camera. That won’t always be possible, but you’ll train yourself to recognize good light and make the most of your equipment.
Once you know how to expose and compose, next step is to learn how to process an image…