April 8, 2025 • 40 mins
#552 In this episode of the podcast, I share the core principles that shape both my personal photography journey and the mission of the podcast. Recognizing that photography can feel overwhelming for newcomers, I focus on shifting the mindset from technical skills to capturing meaningful moments. By sharing six foundational principles, I aim to inspire creativity, enhance confidence, and help photographers of all levels rediscover their passion for photography. I emphasize the importance of capturing emotions and stories over technical perfection, reminding myself and listeners that photography is about seeing and experiencing the world around us.
THE CORE PRINCIPLES
- Moment Matters More Than Settings
- The Best Camera Is the One You Use
- Don't Worry About RAW
- Lighting Matters More Than Your Camera Gear
- Photography Is a Way to See, Not Just a Skill
- You Must Share Your Work
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS
- Rembrandt Lighting: A classic lighting technique characterized by a small triangle of light on the shadowed side of the face, used to create depth and dimension.
DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- How can focusing on moments over settings change your approach to photography?
- What are some practical ways to practice seeing light in everyday settings?
RESOURCES:
Free Guide: 5 Questions To Ask Before Pressing the Shutter - https://beginnerphotopod.com/5Qs
Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com
Download your free copy of
46 Creative Photo Ideas to Get You Out of a Rut
at https://creativeimageideas.com/
Connect with Raymond!
- Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
- Get your Photo Questions Answered on the show - https://beginnerphotopod.com/qa
- Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/
Thanks for listening & keep shooting!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Raymond Hatfield (00:00):
You just need to find the right light and know
(00:02):
how to position your subject.
That's it.
Rembrandt didn't have any studiolights.
He didn't have any fancy lenses.
He didn't even know what acamera was.
It wouldn't even be invented foranother 220 years.
And yet his paintings hang inthe world's best museums because
of his ability to capture lightand mood.
(00:22):
That's what light can do foryou.
So strive to do the same withyour images.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and listen I know that
photography can feeloverwhelming when you are just
starting out.
At one point I was a beginnerand there was a lot that was
(00:43):
overwhelming that, I had toovercome between things like
your camera settings, all of thegear comparisons that you'll
find online.
There's so many differentediting apps.
And are they subscriptions?
Are they a one-time payment?
Endless amounts of tutorials.
Right.
I know that it is so easy tofeel stuck, like you're doing
(01:04):
it, quote unquote wrong orfeeling like you're not creative
enough compared to the otherswho you see online.
Again, I've been there, but Iwant this episode to remind you
that photography is not justabout F stops.
It's not just about megapixels.
Photography is about learning tosee.
Photography is about slowingdown.
(01:26):
Photography is about noticingbeauty in the every day, and I
think to capture and preservethe moments that matter most in
our life.
And again, that's why today I'mgonna share the core principles
that not only guide thispodcast, but how I interact with
the community and my own journeybehind the camera.
(01:51):
So, what we're about to getinto.
They're not just tips.
It's not just, do this thing andeverything's gonna change.
These are more mindset shifts.
I think the mindset ofphotography is one of the most
important things to focus on,because tips and tricks we can
always pick up along the way,but if you come into photography
with a solid understanding ofwhy you're doing it, then
(02:15):
everything else is just, justextra, you know?
So all of these mindset shiftstoday are here to help you to
take more meaningful photos.
They're here to help you feelless intimidated.
And for those of you who maybehaven't picked up a camera in a
few weeks.
Again, that's been me,especially over the wintertime.
(02:36):
I hope that this episode helpsyou to rediscover the joy of
simply picking up your cameraand snapping a few photos.
This episode will apply to youwhether you're just starting
out.
Maybe you did get a camera overthe holidays, or you've been
shooting for years, and you're,you're still trying to refine
your craft.
(02:56):
These simple six principles thatI'm gonna give you today, I hope
give you clarity on exactly whatto shoot.
That's the motivation why youshoot and help build a creative
foundation for you to grow intoover the next lifetime of
photography.
So why don't we go ahead andjust dive straight on in.
(03:21):
I came up with these coreprinciples because I want
photography to be easier foryou.
don't want you to get stuck inthe weeds of everything related
to photography.
Especially the gear.
