How do photographers learn?

First, master the use of photographic equipment.

You don't need to master those messy functions to take pictures with your mobile phone. As long as you can press a "photo" button, you can solve 99% of the shooting tasks. The so-called messy functions, including super macro, streamer shutter, HDR, time-lapse photography, and even "professional photography", are all functions that are not used once in 800 years, but they are dazzling and find photography complicated and difficult to learn.

SLR cameras also have many similar functions. In fact, only 10% of a photo is affected by photographic equipment.

I personally use the "zoom function" and "metering and focusing" functions to take photos of my mobile phone. Among them, the "zoom function" can compose a picture by changing the size of the scene and control the depth of field at the same time; The function of "metering and focusing" is very practical. You can measure light and focus at the same time with your little finger at the position of the "main body" on the screen. As shown in the figure below (Figure 3), click on the place you want to find out.

For SLR camera photography, I suggest you be familiar with camera control first. This step is simple. Just put the camera and instructions on the table and play with them a few times. Although the camera manual is relatively thick, there are not many parts that need to be read carefully. Be sure to read it. I have avoided playing photography for several years, but I still have a little knowledge of basic common sense.

For camera settings, according to my experience, the use probability of "aperture priority" accounts for 80% (mainly to control the depth of field); The priority probability of shutter use is about 15% (dynamic subject shooting control), and the probability of manual gear use is only 5% (when it is impossible to focus accurately). So it is generally set to "aperture priority" mode.

Automatic sensitivity (except night shooting with tripod), automatic white balance (except sunrise and sunset shooting), select "matrix metering" (Canon-evaluation metering, Sony-multiple metering), and control the brightness of photos with exposure compensation tone. The above settings can complete 95% of the shooting environment (normal light).

Second, learn the basic theory of photography.

Any subject has a theoretical basis, and photography is no exception. If you want to take good photos, you must master the basic photography theory. Such as the types and characteristics of light; Types and characteristics of colors; Light ratio, hue, hue, exposure, exposure compensation, depth of field, how to control depth of field and so on. At present, there is little systematic teaching of the basic knowledge of photography theory on the Internet. Next, I will publish an introductory tutorial on photography through a column and share how to learn photography systematically. I hope everyone will continue to pay attention to me.

Third, learn to use light well.

Outdoor, the light angle is the best in the morning and evening, and the light quality is the softest. At this time, the scenery photographed has beautiful light and shadow, strong three-dimensional sense and atmosphere, which is the best light for shooting landscapes, flowers and portraits. Especially the shooting of plants and flowers is more energetic in the morning light.

Fourth, learn photography composition.

A photo usually involves five main elements: subject, companion, environment, foreground and background. So, how to deal with these elements? Photographic composition, in layman's terms, is to define a range with the subject or interest center as the visual center of gravity. After that, select and process the scenes in the range, namely the other four elements.

If you shoot plants and flowers, determine the subject (beautiful shape, beautiful light and shadow), and also make sure that the background is simple and the environment is simple. As shown in the following figure (figure 10), the foil flowers play a role in setting off and enriching the picture.

If you shoot people, people can walk around at will, so the choice of environment and background will be relatively easy. However, we should also pay attention to the echo, integration, balance and clear priorities of the characters with the environment and background to avoid usurping the role of the host.

If shooting scenery, novice photographers must first master some classic composition patterns. For example, diagonal composition, guide line composition, three-point composition, nine-grid composition, balanced composition, decentralized composition and so on. There are about thirty. For more than 90% of the shooting scenes, it is enough to master these classic composition patterns.

Fifth, see more, practice more and communicate more.

How to learn photography? It is a big problem, and this article is just a simple guide. If you want to make rapid progress, you should watch more excellent photographs, practice shooting on various subjects and communicate with photographers. To sum up, see more, practice more and communicate more.

To sum up, the above five steps are how to learn the general direction of photography. Including learning to use photographic equipment, mastering the basic theory of photography, photographic lighting, photographic composition, plus seeing more, practicing more and communicating more. It is not difficult to learn photography quickly by following these five steps.