Martino Loc: Northwest Florida

I've seen a large number of posts here asking 'I'm new to photography, how do I do.....'.

Back when dinosaurs roamed, the best way to learn was to go out and shoot. As my college tutor (the great Brian Nevitt) used to say 'the cheapest thing in photography is film. Go out and shoot lots of it'. In those days, you took your photo and then waited either to develop the images or get them back from the processor. You had to either remember what you did, or take copious notes. Now you can immediately look at the image on the back of the camera and have a fair idea if what you did worked. The same applies to post production or editing. Then you wasted paper and chemicals, now you can instantly change and reverse what you've done with no cost or risk.

Reading books and watching videos (and getting advice) can help some people, but most of us don't learn from other's mistakes and the lesson only 'takes' if we experience it yourself. Learning to drive can be helped by advice and manuals, plus training while doing it, but you need to actually get in the car to really learn.

Surely the best approach to 'how do I?' Is 'try it'? Go out and shoot - a lot. See what works and what doesn't. Change the controls, try new settings. You're not loosing anything and not breaking anything. Then by all means ask 'I've tried this, how can I improve?'.

Of course in the old days you joined a club and hopefully received helpful advice from other friendly members. Of course, there was always the know-it-all who pushed his or her advice as being the best, and they always had the loudest voice!

Just a thought, to promote (not provoke!) discussion.

BrettProbert Loc: Clinton, PA

Amen!

crafterwantabe Loc: Mn

👍👍👍👍👍

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

YES!

Oyens

Roger that OM. QSL

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Martino, I'm a very big proponent of taking notes. I've been doing that since the late 60s. I still do. Though, I rely more now on electronic devices, but still transfer that data to a notebook afterwards. It gives me something to do while the film is drying.

The issue that I've noticed is that people go out to "test" something and fire away at a variety of subjects. That'll tell you the camera is functioning, but what is the test. Recently, someone posted a 1/2 dozen shots, or so, of a variety of subjects. The title referred to testing. I replied with what specifically were you testing? The response what something to the effect that it wasn't really a test, I guess.

If one wants to learn something by trial, the best is to plan what they are going to do and how they are going to go about doing it. Then follow the "recipe" and take a lot of notes. Afterwards, review the images and make more notes about what one observes with each image. Yeah, it's a lot of work, and probably why few do it. However, it is the best way to learn and build a good foundation on which to build more photographic knowledge and experience.
--Bob

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

I spend a lot of time formulating a recipe,as opposed to a lot of time obtaining usually useless or incomplete "results." Woulda,coulda,shoulda.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Why do you think I keep saying 'delete' is the best key on the keyboard? My mistakes are always 'new ones'.

BebuLamar

May be I should and I must admit I made my fair share of mistakes but I don't think I ever learned anything from them.

nison777 Loc: illinois u.s.a.

Look at lots of images, from paintings to advertising, study them look at other people's photos and learn from their mistakes and success.
Learn composition, and apply it to what is in your heart when you approach a subject or scene,
Try different things.. while at the scene..
Force yourself to be hard on yourself when culling your images.
Go back and look at things you shot long ago you may see something or may be able to now do something with a shot you made back then, because you're vision has grown.
Be open to new ideas..
This is an ever evolving thing, you never quite fully arrive in this.
you just get better at it.. along the way..

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Good point, but first you have to know something about shooting techniques. Then you know what to practice.

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

I think I've learned a fair amount from experience, but from the unplanned successes much more than the (many, many) failures. A little education can be useful too. Back in the 60s, a friend turned me on to extension tubes - a true life changer.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

I often feel the same way. Learning from your mistake is something like breaking a bad habit - and that we all know is sometimes difficult.

I just returned from a month-long vacation and I took a lot of pictures during that time. About half-way through the month I realized my camera was set to shoot JPEG and I really can't imagine why - I almost always shoot RAW. So my mistake was not checking all the settings to be sure they were all the way I wanted. But it seems that my A6000 has hundreds of settings - so I probably won't learn from my mistake and I'll make it again.

MtnMan Loc: ID

Todays cameras are too complex to think you can just stumble around and learn anything but bad habits. You first need to learn what "it" is to even begin to try it.

So sorry, bad advice.