I have a confession to make. Until a few weeks ago I knew nothing about photography. Words like f-stop, aperture, exposure, and ISO meant nothing to me. I put my camera in auto mode, turned off the flash, and had to take tons of photos in order to get a few nice looking shots.
I saw this quote from Photo 101 by Nicole Hill Gerulat on Making It Lovely, and I knew this book was just what I needed.
“It should not take 1,000 shots (or even 10) to get the right one. Who has that kind of time? Or hard drive space? The goal here is to get our percentages up so that at least 80% of a shoot is portfolio-worthy.”
The book covers basic camera functions, film vs. digital, exposure, composition, white balance, lenses, people & posing, lighting, and photo shoots. The technical information has been the most helpful to me. Everything is explained simply and supplemented with plenty of example photos. I still need a lot of practice before I’ll be comfortable shooting exclusively in manual mode, but the “M” setting on my camera doesn’t seem quite so scary now!
 |
great looking photos!
wait, who took your product shots then? Your product photos are all really nice.
Thanks Phoebe! I did my own product photos. It’s not that I can’t get good shots, it’s that I have to take SO many bad shots just to get a few good ones! I want to learn how to use my camera like a pro so I can take fewer photos and have most of them be keepers. :)
I am just now learning the basics as well! I have always had an eye for the shot because I understand spacial arrangement and balance but now I kind of know how to manipulate the camera too! I would never have known you were just learning. Your photos are always so lovely!
Thanks Erin! Three cheers for learning to use a camera properly, haha!
Thank you for such a nice write-up! I hope the application of what you learned goes well!
Thank you for writing such a helpful book! :)