Having Fun With Your Camera
Many photographers get their start simply by grabbing a camera, any camera, and learning about it and taking photos. It is so much easier today in our digital world to learn how to take photos because we have that instant gratification of seeing our image on-screen on the back of the camera. Ever since my kids could talk every time I take a photo they say, “Let me see it! Let me see it!” Ah how times have changed. If I wanted to do that when I was a kid mom would have to finish shooting the rest of the photos in the 36 roll film then rewind it and sometime soon drop it off at the grocery store to be shipped to some obscure lab only to be returned to us 2 weeks later to pick up at our convenience which was probably 2 weeks after it got back. Only then would I be able to see what I looked like in the photo and as you may have guessed, at 4 years old, by then who cares……
Yes times have changed. Digital cameras give everyone a chance to be a photographer. Anyone with a camera can feel like they are a pro and with the quality of digital cameras and the low-cost of beginner digital SLR’s they can make you look like a pro too with very little experience.
I was at a wedding last weekend and I saw an older man during the ceremony who had his Canon Rebel and was walking all around during the ceremony (holding the camera incorrectly) and taking photos. I jokingly told my wife, “Everyone thinks they are a photographer.” but in actuality the availability of these professional quality cameras really can make you feel like, well, a professional.
As a photographer you always want to “Get that Shot” right? Here’s a few basic tips to think about before we start running all around taking a bunch of photos like during a wedding.
Tip No. 1: Don’t go running all around during a wedding! It sounds funny to say but you have to remember that the bride and groom paid a ton of money for this event to share with their invited guests. They want their guests to remember the beauty of the event and not the amateur photographer who was running up and down the isles during the ceremony. Be conscious of your surroundings and how you are having an impact on them. You want to get that great shot but you don’t want to get in the way of your fellow photographers getting great shots too.
Tip No. 2: Efficiency. There is nothing worse than standing in the South Texas sun in the middle of the day waiting for a photographer to get their act together and take the photo only to be told, “Oh wait, let me do that again!”…. gggrrrr. A little preparation goes a long way. Study your camera, become familiar with it. Get comfortable with its quirks. That will greatly enhance your experience. The only thing worse than being the guy in front of the camera sweating their head off waiting for the photographer to get their stuff together is being the photographer behind the camera sweating their head off, getting yelled at by the guy in front of the camera, all at the same time trying to understand their camera. Learn your camera.
Tip No. 3: Shoot like you might run out of film. I know it’s crazy to say in today’s world of Gigabytes and Terabytes but really, too much can be too much. 1800 photos of one flower is going to take up a lot of storage space and is greatly going to increase your processing time. Take a minute to think about your shot before you take it. Think about how you want it to look. The great thing about these point and shoot cameras is that most of them have the digital viewfinder in the back of the camera and really are What You See is What You Get (WYSIWYG). Frame it, adjust for color and light, make sure your image looks appealing to you and then fire away. The less images you have to go through at the end of the day means the less time you will have to spend in front of your computer later on. You want to enjoy your photos, not start despising them because of how many you took.
So with that said let’s go out in the world and take some photos! I hope these tips help and please, keep the feedback coming!
-Robert Hillis
