See the elk that's back there? ["Yeah."]
Pretty cool! I don't know if it's out of focus in the video,
but I'm going to start the intro anyway.
In today's video, I'd like to talk about some of the things that I wish that I knew
when I was first starting out in photography. Some of these took me a few years to learn,
and once I did, they were really helpful. So, hopefully they'll help you out too! Here we go.
Let's begin with one of the biggest things I wish I knew when I was starting out in photography, and
that is that aperture is actually a fraction. Now, aperture is obviously one of the most important
camera settings out there. It affects your depth of field and how much light you capture. But the
way that photographers talk about aperture can be a little bit confusing at first, because, for
example, an aperture of f/4 is actually considered to be larger than an aperture of f/8. And that can
be kind of weird, because obviously the number four is not larger than the number eight. But
once you recognize that aperture is a fraction, it immediately becomes so much easier to understand.
Because, of course, the number 1/4th is going to be larger than the number 1/8th. So there you go!
Once you recognize that aperture is a fraction, things just become so much easier to understand.
I'm on a mountain right now, and it's super windy, but none of that matters. The tip that I want to
tell you next is maybe the most important one that there is. The thing that I really wish
that I knew when I first started out is that all of those photography rules that you hear
about -- things like the rule of thirds, the rule of odds, don't center your compositions,
all of that -- at the most, it's going to make your photos competent. It's not going to get you
to the exact photos that you want, with all of your personal style. It's just going to make them
okay. Here's a few examples. You can see, I've got a centered composition right here. I don't have an
odd number of subjects right here. I've got all sorts of crazy things going on in this photo. And
in this one, my subject is way off to the side. And yet all of this is exactly what I want in
these photos. It's the exact vision that I wanted to convey. So, even if you do learn these rules,
don't obsess over them. When I first started in photography, I literally
had a journal where I would write down every one of those composition rules that I learned,
and all they did was hold me back. So, once you make sure that you're taking
all your photos exactly how you want, I swear they're going to be so much better.
The next one's really quick, but it's still something that I've got to talk about. I wish
that I'd known starting on day one to shoot RAW files rather than shooting in JPEG. Now,
the very first camera that I got, started shooting JPEG files by default. And because
I had already heard of JPEGs, I didn't bother changing that setting. Unfortunately, I only
learned a few months later that JPEGs don't have the same level of image quality as a RAW file,
and, more importantly, they're not nearly as flexible in post-production. It wasn't the end
of the world -- it's not like I had to delete all my JPEG photos -- but I do think that I would have
been happier if I had started shooting RAW, or at least RAW plus JPEG, from the very beginning.
Another thing that I wish that I knew is not to be afraid of f/16. You'll always see online
that lenses aren't very sharp at f/16, but if you're actually taking pictures in practice,
it's one of the most helpful apertures out there. Here's an example of a photo that I took which
required f/16 in order to get enough depth of field. So, any time you're taking pictures
that are either macro photos, landscapes where you need a lot of depth of field, or landscape
photos when you've got a telephoto lens -- because telephoto lenses don't have as much
depth of field -- f/16 is an excellent aperture to use. Don't listen to people who say otherwise.
This next one, I just think that it would have saved me a lot of money if I had done it from the
start. And that is: Don't buy the bundle! A lot of times, photography equipment like cameras and
lenses are going to be sold with a bundle of other accessories. And these are usually things like
lens cloths, filters, tripods, even additional lenses. But most of the time, this equipment
is complete junk. And, on top of that, the manufacturer might upcharge you $100 or even $200,
and it's just a complete waste of money. Instead, it's a much better deal to buy the camera
and the kit lens on their own, and then just purchase the accessories separately. You'll
save a lot of money that way, and you won't just end up with a bunch of junk equipment.
This is not the Nikon D5100. Of course not. It's just a picture of it on a sheet of paper. Now,
the reason why I don't have the actual D5100 with me is because I sold it. It was the very
first DSLR that I ever bought, but I sold it several years ago -- actually for a pretty
considerable loss -- because I didn't think that it was good enough. I kept taking pictures that
were turning out either too blurry, or if they weren't too blurry, I would just see better
photos from other photographers, even of the same subjects. So, I blamed the camera. I sold it,
and then the new camera that I got, of course, I started seeing the same problems. My photos
weren't good enough. And that's when I started to realize that it wasn't because of the camera. At
the end of the day, your skills are the thing that matters the most. And once you master your camera,
you can take good pictures with almost anything. So, that's what I wish that
I knew from the very beginning -- just use whatever camera equipment you've already got,
and master it as much as you can. Learn how to use it practically blindfolded. And once you do,
you'll be able to take amazing photos with pretty much any camera out there.
Along kind of the same lines as the previous one, if you do want to take better pictures,
but it's not a good idea right now for you to buy a new camera, what should you do instead? And the
answer is just to read a book! More than anything else in photography, books are going to help you
take better pictures. And that's because pretty much anyone who's written a book about photography
has probably poured hundreds of hours of time into honing their message as clearly as possible.
Even if you watched a YouTube video or you read an article online
that covers the exact same topic, chances are really good that that book is just going to
deliver you the knowledge a lot more smoothly. If I'd known that from the very beginning,
I wouldn't have wasted as much time online. I'm sure that I would have much better photos right
now. And I definitely wouldn't have nearly as much useless equipment taking up space in my closet.
This next one might sound kind of silly, but I also just wish that I'd started posting to
Instagram, Facebook, really any social media platform, a little bit earlier than I did.
At first, I was kind of worried, because i didn't think that my photos were good
enough. But that's not really the point. The point is just to put yourself out there
and hopefully allow some companies just to know that you exist. So, even if you don't think that
your photos are good enough, I recommend posting Instagram, Facebook, wherever, as soon as you can.
Now, to wrap things up -- which is pretty good, because the weather right
now is awful -- one thing that I really wish that I did from the very beginning is just
write down more of my memories from a trip. A lot of the time, I would take a bunch of pictures,
and a few years later, those photos would almost replace my memories of the trip.
Once I started actually pulling out my phone -- just writing down a few things that I did or saw
each day -- I honestly feel like I got more out of those trips and just enjoyed myself a little
bit more. And there you go! That does it for all the tricks that I wish that I knew when I
was starting out in photography. If you liked this video, maybe hit that thumbs up button
and consider subscribing. Thanks for watching. My name is Spencer Cox. And I'll see you next time.