Photography can be complicated. There are a lot of variables to consider when making a photograph. Apertures, ISOs, Shutter speeds, compositions, gear, lights... it can be daunting.
While we at tvC are not experts, we are both classically trained and self-taught. It is the self-teaching aspect that I am attempting to address in this post. Taylor, Andrew and myself are all highly motivated to learn. When the environment around is in high school and then in college was not enough to push us creatively, we decided to *teach ourselves.* There is no reason to wait for an instructor to teach you when you have access to the Internet and when you have the motivation to learn.
There is a LOT you can learn from just a few books and a few websites, assuming you have the motivation to try, to fail, and to keep trying. Assuming you're willing to put in the time, the resources below can help you learn and eventually master some advanced photography techniques.
One place a lot of photographers start is the GEAR box. So many choices! So many companies, lenses, bodies, memory cards, lights, backdrops, stands, tripods etc. It seems the mindset of most (if not all) beginning photographers is "If I only had ______, my photography would be better."
Eventually, most photographers grow out of this mindset. Most people realize that more and more expensive gear doesn't improve their photographs, or if it does, it does so with decreasing margins of return. Past a certain point, expensive gear just gets in the way and becomes PILLARS to hide behind.
That being said, a great place to look for honest gear reviews is Ken Rockwell over at kenrockwell.com
Whenever I consider buying a new piece of camera gear, Ken Rockwell is the first place I look.
Once you've got the gear you've been dreaming of (and maybe the credit card debt to go with it), it's time to start shooting like you mean it.
Some great places to learn the basics of photography and to view inspiring works from the people who are at the top of the food chain these days:
PixelatedImage.com -- David duChemin
David duChemin writes a blog. His vision, which really resonates with me, is "Gear is good, Vision is better." Anything you learn from Duchemin can be applied whether you shoot with a disposable camera, the Nikon D4, or the Ferrari edition Hasselblad. Almost all of the work on this website is natural light - very few reflectors and even fewer speedlights. That's why it's a great place to start!
While we're discussing Mr. duChemin, let's discuss his supplemental (offline) materials. He's written four printed books so far, three of which I *really* like.
Within The Frame -- The rules of photography, how and when to break them, and a layman's guide to the aesthetic effects of apertures, shutter speeds, focal lengths, ISOs, etc... Highly recommended as light reading for advanced amateurs and serious reading for beginners.
VisionMongers -- The application of business to photography. How to run your own show, improve your craft to a professional level, interact with clients, build your brand equity, and balance the opposing sides of your brain: businessperson and photographer. Highly recommended for any photographer who wants to run their own business, or who already does.
Photographically Speaking -- The discussion of photography itself. Art, critique, learning and growing. This book includes many elements discussed in Within The Frame, so it works well as light reading for the occasional nibble. Not as good as the previous two mentioned.
Chase Jarvis LIVE -- Chase Jarvis
Most people know, I'm a big CJ fanboy. I love his images, but mostly I love how active he is in helping the rest of us figure out how we're supposed to do this whole photo thing for a living. Sure, he makes good money teaching photography, but he doesn't need it and he doesn't do it for the money. I've met Chase in person and I can tell you he's a genuinely great guy. He truly believes that the only way for the creative community to succeed is to promote openness and honesty from beginners to professionals. He's got nothing to hide and the rest of us have a lot to learn from him.
cjLIVE is a channel where Chase brings on industry leaders for interviews. Live-streamed to the Internet and also re-posted later on YouTube. They're a little long, but even passively listening to some of these in the background can provide you with amazing insights to help you grow your business and your craft. I posted about this on my personal blog - check that out!
So. Now that you've mastered the basics, you probably want to move on to lighting. Speedlights are the place to start, and that's where the online instruction really gets great.
Strobist.com -- David Hobby
If you only go to one place to learn off-camera lighting, Strobist.com is the place to go. David Hobby started strobist while he was working for some newspaper or another. His collective curricula for off-camera lighting are one-stop-shopping for learning everything you need to know, from the technical aspect anyway. He posts at least a couple times each week with his own images as well as those of awesome photographers from Flickr. Most importantly, he includes the technical details and explanations that show you HOW he gets the results that he gets.
Lighting 101 -- The introduction to necessary equipment and concepts for using lights off-camera. The absolute best place to start. Free.
Lighting 102 -- Continues where Lighting 101 left off, even includes some review! More advanced concepts, multiple lights, changing light conditions, flash zoom, all that and more. Still free.