We have so much emphasis andstress on gear these days, and
as a professional photographershooting for 10 plus years
shooting weddings, I've had acamera in my hand, going on more
(03:43):
than 20 years now, I can tellyou that core principle number
one moment matters more thansettings.
I can definitively say that.
A compelling image.
I think that's what we all wantto capture a compelling image.
And a compelling image is aboutemotion.
(04:03):
It's not about perfection.
As a photographer, one of themost important things that you
can do is lean into yourinstincts, trust your instincts,
and then instincts on, ontiming, on what it is that
you're shooting on, why it'simportant, and then you focus on
framing, and then you just letyour subject guide the shot.
(04:23):
So if you've been listening tothe podcast for any length of
time, you've heard me sharethat.
I went to film school.
That's how I got into thisvisually creative career.
And I majored in cinematography.
And if you don't know,cinematography is, well, it's
focused on the technicalperfection.
It is the director's job toworry about the actors and their
(04:48):
movements and their reactions,and he's gonna control their
movements and it's the directorwho's gonna control all of their
movements.
So again, my world as acinematographer was purely
technical perfection.
I didn't have to worry about thepeople.
I didn't have to worry aboutanything else.
But the camera movement, thelens choice, the lighting, and
(05:12):
of course camera settings.
So when I transitioned out ofcinematography and into
photography, I brought that withme and honestly, that was to my
detriment because I didn't thinkabout the people.
Because I never had to before, Ialways told myself, this is what
they look like.
This is how the moment happened.
(05:32):
I'm not gonna interfere withthem and make them look like a
version of themselves that maybethey're not.
I'm gonna focus on the thingsthat I can focus on in my first
family shoot.
I got kicked in the teeth.
I metaphorically, I got, I gotmetaphorically kicked in the
teeth.
(05:53):
The daughter was sick.
She never smiled.
She didn't wanna sit still, youknow?
Surprise, surprise.
It's kids.
And in my head I rememberthinking, okay.
If I am technically perfect withmy camera settings, with my
light, with my lens choice, withmy background, that's gonna
overshadow how bad everythingelse is going, And it didn't.
(06:18):
It did not.
In fact, don't even think thatthey cared about, about the
light, the lens choice, thebackground, any of that.
They didn't even care about it.
They just wanted to know whytheir daughter looked like
garbage.
Why did she look so sick?
But what hurt the most is, getthis.
The family used a cell phonephoto from that day of a candid
(06:40):
moment where their daughter waslaughing for their Christmas
card photo that year.
They chose a photo of awonderful moment, as a family
laughing, it was joy over aphoto that was technically
perfect.
As a photographer, I learned avery important lesson that day,
(07:01):
and it was, I need to be both acinematographer and a director
because the majority of peoplecan't name a single
cinematographer, but they canname at least a director.
And when you think about that.
The director's job is tointeract with people and get
them to feel something so thatthey can capture that on film.
(07:25):
That's what you need to get tolearn, to interact with people,
learn to see the moment, and ifyou do that, rather than
watching, I don't know, anothercamera review or tutorial on
YouTube, you're gonna be gold.
Now the goal, of course, is, isboth right.
Get to the point to where you'reboth, where you can focus and
capture both a great imagetechnically and a great moment.
(07:49):
But if I'm just starting out inphotography, I'm worried less
about the camera and more aboutthe people and the moment.
So that was core principlenumber one.
Moment matters more thansettings.
I've said it before.
Another variation moment mattersmost.
Alright.
Core principle number two.
(08:10):
The best camera is the one thatyou use.
I'm sure you've heard othervariations of this as well.
But it's hard to feel likethat's true when you first get
into photography.
You typically don't have a topof the line camera.
You have something, more entrylevel and you're not able to get
the photos that you see otherpeople getting.
(08:30):
it, it's a very easy bridgedacross to think, okay, if I use
the camera that they're using.
All get better photos, but yourgear doesn't define your
creativity.
Your skill as a photographercomes from your experience.
Not the hesitation, oh, thiscamera isn't good enough.
I wish I had something better.
(08:52):
Seriously, pick up whatevercamera you have and just start
shooting.
I end every episode with, themore you shoot today, the better
of a photographer you'll betomorrow.
Every shot you take is a stepforward in the direction of
becoming the photographer thatyou wanna become.
