The more I understand, the less I need to remember….
I was sent this quote by somebody who knows how I train people to ‘Understand Your Camera’ and now use it as a strapline for all my ‘learning’ events, as it fits perfectly with my ethos of learning any skill - not just photography.
Many photography courses, both virtual and physical, will tell you in great detail what settings to use for a given subject and scenario - which is great: if that is all you want to photograph and the scenario is the same! However, what happens when you are faced with an unfamiliar scenario or want to shoot something new and different?
Trial and error?
Frantically googling on your phone for the right settings? (Good luck with that high up in the fells here!)
Guesswork?
Ever gone home from a shoot and been really disappointed when you’ve seen images that looked sharp on a tiny LCD on the back of your camera, but are soft and blurred on a laptop screen? Or the important bits are in shade and under-exposed? Or you’ve thought “if only I’d stood a bit more to the left or the right / higher up or lower down, or used a different lens, shutter speed or aperture?”
13 hours after posting the results of my first ever attempt to look down, rather than up, to a Jet Fighter! Everything ‘Manual’ except Autofocus.
A couple of days ago, I decided for the first time ever, to go somewhere high up and try and get that iconic shot, looking down onto one of the jet fighters that use the Lake District as a training ground, with land in the background, rather than sky! OK, so I have photographed aircraft before - from the ground looking up at things like a Red Arrows display, where I knew where the action was going to happen and could plan and prepare for the shoot accordingly.
Even though this was genuinely a first attempt, the response to the pictures on a Facebook Group has absolutely over-whelmed me! OK, so these were obviously cherry-picked from hundreds, but a surprising percentage were sharp and the exposure was close enough to produce a quality image after a bit of post processing.
I didn’t need to look up any settings or read anything telling me how to shoot aircraft: I just needed to appreciate their velocity to get the right shutter speed and most of the rest came from the same basic understanding of how a camera works - learned with a completely manual film camera 40 years ago!
Whichever workshop or experience you choose at Lakeland Photo Centre, I aim to give you the same understanding that will set you in good stead for the rest of your photography life!
One of my favourites from this shoot…. You can almost hear this picture!
So, if your memory is half as bad as mine, start ‘understanding’ now and stop worrying about forgetting stuff!
lakeland-photo.co.uk/courses