My Tips for Beginner Photographers (Part 1)

Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist!

Today I'm going to be giving tips for beginner photographers. I will be using examples. All of these photos are mine. 

With the descriptions I use (and the fact that I'm using my own photos), it may seem as if I'm being arrogant, but I'm not. I just don't want to get in trouble for copyright, which is why I use my examples and only mine.

I will be doing multiple parts to this just because I don't feel like I can put all my tips into one post.

Let's get into the tips!

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021,

1. Learn the Jargon

Every skill has a language. If you intend to pick up that skill, then knowing the terminology is crucial. Initially, it may not seem that important, but if you read photography tips online, blog posts and articles will always use terminology. Cameras will as well. There will be options to change the ISO. You'll hear or read words such as aperture, bokeh, exposure, DOF, DSLR, F-stop, golden hour, HDR, JPEG, macro, manual, shutter speed, and vignetting, though there are many others.

I will define what some of these are here.

1. The general definition of aperture is a hole, opening, or gap. In photography (and optics), the aperture is a space through which light passes. The F-stop controls the aperture on a manual or DSLR camera. F-stops don't always exist on digital cameras or point-and-shoot cameras. The smaller the aperture, the less exposure there is, leading to a darker photo, while the larger the aperture, the more exposure there is, leading to a brighter photo.

2. Bokeh is a photo style. When done right, it leads to a photo with soft edges. When done right, the photo will have little balls of color and light. It's hard to explain, so let me just show you an example.

Holiday Spirit. November 27, 2016. Samsung WB1100F.

This is a basic example of bokeh. I took this in 2016 at my local airport. This was a wreath they had up for Christmas. This isn't a perfect nor great example of bokeh, but it does show the basic photo style.

White Bokeh. November 27, 2016. Samsung WB1100F.

This photo is a better example of bokeh. I showed the other one just to show what the subject of each photo is supposed to be. This is the same wreath in a more bokeh style kind of photo. 

3. DOF is an acronym for depth of field. Depth of field is basically the distance between the nearest and farthest objects that are in sharp focus in a photo. There is a shallow depth of field and deep depth of field, but there are also depth of fields that fall between these. A shallow depth of field has a blurry background with a sharp focus on the subject, while a deep depth of field has everything from the background to the foreground in focus. 

Rose Garden. October 27, 2017. FujiFilm Finepix XP80.

This photo above would be an example of a deep depth of field, while the photo below this text would be an example of a shallow depth of field.

Sunflower. May 25, 2018. Samsung WB1100F.

2. Know Your Camera

You have to know your camera almost as well as yourself or your best friend. You have to know what it can do and what it can't do. You have to know how to use it and what modes it has. Knowing your camera is a key part of photography. Even if the camera you use is simply the one on your iPhone, you still have to know it. 

As far as cameras go, just remember: the camera you have doesn't determine your skill as a photographer. While all cameras have a different photo quality, they don't determine your skill. You just have to play to the strengths of your camera. 

The price of the camera doesn't matter, especially if you're a beginner. Having a better or expensive camera won't make you a better photographer. You still have to put in the work to get great shots. The first camera I used when I began my photography journey was my father's iPhone 5s.

3. Photograph Anything and Everything

This helped me so much when I began doing photography. I would take photos of anything and everything. It's helped me find out what things I like to photograph most. Taking your camera everywhere and taking photos of whatever you see is very helpful. 

It helps you learn composition and lighting, especially if you prefer to learn things organically like I do. Just make sure that when you take photos, you do it lawfully.

Some stores don't like photography in their stores. I have been guilty of this because I didn't know. At the same time though, the employee who asked me to not take photos made a weird point that I'm not sure is fully valid considering I haven't done the research for it. I will likely share this story later.

Make sure that wherever you are allows photos. Some places allow photography but not videography and it is very helpful to know which places. Check the FAQs for museums, particularly art museums if you want to film or take photos there. Some museums are stricter than others.

Check store policies if stores are something you frequent often and occasionally photograph in. There are also places where you can photograph legally but where most photographers like to ask. This is usually in the case of street photography. 

There is this thing called the Right to Privacy, which is not a thing explicitly included in the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Bill of Rights but is something that was determined with court cases. I'm not going to go into detail with what this means because it isn't fully relevant.

The reason being is this: the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution is the freedom of speech and expression. The one photographers fall under when it comes to their photos is the freedom of expression. If someone--or something--is in a public space and can be seen by the public eye then a photographer can legally take photos without someone's consent. This changes when it comes to private property, wherein the photographer does need permission to photograph. There technically isn't a right to privacy case when in a public space.

Despite this legality though, many photographers prefer to ask permission. While it is legal to, let's say, take a photo of someone's dog in public, most photographers like to ask that way they won't get sued if that photo ends up online. 

It's also polite, especially if you want to take a close-up. It's more of a protection and kindness thing than anything else. You don't have to ask for someone's permission to photograph them or their pets if they're in public, but most photographers like to in order to avoid being sued over it.

4. Be Creative

Creativity is an artist's best friend. That applies to photographers as well, though it might be a secondary best friend considering their camera is the first.

Let's take this example: 

A Photographer's Nightmare. October 24, 2018. Samsung WB1100F.