And let me, let me just go on alittle, diatribe here for a
moment.
If you have been shooting forless than three years, you have
(09:16):
no business watching camerareviews.
There's no point.
I get emails and I see commentsfrom photographers all the time
saying, I'm looking to get, intophotography, but I can't decide
what camera to buy.
And I understand that, if you'regetting into photography, there
is an investment involved.
You wanna make sure that it's agood investment.
I understand the sentimentthere, but the truth is, is that
(09:39):
any modern digital camera todayis great.
My recommendation is to buy thecheapest DSLR that you can.
And yes, even if it is a cropsense, in fact, especially if it
is a crop sensor, I think thatyou should start with a crop
sensor camera.
If you find a cheap DSLR andit's a crop sensor, buy that
(10:01):
one.
Whether it's Cannon, whetherit's Nikon, whether it's Sony,
whether it's Fuji, whatever.
Buy that one.
And here's why.
You have an idea of what youwanna shoot as a new
photographer I did, I thought Iwanted to shoot, you know,
photograph families.
But it's not until you getbehind the camera consistently
that you will know for sure.
(10:21):
And by the time you do know,guess what, it's gonna be 2, 3,
4 years into your photographyjourney.
By that time, guess what?
It's time to upgrade cameras tomatch your skill level at which
point in time you'll knowexactly what features are the
most important in a camera foryou and for what you shoot.
(10:43):
Personally, I will never buyanother camera that doesn't have
a tilty screen.
It sounds stupid.
I get it.
I understand.
But it's because of how much Iphotograph my kids at their eye
level.
I never take photos of my kidsat my, five foot 11 height
looking down on them.
I always bring the camera downto their eye level or slightly
lower and look more up at themwith a tilty screen.
(11:05):
It's just simply easier to standtall and, and hold my camera at
my waist and still be able tosee and compose my frame at
their eye level, because that'show I like to shoot.
But guess what?
That's something that I neverwould've known was important at
all until I spent tens ofthousands of shots bent over,
breaking my back with my eye upto the camera.
(11:26):
But if I would've spent, athousand or$2,000 on a top of
the line camera that stilldidn't have a tilty screen, I
would just wanna upgrade inthree years anyway.
once I knew that there was acamera that was better suited to
me and what it is that I shoot.
So would you rather spend, say,$200 for an entry level camera
that you're gonna replace in twoyears or$2,000 on a camera that
(11:48):
you'll still wanna replace intwo or three years And going
back to the, crop sensor forfull frame thing, if you shoot
birds or sports orastrophotography, a crop sensor
lends itself way more to those,those genres of photography than
a full frame camera does.
Because of the built-in cropfactor, you're able to get
closer to the action withouthaving to invest in longer
(12:09):
lenses.
There's plenty of professionalsports and wildlife
photographers who only shoot incrop sensor cameras because it
makes their job easier.
It's not about one is betterthan another, it's what's best
for you.
And again, you cannot know thatuntil you spend a lot of time
behind the camera shooting.
(12:30):
And lastly, like, what if, Godforbid, what if you fall outta
love with photography?
If you do, that's gonna happenin the first year or so, you're
gonna realize, oh man, this is alot more than I thought.
The juice is not worth thesqueeze.
I'll just use my iPhone.
So again, I'd rather mitigate mypotential loss with an entry
level camera than a full framecamera.
And if you buy an entry levelcamera.
(12:52):
If you were thinking of buyinga, a flagship camera, and then
again, you do decide to investin just an entry level camera,
spend the rest of that money onlenses.
Lenses will make so much more ofa difference in your photography
than the camera itself.
I would way rather have a$200camera with a$800 lens than an
$800 camera with a$200 lens.
(13:14):
Seriously, it's, it's nocomparison.
So there you go again.
The best camera is the one thatyou actually use.
Now, alright, before we move onto the next four core
principles, I did put somethingtogether that I think you're
really gonna find helpful.
We've been talking about how thebest photos aren't the ones with
(13:35):
perfect settings.
They're the ones that actuallymean something.
But in the moment, trust me, Iknow it's easy to overthink it.
It's easy to second guess orjust, flat out miss the shot
because you're messing aroundwith your camera.
So to help you with that, Icreated a simple one page guide
called Five Questions to AskBefore You Press the Shutter.
