There area many great photography instructors and or videos you can get access to, both in person or online. Many are excellent and can explain the technical aspects of photography.  Photo technology has exploded in recent years. We have evolved from buying film at the drugstore to cameras armed with a chip that you can plug into your computer. We even have quite sophisticated  cameras on our smartphones. For those who haven’t experienced going into a dark room and putting your film in some sort of chemical liquid and then deciding when it has been in long enough, you just can’t appreciate the advantage of the new technology.

The amount of light you let into your camera is fundamental to the quality of your photos. There’s stuff that you will learn in class about shutter speed and aperture. Basically, that controls the amount of light that comes in and can affect things like depth of field. Don’t worry, this will be explained to you by an expert if you take a class. For the purposes of this article, you will only need to know these words to sound competent in conversations with friends taking photos. Most advanced cameras have programs that set your camera depending on your shot. 

When you purchase your professional camera, it is important that the various settings be reviewed by a guy that knows what he is doing.

I have a Sony camera now, but there are several brands that are excellent. I’m not promoting Sony (unless there is a check in mail I don’t know about.) One of the things I like about the RX10 IV is that it is self-contained. It has one built-in lens that goes from 24 to 600. I used to stay in shape carrying around all the lenses I thought necessary for taking a great picture, but the downside was that I lost some good shots fiddling for a different lens. 

The Focus feature is cool. You can focus the target of your photo and hold that focus point while reframing the shot. I think all good cameras have that feature. 

My camera and many others have programs that adjust for different types of shots: 

1. Scene Mode

2. Sports action

3. Macro

4. Landscape

5. Sunset

6. Night scene

7. Handheld Twilight

8. Anti-motion Blur

Each function has an explanation in the manual. Read this carefully so you can pick the right program and, most importantly, so you can sound smart when showing off your photo.(I’m not including advice on the flash and video features existing on your camera. Very important that you explore these options, but I will not ramble about them in this article.)

One of the major cool features is for shooting moving targets. It shoots in rapid succession and anticipates the location of the target as it moves. Warning! Don’t hold the shutter button down too long! Or you will have a million photos. You will end up with some photos of flying birds, sports, etc. that you haven’t been able to get before. Certainly, other major brands have the same feature. Look for it!

Now, another cool thing is that the info of shutter speed, aperture, etc. will appear on the specs when you review your digital photos. Knowing this will also allow you to sound smart when talking about your shot.

You should do a little editing to your photos. There are several great applications for that. I used Lightroom but now use iPhoto to edit my photos. You can easily reframe your photo.

There is a history of instructions about framing your photos. Look for a thing called “Rule of Thirds”. The idea is that you divide up the photo on your computer with 3 horizontal and 3 vertical lines to assist your efforts to crop your photo. You will hear from many that you should start the photo subject in the intersection of the first lower left box created by the vertical and horizontal lines discussed earlier then continue laying out the photo in a sweep toward the upper right. The logic is that people begin to look at the lower left and then are pulled into the rest of the photo. Sometimes a good idea but not always.  What if the subject is walking to the left off the photo? What if the background to the left Is very important? These are things to consider when using this rule. So, anyway, know the “Rule of Thirds,” but only use it if you think that’s the right crop for your photo.

Take more photos than you need. Experiment with framing and settings. Look at the photos by yourself then delete most of them, and publish only the very best. Get a smart nerd in your family to assist in posting on your internet site. Searching for a vacation album in your closet 20 years from now won’t be an issue. 

Decide why you are taking the picture. Are you taking a photo of someone, or is it because someone is in the frame of a beautiful mountain range? After deciding, choose a program providing a deep depth of field. Does the photo being taken tell the story of someone’s adventures in the wilderness, or is it a portrait of the person? If it is a portrait, you would use a shallow depth of field so the background isn’t a distraction. Please refer to a photo expert to set the aperture and shutter speed, or find the settings on your phone, and get it to set for you once you communicate whether it is a landscape or portrait. The focus should be set on either the person or mountains. If you want your camera to handle that decision then look at the focal point through the lens,put the focus icon either on the person or mountains, hold the button half-way down to hold focus, and reframe if necessary.

Remember! The secret to a great photo is to go somewhere providing cool opportunities for photography.

Do research for great photo adventures. There are several great ones. Recently I traveled with Nat Geo to Baja California to photograph whales. Great group of educated folks. A group out of New York—Fancy Girl and Street Boy, is an excellent photography organization and they are incredibly cool. I just got back from a photo shoot in San Miguel for a celebration called Day of the Dead. Look at some of my photos at baileypontification.net

Having said that, the journey to cool opportunities starts within your own mind. For example, there is an entire new world of drama and beauty existing in the bushes at the edge of your yard, always available for someone willing to stop and quietly observe. It’s like an adventure on a distant planet. Having a camera in hand creates an existential awareness. Once I hiked a passage through the Himalayas without my camera then with camera in hand. It was a totally different adventure! I saw the beauty which had escaped me without my brain seeing the photo reality.

Now, I need to reveal one of the best kept secrets in the photo world. iPhone photos! They must be fake! Back when I actually tried to educate myself about photography, I learned that the quality of photography, especially zoom for long distances,  required big, long lenses. How can an iPhone take such cool photos, especially zoomed to shoot long distance, with a lens width of a fraction of an inch?  Impossible! I obtained an article on this but didn’t read it assuming it to be propaganda, but my opinion has since changed. 

Okay, okay…. it’s real…and I love it!  Even if it is the product of some conspiracy, it appears to work! The photos are good quality, and the phone has several adjustment controls that can set preferences for both still and video to adjust to your intent. 

The best quality of the iPhone is that it fits in your pocket. So, when that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presents itself, you have a camera with you! Most super-cool photos are never taken due to lack of camera availability.

So….here’s the deal…without photography I overlooked much of the realities…the beauty…around me. Now that I’ve experienced the world-expanding opportunities of photography, it’s important for me to not allow the technical aspects of this treasure to cloud over my appreciation of the total dynamics and significance of it all.

Now that I mentioned “realities”, it’s time for me to explore the full dimensions of this. The concepts of reality have dimensions beyond the settings of a camera…sounds, smell, touch, taste etc. The beauty of work by some elite photographers like my friend Ari in New York is that they can record reality beyond the settings of the camera. This photographic poetry arises from ephemeral observations that go beyond technical know-how and the instructions in the manual.  You will find it written in the song of a bird, the blush of a child, the wrinkled face of a life fully lived, or anywhere the heart of adventure leads you.. And that is the true essence of what photography is all about.