Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Photography major - I want to learn photography and quit my job. How to start?

I want to learn photography and quit my job. How to start?

Photography, like painting, sculpture, and even cooking, requires a lot of basic skills practice to form a unified muscle memory for shooting and post-production. Just like a chef does not think about the movement and strength of his hand in the next second when he is shaking his spoon, anything related to the shooting itself that occurs during the shooting process cannot take up the precious time of the brain to think about life.

Photography itself requires a lot of time and a certain amount of money to be invested in the learning process. You don’t have to think about it like "it doesn’t matter what lens you use, what matters is the head behind the camera" or if I use a mobile phone. The rumor of being able to take awesome photos means that even a talented person like Yang Guo would only dare to hold the Black Iron Sword.

The learning process, like other technologies, does not have any special quick shortcuts.

Step 1 Preliminary preparation

Equipment: If you are not prepared to become a equipment owner, then the most basic equipment to invest in the early stage is a full-frame camera, or at least a second-hand full-frame camera. , because of the existence of conversion focal length, C-frame cameras are not conducive to cultivating awareness of the focal length of the 135 system. When you are used to the changes in composition and depth of field brought about by the focal length, changing the frame will bring about a long period of discomfort.

At the same time, a flash should be invested. It does not need any functions, just a simple manual mode, because the characteristics of top-level flashes cannot be used at a certain stage or even in a certain direction.

There should be a monitor with no obvious color cast.

At this point we should stop and think about a question:

Q: What is the difference between photography and painting?

No matter whether you have an answer now, don’t rush to draw conclusions or look for standard answers. At a certain stage of learning, this question will bother you repeatedly. Only by pursuing this question relentlessly can you open up new horizons.

Step 2 Training

From this point on, you will need to complete the following exercises, which may last 3 to 6 months.

1 Be familiar with the equipment

Understand the differences in photos caused by different camera parameters and focal lengths.

The recommended learning material at this time is the EF Lens Guide on Canon’s official website, which contains a large number of comparison charts of parameter changes, giving you an intuitive understanding. 2. Master the basic composition

This kind of practice takes a long time, because many photographers’ careers are accompanied by the innovation and stability of composition.

3 Use light

Understand the color temperature of light on the tones and images of photos, and have proficient experience in using ambient light and artificial light.

At this point, you need to do the following exercises:

Depth of field training - panoramic depth photos of landscapes, cityscapes, etc. and shallow depth of field of single elements.

Shutter training—freeze the moment of fast-moving objects and freeze running water in slow-motion photography.

Close-up training—shooting parts or single objects of different textures expressed by different objects in different postures and lights.

Screen composition training - extensive training on the three major types of composition: geometry, element arrangement, and depth of field contrast.

Light training - Aiming at different textures and forms of a single element in different positions and different forms; taking scene pictures at different times and in different environments to experience the impact of different light sources and methods on photo expression. Then manually arrange the light source to take photos that are more in line with the expression in your heart.

Color training - focuses on expressing the richness of colors and tones, and has a thorough understanding of color principles.