These are the exact samequestions that I still use in my
(13:58):
head to slow myself down, getintentional and capture the
moments that actually matter inphotography.
Not just the ones that aretechnically perfect.
It's free, it's quick to read.
And honestly, I think that it'sreally gonna help you to see
differently, the next time thatyou pick up your camera.
So you can download it right nowby heading over to beginner
photo pod.com/five qs for fivequestions.
(14:22):
That's beginner photopod.com/five.
The letter Q, the letter s.
Or just hit the link in the shownotes.
All right, so core principlenumber three.
Don't worry about raw, do notget overwhelmed by the different
file formats.
Simply take photos so that youcan build your confidence.
(14:45):
Raw versus JPEG can come later,trust me.
But just start shooting now AndI'm not saying that raw is bad,
it's not bad, it just adds toomuch on your plate as a new
photographer.
So if you haven't fell down therabbit hole of, shoot RAW versus
jpeg, or what are thedifferences, they are simply
different image file formatsthat your camera can capture.
(15:07):
JPEGs or jpg, so dot jpg file.
So when you, click on a photo onyour memory card, if it says, I
don't know, DSC 1 0 6 4 jpg,it's a JPEG file.
If it says, something like dotC3 or NEF or RAF or something
like that, it's a raw file.
(15:28):
JPEGs are the standard forsharing images on the internet.
It's a small file size, so theydon't take up a lot of storage.
They're easy to download, butthe trade off is that you don't
have as much flexibility as araw file when you're editing it.
A raw file captures all of theraw light and color data off of
the camera's sensor.
(15:49):
And a raw file.
The format is designed to beedited in a program like Adobe
Lightroom all before it can beshared.
So if you are less than threeyears into your photography
journey, I firmly, firmlybelieve that you should not
shoot raw.
(16:10):
It's a hot take.
I get it.
I can hear people angrilyturning off their podcast player
right now.
You've been told for so longthat raw, raw is the superior
file format.
You can't be a seriousphotographer if you don't shoot
raw.
I hear that.
But to that, I say, give me adamn break.
Gimme a break.
Come on.
(16:31):
If you look past the fact thatas a professional photographer
for 10 years, I shot the lastfive years strictly in JPEG and
still was named one of the topwedding photographers in
Indianapolis, or that I neveronce had a single client say to
me, wait, is this photo shot injpeg?
What's going on here?
Or, that sensor technologycontinues to develop and get
(16:53):
better and better and is so muchbetter than it was 10 years ago.
That JPEGs today have a lot moreflexibility in editing than you
may imagine.
You listen to any photographeronline who talks about shooting
raw, they're gonna make youthink that JPEGs are just
useless and good for nothing.
(17:14):
And I am here to tell you thatthey are not.
Any image that you've seen ofmine over the past, well, close
to 10 years, was shot as a jpeg.
Okay.
But this whole thing, okay, Iwant this to be very clear.
I'm not saying that JPEG isbetter than raw.
Objectively Raw is a moreflexible and a better file
(17:37):
format if you intend to edit thephotos, but shooting raw when
you are new to your photographyjourney, introduces just yet
another thing to learn andanother variable to go wrong.
And if you're somebody who has afull-time job and photography is
a hobby and you want to getbetter and take some great
photos, and now not only do youhave to learn this camera and
(18:02):
you know what the millimeters onyour lens do and should be doing
and why?
And now you're trying to capturethe moment and, oh wait, you're
in the wrong, auto focus modeand you miss the shot and then
you add an entire another levelof editing onto those images.
Where you can tweak everythingfrom the individual colors and
(18:23):
add stylistic effects and usepresets.
And how do you know when you'redone editing?
And how come it took like thesethree to four photos?
I took them at the exact sametime, but now one is darker than
the other, or this one lookslike green.
And people look like zombies beDoing two things at once does
not make you better at twothings at the same time.
It makes it so much moredifficult.
(18:45):
Imagine trying to become aprofessional race car driver.
The day that you started yourdriver's lessons for your permit
or whatever.
It doesn't make sense.
You have to understand thebasics and get a foundation of
photography before you moveforward.
