How to take better photographs: An Introduction

At the top of the list of my Blog Goals for 2016 was to take better photographs, and so what better way to improve my photography step by step than make it into a blog series? I’ve spent a lot of time the other side of the lense in my teens (and I may or may not share the evidence one day), but my actual knowledge of photographic science is very limited. Strange really as that was my dad’s degree and he worked at Kodak straight out of uni and made his way high up as a photographic scientist for quite a few years. A big cheese in the film photography world. But not me, no no no. I currently shoot nearly everything in auto focus, no flash mode.

Yep.

I literally know nothing about how to actually use a DSLR camera, I’m just lucky enough so far that I’ve got by using a reasonable eye for composition and a lovely 50mm lense. Oof that background blur. Yum!

I don’t even actually own my own camera – it has been lovingly borrowed stolen from Adam, who was really into photography in past years so has all the kit to get me started! It’s a Canon D450 if you’re interested – to me I am yet to actually find out what that means, but soon I’ll be a pro! He’s also really cute and recently also subscribed me to Digital Photography magazine as he knows I’m keen to really give this a go so I’ve been busy oggling stunning photos in my lunch break.

I love the process of taking photographs – searching out interesting locations and focusing on the little details that may have otherwise been missed. Capturing how the day felt rather than just how you remembered it through the way the light was, or how certain colours popped. Some of my favourite photos pair with great memories, and others were purely spur of the moment and turned out unexpectedly.

So here goes, I’m officially launching a blog series where I steer you blindly through the world of ISO, white balance, F/Stops, RAW, exposure and histograms. Feel free to jump in at any point with hints, tips and recommendations as I explore the ways and means to take better photographs. This post is purely an introduction to that, I’ll keep you updated month by month how it’s going, and hopefully also discover some really useful bits along the way so that maybe we can improve together!

Here’s to the year I learn how to use my camera!