Learning Photographic Technique

Note: Thanks to students Katie Wilson and Zsuzsanna Winn for inspiring this article.

Learning Photographic Technique

by William Lulow

As I have said often, learning any craft or technique is really a matter of studying it and then applying those techniques by trying to emulate a good instructor. I have two recent students who have signed on to learn photography. Both are taking their new assignments quite seriously and it is truly a pleasure to be able to witness their phenomenal growth in a very short time. One wants eventually to open her own photography business specializing in portraits and families. The other wants to learn product photography so that she can photograph her own products and styled designs for interiors.

The family photographer went on vacation recently and since she has been studying exposure techniques, shooting everything in MANUAL mode and learning composition as well, came up with this stunning image:

The composition and exposure here are textbook perfect. There is nice focus on the foreground and the background treatment with the clouds separating from the sky shows a nice awareness of how best to show a scene like this. The way the mountains on the left kind of lead the eye into the shot and the mountains on the right tend to keep the eye focused toward the middle, maintains proper interest.

My product photography student has really studied her exposure techniques. So much so that she kept a detailed log of her exposures and what they produced in her images. This is really the way to go about it if you want to get a real “feel” for the “exposure triangle” and what it can do to help you make great images. This is her at work:

And this is one of her “setups”:

Both students have purchased some equipment and materials that I always recommend, even to the point of getting better lenses. Many beginning students buy what’s called a “kit.” It usually consists of a good camera, but in order to keep the price attractive, camera stores usually include a “not-so-good” zoom lens. Now these lenses are usually good enough for beginners who are used to using cameras set on AUTOMATIC and just snap away. But when you are studying real photographic technique, they soon learn the limitations of these lenses and begin to want more from their equipment. Such is the case for both of these students.

You can see that my product-oriented photographer has already purchased a small lighting kit, complete with two flash heads, a series of light stands, a background stand, a small boom arm and a number of light controlling softboxes and reflectors. She is ready to go on to some lighting lessons after only a couple of lessons in exposure and camera controls. She will pick up more information quickly because of her dedication to the cause, so to speak.

Both have taken their studies seriously and that’s the best way to accelerate the learning process. As I have said many times, the more you immerse yourself totally in whatever it is you want to learn, the quicker the process will go.