Let's say you go out shooting,and the light is, it's beautiful
(19:05):
and everything's working right,and you get home only to have to
bring those images into a rawphoto editor like Adobe
Lightroom, and after a fewminutes of moving sliders, but
you're not entirely sure what itis that they do.
Your image now looksoverprocessed and not natural at
all.
And because you don't know whatall of these sliders and buttons
do when you're editing, youdon't know how to get back and
(19:28):
you think, wow, I liked thephoto as it was.
It was such a beautiful momentalready.
Whereas if you shot jpeg, itwould be ready to share right
away whether or not you want toedit the image.
And again, that meansphotography becomes more fun.
It becomes more enjoyable.
There's less stress.
(19:50):
Shooting raw from the beginningadds too much to your plate when
you just want to take somephotos and have some fun.
Again, don't mix up my words.
I'm not saying that JPEG is asuperior file format.
I'm saying that if you'relearning photography.
JPEG is the way to go so thatyou can focus all of your
(20:10):
attention on learning thecamera, seeing the moment,
rather than adding in a wholenother layer of editing on top
of that.
Hold off on shooting raw JPEG isgreat.
Seriously, again, I've shot allof my personal images of my
family, of my kids, of myadventures, and five plus years
(20:31):
of weddings in JPEG and neveronce thought to myself, man, I
wish I shot this in raw.
But I will say the first fewyears of shooting weddings, I
shot them all in raw as aninsurance policy because, well,
what if I did mess up the light?
I wanted to ensure that I hadthe flexibility when editing to
be able to save and recover aphoto as I got better of a
(20:52):
photographer and my style inphotography.
I became more confident that Ican shoot it right in camera so
that when I'm done shooting it,I just am done.
And that's the style ofphotographer that I want to be.
If you wanna be the photographerwho edits every photo, every
aspect of it, you know you'rebringing them into Photoshop,
(21:13):
then yeah, shoot raw.
There's nothing wrong withshooting raw, but if you're new
to photography and you'relearning all the things and
you're feeling overwhelmed,then.
Don't beat yourself up if you'reshooting in jpeg.
All right?
I'm already mentally preparingmyself for the amount of hate
mail from people who didn'tfully listen to that.
That's, uh.
It's coming my way.
(21:33):
Alright, anyway, core principlenumber four.
Let's move on.
Let's get past this whole rawversus JPEG thing.
Core principle number four isthat lighting matters more than
your camera gear, so therefore,learn to see light and you'll
become a better photographer.
Understanding light is going toimprove your photos so much more
than upgrading your gear.
(21:54):
Your job as a photographer is topay attention to how light
shapes a scene and use what'savailable.
You may or may not know this,but photography is actually, a
Greek word, which comes from towrite with light, not to write
with the newest backlit stackedCMOs global camera sensor.
(22:19):
It is to right with light, andtherefore learning to see light
is one of the most powerfulthings that you can do to be
able to consistently takedynamic and visually beautiful
photos.
But learning to see light canseem hard.
What do you mean learn to seelight?
I see light every day.
(22:40):
You're right, you do in fact seelight every day, but
understanding things such asdirection of where light is
coming from, the differencebetween quality of light and
quantity of light, and even thecolor of light, those are the
things that once you start topay attention to and understand,
that's how you see lightphotographically.
(23:02):
There's a, a very simplelighting setup that has been
used to create some of the mostbeautiful and flattering
portraits for well hundreds ofyears, even long before the
camera was even thought of orinvented, and it's called
Rembrandt Lighting.
It was named after the famousDutch Renaissance Paint,
(23:22):
Rembrandt, and it is easy toachieve.
And it is beautiful.
And it is timeless.
Okay, so imagine this.
You have a subject that isfacing you in front of your
camera, the light for the scene.
You're in a dark room.
The light comes from a windowthat is slightly above your
subject and a little bit more infront of them than, directly off
(23:43):
to the side.
It's not hitting their ear.
It's a little bit more in front.
So that light coming in from thewindow.
Directly illuminating the sideof their face closest to the
light.
That's how light works.
But in the far side of theirface is mostly in shadow, except
for a small triangle of lightunder the dark side of their
(24:05):
face, under their eye, and undertheir cheek.
It is just a tiny bit of lightthat spills over from that
window that isn't being blockedfrom the nose and that triangle
gives depth, it gives mood andit forms the face, and it will
instantly make your portraitsmore interesting and artistic.