I took this photo just before Halloween in 2018. A camera is a photographer's most prized possession, for good reason. A photographer's greatest fear (pertaining to their hobby/career) is losing their camera or their camera being stolen. Most photographers don't like other people touching their camera unless they give permission. 

I decided to use this to my advantage. At this moment in time, I was very interested in photos with shadows as the subject. The story is that a camera is briefly left unattended. This leads the camera to be stolen. 

This is both creative and artistically pleasing. The composition is off to the side, which is general photo advice photographers give to beginners. It's referred to as the 'rule of thirds' wherein you place the subject of the photo on an intersecting line using a grid that can be found in a camera's settings.

Following the rule of thirds in most cases will make photos appear more attractive, sometimes even more professional. The rule of thirds doesn't always have to be followed (despite it saying 'rule'), but it's a great technique to know to improve photo composition.

Magnifying Light. September 22, 2018. Samsung WB1100F.

Let's now take this photo. I also took this in 2018. This one took a few tries to get right. This was a photo of the ceiling fan in the living room of my old house. The black shadow is my left hand, while the big ring in the middle is a magnifying glass.

5. Experiment

You never know what photo you are going to get until you take it. One tip I can give for experimenting is to change the framing of the photo. How can you elevate a landscape photo? You can frame it using nature. Let's take these examples:

Wish. May 16, 2019. Samsung WB1100F.

Reaching Out. May 16, 2019. Samsung WB1100F.

Spiral. May 16, 2019. Samsung WB1100F.

All of these were taken in 2019. That year I was really interested in photoshoots. It may seem like I took these in a forest. They weren't. Not exactly, anyway. These photos were taken in the backyard of my aunt's old house. Notice how the leaves frame the subject (my sister). 

Camouflage. May 20, 2019. FujiFilm Finepix XP80.

The photo above was also taken in 2019. I can't remember what zoo I took this at, but it was either the Little Rock Zoo, Memphis Zoo, or Atlanta Zoo. In this photo I framed the reptile's face using the leaves in the exhibit. 

However, not only frames made of nature can frame a subject. Man-made objects can as well. Look at these examples: 

Tower of Power. September 3, 2017. FujiFilm Finepix XP80.

I took this photo at Six Flags Over Texas in 2017. I took this photo of the Superman: Tower of Power ride from the Oil Derrick observation deck. I decided to use the chain-link fence on the observation tower to frame the ride.

Gated Gator. December 31, 2016. Samsung WB1100F.

I took this one at SeaWorld San Antonio in 2016. For this one I used the short exhibit fence to frame the alligator's eye. Experiment with framing. Anything can be used as a frame. Even household objects. Perhaps even candy.

Candy Cane Frame. December 25, 2016. FujiFilm Finepix XP80.

I took this photo in 2016 at SeaWorld San Antonio. This isn't one of my all-time best--nor favorite--photos, but it is an example of framing. I tried to frame a cupcake by using a candy cane.

The First Task. November 18, 2016. iPhone 6.

This photo would be another example of framing. This is a photo of Chapter 20: The First Task in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I took this photo in 2016 as well using a magnifying glass, which I decided to use to frame the words that begin the chapter.

Potterheart. November 19, 2016. Samsung WB1100F.

The last example of framing is this photo. I made the black heart shaped cutout that this photo showcases. This is a DIY (do-it-yourself) lens filter.

Light Walk. February 4, 2018. Samsung WB1100F.

While we're on the topic of experimenting, I thought it'd be good to use the photo above as an example. This falls under knowing your camera as well, but it fits really well here. The camera I used to take this photo has a light trace option. This option is commonly used to take photos of moving cars. It leads to a really cool line of light. 

I decided to attempt this feature with Christmas lights in a local neighborhood of mine. It leads to these really intriguing photos. No two photos end up the same, which is the really cool part of this camera option. 

Light Trail. December 15, 2019. Samsung WB1100F.

Let's take this photo. This is the same neighborhood photographed using the same light trace feature one year later.

6. Change the Lighting

Lighting makes a difference when it comes to photos. I mentioned this in my 2016: A Year in Photos post, but I used to be on National Geographic's My Shot, which was a children's photography social media type platform before it went defunct. 

One of the photos I took was of a sunflower (photo below). A moderator commented on it and complimented me, and that comment has stuck out to me since they said that. Because of that, I try to use this as much as I can. 

Sunny Dew. July 14, 2016. iPhone 6.

The lighting can really impact the photo you're taking, and I'm not just talking about natural light. I'm talking about the type of light you use. I took this photo whilst holding an iPhone 6 in my right hand, and a flashlight in my left hand. 

The reason I did this was because it was fairly late at night and I didn't want to disturb my neighbors or their dogs with the flash option since using a flash is very sudden and bright. So, I used a flashlight. This ultimately made this photo better. 

The comment I received was that the use of a flashlight was a good choice because a flash tends to leave a more bright, harsh light, whereas flashlights provide a more soft type of light, as you can see by how the flower has a kind of gradient. 

I would definitely recommend trying to take photos with a flashlight instead of a flash. It requires more practice and more positioning, but overall, you may be surprised with the shot you get, and you may get a better photo because of it.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time, 

Lexi K🖌