Learning the art of photography
- August 16th, 2010
- Posted in Edie's Rules of Photography
- By Edie
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Guy Tal and I have been having a truncated conversation on Twitter about learning the art of photography, and it started with this comment by him: “Learning to operate the camera is both a skill and a hurdle. Once overcome, photographers should move on to explore more meaningful topics.”
I think this glosses over how complex it is to learn how to operate a camera, both in the specific and general sense. I’m of the mind that for photography artists, learning how to set ƒ stop, shutter speed, ISO, white balance is only the beginning. Learning *why* is important–because you need to know how all of the above interact, and what effects they have on the image. Sure, any muggle with a camera can get lucky and make a good image by accident. Learning how to control your camera means learning how to control the final image. The goal is to consistently take good pictures–for a rather nebulous definition of “good pictures”. I’m not sure you can “overcome” learning how to operate a camera–because you’re going to have to keep going back to basic information for each new camera you use, and for each type of image you want to capture. Whether it’s how to turn on the camera, or what ƒ stop to use to get that whole flower and bee in focus with a 50mm lens, you’re going to be learning and re-learning.
But in the main, Guy is right–don’t get hung up on one thing. Don’t stop learning once you have figured out how ƒ stop influences depth of field, or how shutter speed affects how silky or blurred a waterfall looks, or how ISO affects noise or grain. STart putting that knowledge to work for you, start taking good pictures on purpose, under your control. This is what separates a muggle with a camera from a photographic artist.
What started me on my journey as an artist was a good friend who kept saying “you have a good eye”. But I soon learned that having a good eye wasn’t enough. I had to learn so much–and as an autodidact, I have to really search for what’s missing in my knowledge bank.
Most photography courses start you out in black and white, for example; I started in color, then have cycled back around to black and white to really help me understand not only hue, but tonality. I like to think that when I’m long gone, art historians will refer to the “black and white period of her career”, and how my color photographs were so much better afterwards.
Edie:
First, in a bit of a departure from the norm, I’m currently shooting the canyons of Manhattan, thru which flow rivers horn-blowing taxis rather than Sierra water…
Second, I highly recommend the tuna melt sandwich at Tioga Pass Resort. A stop for one of these is a requirement of mine on any trip to or through the Tioga Pass area.
Third, Guy’s wise statement echoes something I first learned in music. While technique is initially the main focus and something that necessarily must be mastered, it ultimately is of little importance itself. The idea, at least for me, is to attempt to get to the point with the technical stuff where it becomes second-nature and does not interfere with what is most important. The technique should, ideally, end up being something that is only of importance in the context of making an image – it is, ideally, of little importance on it’s own.
Yes, I like to think that I understand some of the technical stuff pretty well, and I’m certainly willing to rattle on about it sometimes. But, in the end, I’m way more interested in those things called photographs!
Dan
@edie:
It’s funny that I came across this post. I just read a post from an engineer who has struggled with the art of photography; the opposite of your struggles. Personally, I’ve been in the same boat as you. I could see it fine but had to learn the technical aspects of the camera.
I just started a site that helps photographers control their cameras by shooting in manual mode. Check it out: http://shootinginmanual.wordpress.com. We also cover the aspects of the craft of photography. I like your stuff. I’ll add your link to my notable sites.