(24:29):
You don't need studio strobes.
You just need to find the rightlight and know how to position
your subject.
That's it.
Rembrandt didn't have any studiolights.
He didn't have any fancy lenses.
He didn't even know what acamera was.
It wouldn't even be invented foranother 220 years.
And yet his paintings hang inthe world's best museums because
(24:51):
of his ability to capture lightand mood.
That's what light can do foryou.
So strive to do the same withyour images.
Alright, core principle numberfive, and this one's my
favorite.
Photography is a way to see it'snot just a skill.
Photography teaches us manythings.
It teaches us mindfulness, itteaches us appreciation.
(25:15):
It teaches us to be morecreative.
It's not just about the images,it's about how you experience
the world.
Here's a, a short story.
Shortly after moving to Indiana,I moved to Indiana knowing that
I was gonna get into weddings,but I needed a day job at first
to pay the bills until I got thebusiness off the ground.
It took a while.
And I worked this horribleplastics factory that was so
(25:40):
incredibly hot and loud andsmelled like hot plastic.
Man, that first summer,experiencing the humidity of the
Midwest and having to workinside of this place with I
guess 15 plastic mold injectionmachines.
Oh my gosh.
It had to have been 120 plus inthat building every single day.
(26:04):
But I knew that I had to workthat job so that I could afford
to buy a camera.
So every day I worked 7:00 AM to7:00 PM every day.
I took the same route to work,passing cornfields, passing old
barns, passing farm equipment,just dreaming of the day that I
was gonna get this camera sothat I could start photographing
(26:24):
the world.
And I remember one morning thelight was just, it was so
stunning and it, it made youtake notice.
Maybe there was a, a rainstormthe night before, whatever, but
the clouds were out and then thesun just peaked through the part
in the clouds and it was like aspotlight on the earth.
(26:45):
And right at that moment is whenI drove by this open field that
was probably about to be tilledto plant some more corn.
It's a field that I had drivenby, hundreds of times before
this, and I had never reallynoticed it.
It's just, just land, right?
But there was something aboutthat light that right then I
pulled over and there was nobodyelse on the road.
(27:06):
It was these rural back roads,country roads.
And I got outta the car and Ipulled out my iPhone four and I
opened up the camera app and Itook a photo and it was just a
snapshot.
I looked at that photo and Ithought to myself, oh wait.
This photo can be so muchbetter.
So what did I do?
I took, I walked into thatfield.
(27:28):
I took a few steps into thefield.
There was a big tractor outthere.
I got closer to the tractor.
I took another photo, and it wasbetter, right?
The subject became larger in theframe.
It was better.
But I'm missing the thing that Iloved so much about this photo,
this moment rather, which wasthe sky, this beautiful sky.
So I got the camera lower tomake the tractor look larger and
(27:49):
see more of the beautiful sky inthe light hitting this tractor.
I wanted that photo to reflecthow I saw the world in that
moment.
Now I had to go back through myarchives and find that photo to
ensure that I could share itwith you.
It's actually the thumbnail forthis episode.
So if you're looking at thethumbnail of this episode and
you see the tractor photo,that's the photo.
(28:10):
And if you look at that photo,you're thinking this photo
wouldn't win any awards.
And you're right, but damn, ifit didn't change something
within me and how I see theworld.
Because it, it wasn't aboutbeing perfect.
It wasn't about perfectsettings.
I couldn't change any of thesettings on my iPhone.
It wasn't about shooting withthe newest camera.
It was about learning to seewhat had always been there.
(28:33):
And that is what photographydoes.
It slows you down.
It teaches you to look again, itteaches you to see the world.
I mean, really see the world andnot just pass through it.
All you watch is doom and gloomnews.
You're gonna look at the worldthrough a lens of everything is
doom and gloom.
People have bad intentions.
(28:54):
The world is a bad place.
And on the opposite side, if allyou watch was just good, happy,
happy every time, fun time,everything news, then that's how
you would look at the world.
This isn't about news, but whenyou look at the world through an
actual lens, throughphotography, you start to see
the world photographically.
(29:16):
And when I look out at theworld, I don't think, oh, this
would be great at F eight.
