Time for #advice
We bought the Panasonic Lumix DC-TZ99 and it's such a nice camera, but I realised I really need to start studying #photography again.
Does anyone know a good online course I can attend to make the best out of this small one?
I am already studying the instructions pamphlet, watching videos and trying to remember what I studied when I was younger, but I'd love to do more.
Thank you!
#photographygear
@[email protected] @photography
IMO forget the online resources. Buy a book by someone who knows what they’re doing, such as Michael Freeman. He’s got some excellent books on composition and photography in general. As for the tech stuff, forget about it. Set it to aperture priority, select a good aperture and shoot away. To really improve you need to shoot a lot, and I mean a lot a lot. Shoot daily, even if it’s just your way to work. In the evening, look at the pictures you took. Are you happy with them? How could they be improved meaningfully? One of the best exercises I’ve found is to shoot hundreds of pictures of a single object. Because this will force you into new perspectives, even if they don’t work, it’s still meaningful. You’re also learning why some things work and why others don’t. There are as many ways to shoot a house as there are sand grains on planet Earth. The only limit really is the imagination. So focus on an object and get as much out of that object as you can, if you get 300-400 of the house in the previous example, you can move on. You can also combine this exercise with the books. So if you read something about converging lines, try to get converging lines in a house.
@ZkhqrD5o thank you, this is an amazing advice as well. I'll start finding some books and experiment with my camera on a daily basis
Oops, I forgot to mention, I highly recommend starting your exercises in black and white. This is important because it gets rid of the distracting colours. It will really help you to see graphical elements and shapes instead of objects. And this is such an important skill. You need to learn to segment the frame and abstract objects into shapes, lines and points because this is what photography is, at its core.
@ZkhqrD5o oooh I didn't think about that. Thank you again!
@ZkhqrD5o @gilraen79
I think all thoses advices are great, but, on one point, I do disagree : "In the evening, look at the pictures you took. Are you happy with them? How could they be improved meaningfully?"
In the evening might be too short.
The moment to review your photograph should be after a while, when you do not really remember the photograph.
It could be at the end of the week, or the next one.
But reviewing a picture when you just took it will not help you.