The Strobist community is huge, world-wide, and very knowledgable. Just check out their pool on Flickr and you'll get an understanding of what I'm talking about. Over 45,000 posts from photographers all over the world? It's gotta be good!
Joemcnally.com -- Joe McNally
You can't talk speedlights without at least mentioning Joe McNally. A National Geographic shooter and classic Nikon posterboy, Joe is extremely humble, very personable, and his two big books teach a LOT about the basics of speedlighting with Nikon equipment.
The Moment it Clicks -- A beautifully illustrated account of some of Joe's more famous images, how he made them and why he used the gear that he did. A great read while you're going through the Strobist Lighting 101 series.
The Hot Shoe Diaries -- More advanced techniques and images, still with Joe's classic storytelling ability. Great while you're going through the Strobist Lighting 102 series.
Speedliting -- Syl Arena
Not a Nikon shooter? Have no fear, in the last couple years, Syl Arena has become the Joe McNally of Canon speedlighting. He has a great series of popular articles on off-camera flash work. To be fair, as a Nikon shooter, I haven't experienced his work myself - but I won't hesitate to recommend him, seeing as McNally and Strobist both do.
For Beginners
JoeyL.com -- Joey Lawrence
Joey L is the person that nearly all high school and college and amateur photographers want to be. He got his big start in the field of high-paying commercial jobs at... 18? 16? I dunno, but really young. He now shoots for Discovery, History Channel, etc. He has two tutorials out, but both cost big money and I haven't seen either of them, despite my repeated attempts to get my grubby paws on them.
Regardless, if you're looking for inspiring images, You can't go wrong with a trip through his portfolios and some of the older posts (1) (2) (3) on his blog.
Applying it
If you bought all 5 of the books I recommended above, you would spend approximately $135 plus shipping and handling (probably free). Each book might take you 3 to 5 days to get through... the first time. Then you'd want to go through them again and try out the techniques that you found interesting (most of them). Most of these books are ones you will keep coming back to year after year as you search for that one nugget you missed or the photograph that inspired you when you first saw it.If you really applied yourself, you could go through the Strobist Lighting curricula in 2 weeks for each session. Assuming you don't have 2 speedlights already, you would probably spend another $800 to $1500 on lights and stands, depending on the brands you purchase (Vivitars vs Nikon vs Hong Kong knock offs).
Once you have read all of those books, read the Strobist material, and watched a few of the best videos on cjLIVE, I can *ALMOST* guarantee that your work will be at least 5x better than it was 2 months earlier. In 2 months, you can spend less than $2,000 and learn more than if you went to ANY university and took a semester of classes (at substantially more than $2k). Hell, you'd learn more by applying yourself to the resources above than you'd learn getting a full-on photography degree from some universities.*
Of course, to improve and to learn from any of the resources above, you have to do two things:
1) Commit to learning and to trying and failing and learning and trying and failing all over again.
2) SHOOT. Put frames through your camera and batteries through your flashes. No idea is stupid, no concept is impossible. The more you shoot, the more you create, the more you experiment, the more you learn.
Interestingly enough, the more you know technically, the easier it is to focus on your vision. Once you're comfortable using your tools (lenses, bodies, lights) they become muscle-memory; something you can do without thinking. It is only then that you can truly apply your creative juices to creating beautiful works of photographic art.
Don't believe me? When you first picked up your camera, did you spend most of your time fumbling around with buttons and switches and dials? Was your subject matter always in the middle of the frame? Were all your models posed the same way? I know mine were.
Even now, though I have a good grasp of lighting and my tools, when I use a new camera body or a new light or a new lens or I borrow a friend's gear, I suddenly find myself fighting with my equipment, rather than focusing on expressing my vision. I find myself unable to focus on the pose or the composition because I'm worried about the exposure or the lighting.
Mastering these technical details will make your photography immeasurably stronger by freeing your mind to focus on your vision for the photograph. Rather than struggling with the details of HOW, you can focus on the WHY.
Stay tuned next week for a followup post on WHY we shoot, specifically by studying the works of the great photography masters of the past and present.
Comments? Questions? Resources we missed? Leave a comment!
Cheers,
-Matt Beaty
Image by Taylor Mahoney - day 2 of the Havasupai Trip - 2011
*So why bother going to a university at all? Networking and Facilities. Photography programs generally have well-connected faculty, enable you to connect with other photo people, and they let you use their equipment rather than buying your own.
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