Lately, I have been receiving lots of emails and questions about photography. I LOVE this because photography happens to be one of my favorite things to talk about. I mean…there is a reason I decided to make it my job. I. Love. It.
I started learning about photography when I was 13 and am completely “self-taught”. I hesitate to say “self-taught” because, while I have never taken any official or formal classes, there is so much useful information on the internet that it feels like I was formally educated. I like to say I went to the University of Google. In recent years, I’ve had the privilege of attending workshops and seminars about photography. Prior to those, everything was internet tutorials and personal experience. This makes me so grateful for the age we live in because I literally was able to get an education that led me to my job…from my couch. Can I get a woot-woot??
In my opinion, photography is an awesome skill for anyone to learn because whether or not you want to be a photographer for a living, who doesn’t want nice pictures of their family?
Today I thought I would round up some of my favorite internet resources that helped me in the early stages of learning photography and still help me today.
One of my favorite things about photography is that there is always more to learn. Always. I don’t think I will ever feel like I have “mastered” any part of it and that is a good thing! That allows us to constantly push ourselves and it means we can always be getting better because there is always room for improvement. High fives all around for that! With that being said, I want to start at square one. So, if you are just looking for nicer photos of your kids playing together, better-captured memories on vacations, or just a new hobby, here is where I would start!
Let’s talk gear!
There are sooooo many great cameras on the market. How are you supposed to know where to start? When I first started learning about cameras I was overwhelmed by the amount of numbers and letters involved in the names of camera models. Not to fear, here are some of my recommendations. These are all Canon products because I am a Canon girl through and through, but if you don’t want to go that route, Nikon makes great gear as well.
A great place to start is a Canon Rebel.
They are affordable, but still great quality! This is a step up from your standard “point and shoot” camera. It falls into the category of a DSLR. One nice thing about a Canon Rebel is that it is easy to use straight out of the box. You don’t really need to know anything about it to get started, but you can also really grow with it. It takes beautiful pictures on the standard Auto setting but, its manual settings will allow you to fully learn the ins and outs of a sophisticated camera when you are ready.
There are several different models based at different price points. Here are a few that I recommend!
Canon T5, Canon T5i. (The T5i is great if you are interested in video as well!)
*If you see yourself moving even further into photography and want a camera that is the next step up I would highly recommend a Canon 6D! This is what I shoot on in my personal life, and is the same camera that both my second and video shooters use at weddings! It’s produces great quality images and is an amazing value for the price!! You can find it here!
Next steps:
If you want to take it even further I would recommend upgrading the lens.
I would suggest moving to a lens with a lower aperture. The gist of this (in the most basic terms) is that a low aperture allows you to blur out the background of a photo…which makes it all pretty. It will also allow you to take better pictures in darker places (more on this later).
I would recommend starting with a 50mm or a 35mm lens. What you should know ahead of time is that these “prime” lenses do not zoom in or out. You will get one focal length (either 50mm or 35mm), so the rest will have to be done by moving your feet, but it is totally worth it! Trust me!
Okay, now that we’ve covered basic gear, let’s move on to learning more about actually taking pictures! Cue the YouTube videos! Grab your camera, pop some popcorn, and get ready!
If you really want to take your photos to the next level, I would start by learning to take your camera off the Auto setting!
I promise it’s not as scary as it sounds and really does make a difference! I learned to shoot in Manual from this awesome Kevin & Amanda tutorial. I really recommend it as a great place to start!
A great middle ground is shooting in Aperture Priority mode (especially if you bought one of those prime lenses from up there ^^^)! This will allow you to control the blurry background, but the camera will figure the rest out for you! If you are doing more sports photography, or your kids move really fast, I would hang out in Shutter Priority mode. Kevin & Amanda explain both of those things!
Next up are some of my favorite people and resources. All of these photographers/sites have taught me so much of what I do. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be a wedding photographer if I hadn’t found them in High School.
- Jasmine Star, YouTube, blog.
- Katelyn James, blog.
- Jana Williams, YouTube, blog. (She also has a great video tutorial on shooting in Manual Mode on your camera, find it here!)
- Creative Live. They offer free, live courses that are amaaazzinggg. Check out their calendar to see what is coming up.
- If you are looking to take your photography further and want to take a class on it, I would really recommend Shoot Fly Shoot. I took both their Photography 101 and 102 classes in high school and LOVED them! If you are a visual learner like me, these are great! Their free class is a great place to start!
I hope this post was helpful to some of you looking to dip your toes into Photography! Please, please, please don’t hesitate to email me or comment if you have any questions at all! I love talking about this stuff…so I am very happy to help!
Hope you are having a great Monday!
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Beginner photography tips