And one, two 50th of a secondand I, so you know, 400.
I look at the world and say,look at that light.
What a beautiful moment.
Look at that laugh becausephotography is a way to see,
it's not just a skill to knowwhat the numbers mean, and it's
(29:38):
that skill and that awarenessthat grows within you, and
that's what makes photography somuch more than just taking
pictures.
Oh man, I could talk about thisall day.
But then it can, it can be less,practical and more cerebral.
So that's all I'm gonna sharewith you today about that.
(29:58):
I really want you to start tosee photography as a way to see
the world and not just learningthe tool in your hand.
Okay?
Core principle number six isthat you must share your work.
Your photos are meant to beseen.
It's fear of judgment that isholding you back.
I know that because that's whatholds me back from sharing
photos, but sharing evenimperfect work can build your
(30:23):
confidence.
It can attract feedback and itwill lead to growth.
A few years ago, our family gotto spend, an extended amount of
time on vacation, in Californianear the beach.
And it was one of those likeonce in a lifetime trips, you
know that this isn't gonna belike an every year type of
thing.
And one day our family was atthe beach and my son is just
(30:43):
digging in the sand to see howdeep he could get.
And my daughter was runningalong the beach, like right as
the waves were like crashing andthey were right on her feet and
she was like giggling.
And it was warm and the oceanwas beautiful.
And it was one of those momentsthat as a parent you kind of
just want to live in forever.
(31:05):
And I had my camera with me ofcourse, but for a second before
I took a photo, I kind ofhesitated, like before I reached
for that camera, I hesitatedThere was kind of this, you
know, the angel and the devil onyour shoulders that was like,
should I even be taking thisphoto?
Like, shouldn't I just stayright here and be present with
my family?
(31:26):
And I don't think that anybodywould fault me for, for either.
It's not like taking a phototakes a long time, or, The kids
were kind of in their own headspace doing their own thing, and
I was in my head own head spaceand just watching this and
enjoying it.
So I did take a photo and again,that photo's not gonna win any
awards.
I would say that it's probablymore of a snapshot than one with
(31:47):
intention, although I didintentionally wait for a right
moment so that the compositionwould be better.
So maybe it's not just asnapshot, but regardless, when I
look back at my time spent thereand I think of all the photos
that I took and how, like, yeah.
Okay.
I could have put away the cameraand been more fully present with
(32:09):
my family and not take anyphotos I could have.
And would it change anything?
I don't know.
I mean, we still got toexperience the trip together,
but a few weeks ago, my son hadasked me, he's like, Hey, do you
remember that day in LagunaBeach when I dug that super deep
hole?
And I was like, well, he doesthat at every beach.
So I wouldn't necessarily saythat him saying that stood out
(32:31):
to me.
He was like, oh, yeah, he onlydid that once.
But what I did was we came overto my computer.
We sat down to look through allthe photos that I took, and
almost immediately he pointed atthe screen to a photo that I
took on a different day, on aday where we went on like this
long hike.
I mean, my daughter, I think wasfive, maybe she was six at the
time, and it was just too longof a walk for her.
(32:52):
Like, we shouldn't have done it,but we did it anyway.
And my son had yelled, oh, Iforgot about that.
That was so amazing.
We had such a beautiful view atthe top.
And then like, it hit me like,something within me changed.
Like I understood for a moment,like, oh, wait a second.
While yes, I shoot for myself.
I'm not shooting specifically toshare it with others.
Photography, isn't somethingthat I do just for the praise of
(33:16):
others.
I shoot for myself to enjoy theimages that I take, right?
But photography isn't only aboutcapturing the moments for
ourselves.
Sure, I took the photo formyself, but an image of photo
now creates connection.
Yes.
That photo helped me to processthe feeling that I had in that
(33:37):
moment, of this hike that wewere taking.
But it allowed my son to relivehis own story of that day in his
life, one where his little legswere tired, one where we saw a
snake that day.
In fact, I just remembered thatwe saw a snake, even though I
did not get a photo of it.
And it's a day where we saw themost amazing view of the ocean
(34:00):
from the top.
And if you are your family'sphotographer, you will
understand this.
We have all the images.
We catalog them, we know wherethey all are.
