Photography Lesson #1: Understanding Photography

Posted by Ryan  at April 6th, 2010

Before I begin on teaching you all on how to take pictures, I’ll give you a quick lesson on what exactly photography is. According to www.dictionary.com, photography is “the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy, as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmic rays.” Honestly, how many of you still use film cameras and go for the 1 hour developers?

If you are using a digital camera, 35mm film, medium format, large format, pin-hole, x-ray, cell phone, Polaroid or anything that falls into the definition of producing an image from light… you are a photographer. It doesn’t matter what you use in the process, it is the final picture produced. That is what makes photography so amazing.

Yet, technology has change ladies and gents. The digital camera has taken over the industry. Whether you have a DSLR or a Point & Shoot camera you still are a photographer, just in a digital age. I am not saying that digital is better than film… honestly it is not, for quality and archiving purposes. But digital gives you the instant gratification of seeing the photographs as soon as you click the shutter, instant interaction with clients and with the advancements in communications you can click, download and share it with the world in the matter of minutes.

Many people use photography as a way of documenting their everyday lives. Some use it for art. Others use it for business. The rest live it in passion. You don’t need to be an artist to understand what photography is. You need to be confident in being behind the lens. Knowing how to compose your subject, adjust the lighting, changing angles of shooting and when to capture that decisive moment to make your photographs stand out from others. It is not rocket science, it is practice! I’ll admit when I first started photography, I was not the greatest. It just takes practice and lots of it.

If you want to hear more about this, have any questions or request a topic for future posts please comment below. Thanks and enjoy shooting!

-Ryan