Published on : 12 June 20204 min reading time

Photography is an exciting field for those who like to express themselves through images. However, to improve and gain more and more mastery, it is important to practice and especially to understand the basics of this art. Today, the basic information needed to take your first pictures is easily accessible via online photo training.

Choosing the right equipment for photography

First of all, every photographer should have a camera that allows him to take his first pictures. And the choice is not always obvious between the number of equipment and models on the market. Indeed, there are several types of cameras, hybrids, bridges or reflex cameras. There is no bad choice even if a beginner’s camera is more suitable to start with. You just have to ask yourself the right questions because each type of camera has its own characteristics. The most important thing is above all to know and choose the camera according to your needs or expectations. Bridge cameras, for example, are quite versatile, halfway between the automatism of compact cameras and the high technology of reflex cameras. They are more or less comfortable, especially for beginner photographers. As for hybrids, as their name indicates, they are the perfect mix between bridge cameras and reflex cameras. They benefit from the functions of the reflex, the simplicity of the bridge cameras and the possibility to change the lens. And as far as reflex cameras are concerned, they are popular with photographers with a real interest in creation. However, in order to use them, you need to understand a few basics in photography; namely, shutter speed settings, exposure mode, aperture and more. However, this does not exclude the automatic mode which is also available on DSLR cameras. It depends on the taste of the individual photographer.

Tame your camera

Once the camera is chosen, it’s time to move on to getting to grips with the beast. Learning to take pictures is above all a lot of practice. The beginner photographer will not always succeed in his first photos but this should not discourage him since everything is learning. And the most experienced will confirm it. The objective is simple: to find the right settings in any situation and finally get out of automatic mode. So, it is essential to understand the 3 parameters which are: the aperture, the ISO and the exposure time. On this subject, many beginner’s photography courses on the Internet talk about it and it doesn’t take much time to understand this exposure triangle, which is fundamental in photography. In addition, articles published online and courses given also talk about focus, the interest of choosing the RAW file format, or the rules of compositing an image.

Composing a photo

As in music, a photograph is a composition. Since the dawn of time, photographers have developed certain rules of image composition, rules that still work very well today. However, photography is an art and therefore remains open to experimentation and exceptions that confirm the rule. Nevertheless, for the beginner, it is still essential to know the rules of composition and to understand photography. In music, for example, one element is always highlighted in relation to the others, it can be the bass, the singer’s voice, or the guitar. This doesn’t mean that the other elements are to be neglected, it’s just necessary because not everyone can be in the foreground. So it’s exactly the same thing in photography, the rules of composition allow to draw the attention of the person looking at the photo to an element of the scene. By watching the online courses, the young photographer will learn all the rules of composition of an image; from the most well-known ones like the rule of thirds, symmetry or frame filling to advanced techniques.