SAM
Seven personality types who tell they like / love photography..
I love photography… Hmmm, I like photography… whatever may be one’s response about photography, how does it matter!! Well, of course it does to an extent. However, just liking or loving photography itself will not help one in capturing good photographs. One needs to put her/his likeness or love for the photography in action. While interacting with people one generally encounter these phrases ‘I like photography’ or ‘I love photography’. Having said that then comes the next part of talk which defines what type of photography personality one have. Based on my interactions with people I have come across the following types;
1. The Follower – ‘Yes I do, and I show it by clicking like button on hundreds of Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, 500px etc. I love good photographs and make sure I give it a star rating, add to favorites or thumbs up all of them.’
Well, it is great that you take out time to appreciate others’ work and encourage them. However, won’t you like it when you get 100’s like on your own photographs as well?
2. The Excuser – ‘I would have, but, I don’t have a DSLR Camera like these people who capture good photographs and post on web.’
That is a lousy excuse. Stop fooling yourself, pick up your lazy bu## and capture something. As a matter of fact you can play around inside your house itself and you don’t even need a camera. Today, the smart phones have great photography tools & apps to leave behind even a high end digital camera. Here is one good article from Digital Photography School by Darren Rowse that may help you improve your thoughts on and photography ‘A 15 minute exercise to help you improve your photography’
Digital-Photography-School website is a great place to get boundless photography tips from experts on both photography and gear. However, make sure what exactly you are looking for and stick to that. The vast no. of articles on different subjects may overwhelm you and you might lose the track.
3. The Lame Excuser – ‘That is all right, but how good can my phone camera and photograph be?’
Do not underestimate the smartphone power. A great proportion of all the beautiful photographs on Flickr, 500px and other sites are captured by beginners using smart phones. Look inside your smart phone camera settings and play with it. However, before experimenting with different parameters I would recommend to go through the basics about photography.
4. The Auto Man – ‘Who needs to learn all that stuff, I just put my camera in Auto mode and there you go.. click click’
You are right the camera does all the basic functions and good photographs for you. But remember that’s not true in all situations. Your camera can not see what your eyes see. It has its limitations and you will easily find it when all of a sudden your camera starts behaving differently in auto setting especially in low light or high contrast background situation. The results won’t come out good, may be too dark or too bright to ruin your images. I have seen several people take pictures in auto mode with DSLR and flash popped up all the time. In case you want the camera to take charge of your photographs, I would highly recommend you to use Digital cameras but not the DSLR. A digital camera is better equipped with functions for auto and other direct modes than a DSLR, hence resulting in better photographs in auto / scene mode. In addition, you can also customize settings in digital camera to some extent to take photographs as a good as a DSLR. So why not take the advantage of it. However if you want to get into DSLR photography you must know the basics of camera and photography so that you can play around with different settings to improve your photography in all situations while not being The Auto Man.
5. The Inquisitive – ‘How do I know what all things I need to learn to capture good photographs?’
Type the words learn photography on Google and there you go over a 300,000 results. But wait, did you read the manual of your camera and tried to see what’s inside? I would highly recommend it. All cameras without any prejudice to its size come with different types of manuals/guides. Read it while exploring your camera. Don’t have manual because it’s your aunt’s old camera. Worry not, just Google it and you will find it somewhere on the web. Know your tools before you start using it. There are many reasons for doing it and I can site a few,
- You will easily get to know the basic vocabulary of photography (where to start).
- You will be able to adjust settings quickly while reading article / books about photography.
- Only when you know about your camera completely and use it fully to its capabilities while upgrading your photography knowledge, you can decide when you need an equipment upgrade. Just upgrading you camera will not bring in great results if you don’t know it well.
Further, Exposure is a good point to start with. You master exposure and great photographs are guaranteed in your portfolio. However, doing that is an uphill task with so many other related factors influencing exposure and picture quality. Read about it and practice a lot in different settings.
6. The Slacker – ‘I took almost a thousand photographs last week but did not find time to check them all. Every week – month I am adding thousands photographs and all my hard drives are getting full. Looks like I need to invest in buying bigger storage device.’
Well, in my honest opinion you need to invest time in sorting, selecting good ones and discarding all other photographs immediately after your shoot, each time and every time. If you are not doing this diligently you will find yourself neither learning nor developing your photography skills. Every time, when you look at your photograph after a photo shoot, you can tell what is good and what needs to be done. You work hard to cook your favorite dish and then throw it in the refrigerator for a month even without tasting it, would you?
7. The Enthusiast – A photography enthusiast understands clearly that none of the above habits will help her/him enjoy photography and level up her/his skill set. It’s pure passion to capture photographs by all available means as and when one come across an opportunity or create an opportunity to capture good photographs. Almost always ready to freeze a beautiful moment or ready to go out to explore one. You would grab every chance to learn something new or improve existing by practicing. ‘Read, Shoot, Check and Repeat’ is the mantra for a photography enthusiast.
Now tell me, what your personality type is..!!