Why do People NEVER Tell Beginner Photographers this 

Really very astute of you on taking your time being more careful and precise. Those things are all important parts of "seeing" and it's the same for every single photographer who's even a little serious about photography. We want to get EVERY shot EVERY time we go out, but I learned as a beginner, lugging around a medium format sheet film camera on an old and heavy field camera tripod of my father's, and from photographers like my father and others, to take your time and restrain your urge to take a lot of shots. Further, back then when I was beginning, sheet film was expensive for a 10-year-old, the tripod was heavy and the sliding wooden legs stuck, the whole contraption was cumbersome and took time to set up. Those difficulties in and of themselves taught me more about economy when out shooting. Often, I'd work so very hard to set up the tripod only to go under the dark cloth and realize what I saw wasn't going to be a good photograph at all, AND for CHRIST's sake it was upside-down and backwards! Slowing down and being more deliberate is key to good image making. Either as you say, we dart about taking pictures of everything (and often pictures are ALL they are) or we take our time, take fewer pictures and getting perhaps a few only, but of those fewer pictures perhaps we get one or two much better photographs than we would have when rushing about taking lots of pictures. In my day every exposure COST you and you didn't waste them. Today, I still have this tendency to "count" and just the other day I came back from shooting some infrared and I said to someone, I just shot a whole roll today, meaning I had taken 36 photographs. When I was looking through them in my studio, it was a new card, and I had PBP0001 to 0036 and I had to shake my head, what were the odds of that? You're absolutely right, the more deliberate and patient we are in the field, the more economical we are in snapping that shutter, the more time we spend in seeing, composing and exposing, the better our end result. We are never going to take ALL the pictures it's possible to take! That is impossible, so maybe we take our time and take ONE really good one! There's always tomorrow...

I'm from film days myself and was taught to get the composition and exposure at the shutter button. But even so, the masters of our art did some work in the darkroom. The temperature of film developer could enhance or bring down contrast. The choice of paper dictated clarity. My point is, don't shun post-processing. Post can be your best friend even used sparingly.

If you look at the composition on Henry's camera and the haze and lack of definition in the landscape you can see the finished processing improves the photograph no end. Cameras are not fool proof: they cannot expose for highlights and shadows equally so some processing is required if you want proper results.

The most important parts of editing are usually just exposure, contrast, shadows, highlights, maybe saturation. These are the basic functions that can make your photos pop, and are very easy to learn. can be done in seconds actually.

RAW and JPEG for speed, otherwise RAW.

At 52, I went back to photography, a hobby I'd had as a teen but abandoned (I was mercilessly criticized and ridiculed by family members and family "friends") . At 52, I bought a good camera, two good lenses, some SD cards, and I've quite enjoyed myself this time round. I haven't shown my photos to anyone, especially not to the one surviving person from my past who did nothing but criticize and get jealous all those years ago. But many of my photos look very good, and I hope to get some printed when I have more money, and perhaps sell some of them. The most I've shared of my revived hobby so far is a few videos to show "proof" my photos aren't photoshopped. I'm learning as I go, getting better and more creative as I go, and I'm enjoying the journey (and a sense of healing of the past). I'm glad you are, too. I'm 55 now, and feel very comfortable with my camera in hand, camera bag over one shoulder 😊

Knowing what to focus on is the gift. I don't know if it can be learned. It's like which outfit it the best to wear, it takes a special talent. The best $$$ camera equipment doesn't make a great photographer.

That's a great point. I would even go so far as to say that modern day cameras actually get in the way of the creative process, as we end up having to make a multitude of decisions as to what settings to dial in - a complete distraction of what we should be focussing on. It's why heading out with a prime lens (50mm perhaps) and shooting 100% manually (even if only as an occasional exercise) can be a great way to foster and stimulate creativity.

@@ThorstenMerz Yeah, I like my 50mm.

I started as a darkroom assistant and there was a lot more than D&B, although that was the most common thing. But we controlled contrast in multiple ways from developer type, temp and concentration through multi-grade printing papers and, yes, d&b while printing. We also did exposure bracketing, one of my jobs was cutting out masks(in cardboard) and feathering the edges with sandpaper. But there was also spotting to remove objects(cloning we call it now) and occasionally multi exposure(aka composites). We even occasionally(it was hard to get right!) used unsharp masking to enhance (aka sharpen) edges. Most modern photo editing techniques come from the darkroom. Incidentally, I too wound up in IT as a programmer and photography became my hobby, but those apprentice skills still come in useful.

@@alangauld6079 I should have typed 'the only post processing I could do'...!! 🤣

Thank you very much!

Great discussion, very nice photos. That sheep seemed to take a real liking to ewe.

Glad you like them!

Many thanks

Thanks Scott

Practice and use all the tools and channels available. :) Have fun!!!!!

I agree with your comments about Lightroom and Photoshop but found Snapseed solved all my post processing problems, and it's free.It's very easy to use and works wonders.

100% And both are as important and relevant now as they were decades ago. Get a grasp of these and you have a solid foundation for life (photography life, I mean🙂)

Thanks!

I teach & less than 1% of students realise " correct" exposure just means a default "mid" exposure because so called educators on youtube never explain it properly. Watch a vid on manual mode & they all say put the meter in the middle...regardless of the scene.