The good, the ones that we hopeno one ever sees because,
somebody would say, wait, areyou sure you're a photographer?
Which hurts, but seriously, butsometimes our own family doesn't
(34:20):
get to appreciate them.
Like they should be appreciatedbecause we are the keepers of
the photos.
So we just kind of keep'em onour computer where we know that
they're gonna be safe.
But that doesn't allow ourfamily to see these photos.
And almost never is, is thememory that sparked the
connection back to that momentdirectly tied to the technical
perfection of that image whenthey see it, My son didn't see
(34:43):
that photo and be like, wait,that's not precisely how I
remembered it.
I remember it being a brighterday.
I remember my whole view wascloser to the ground, you know,
whatever.
It's never tied to thetechnicals or the perfection of
the image.
Sharing those images.
Even the messy, even theimperfect, even the unfinished
photos is, it's how you findyour voice.
(35:05):
You gotta be vulnerable.
It's how you inspire others.
It's how you create meaningwithin a frame.
Brené Brown has this, quote thatsays, in order for connection to
happen, we have to allowourselves to be seen, really
seen.
Sometimes we take bad photos inbeautiful locations.
Our culmination of images shouldnot just be the ones that are
(35:27):
technically perfect.
There's another quote fromAustin Cleon He has a book,
called Show Your Work, at veryAply titled book, and in it
there's a quote that says Youcannot find your voice if you
don't use it.
Sharing your work is how you useyour voice.
Your camera is the tool that youuse to voice how you see the
(35:48):
world.
Sharing your image is how youshare your voice.
Getting feedback, hearing fromothers, even just objectively
looking at at it later.
You know yourself is how youthen find that voice.
But to find your voice, you haveto use it.
And to use it is allowingourselves to be seen, really
(36:09):
seen.
So there you go.
it's these principles that I'veshared today that make
photography less intimidatingand make photography just so
much more enjoyable while stillfostering that technical growth.
Right?
You need to learn how to use thecamera, but that's not the only
thing.
So whether you're picking up thecamera for the first time, or
(36:33):
you are refining your skills,it's these core ideas that will
guide your journey towardscapturing meaningful and
beautiful images.
So let's do a quick recap.
Core principle number one,moment matters more than
settings.
Core principle number two, thebest camera is the one that you
will use.
(36:53):
Core principle number three,don't worry about raw.
Core principle number four,lighting matters more than your
camera gear.
Core principle number five.
Photography is a way to see it'snot just a skill.
In core principle number six,you must share your work because
photography is meant to be seen.
I hope that these coreprinciples gave you a fresh way
(37:15):
to think about your photography,and more importantly, I really
hope that it inspired you toactually get out and shoot.
But before you go, I wanna leaveyou again with something, that
is going to keep the momentumgoing.
And it's that free one pageguide that I created called Five
Questions to Ask Yourself BeforePressing the Shutter.
It's short, but super valuable.
(37:36):
It is designed to help you slowdown.
It is designed to help you shootwith more intention.
It is designed to help youcapture photos that actually
mean something.
Whether you're photographingyour kids a landscape or just
those everyday moments, thischecklist is gonna help you
focus on what really matters toyou.
So again, head over to beginnerphoto Pod slash five Qs five Qs
(38:02):
to download your free copy rightnow, or just click the link in
the show notes.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.
You just need to find the right light and know
(00:02):
how to position your subject.
That's it.
Rembrandt didn't have any studiolights.
He didn't have any fancy lenses.
He didn't even know what acamera was.
It wouldn't even be invented foranother 220 years.
And yet his paintings hang inthe world's best museums because
of his ability to capture lightand mood.
(00:22):
That's what light can do foryou.
So strive to do the same withyour images.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and listen I know that
photography can feeloverwhelming when you are just
starting out.
At one point I was a beginnerand there was a lot that was
(00:43):
overwhelming that, I had toovercome between things like
your camera settings, all of thegear comparisons that you'll
find online.
There's so many differentediting apps.
And are they subscriptions?
Are they a one-time payment?
Endless amounts of tutorials.
Right.
I know that it is so easy tofeel stuck, like you're doing
(01:04):
it, quote unquote wrong orfeeling like you're not creative
enough compared to the otherswho you see online.
Again, I've been there, but Iwant this episode to remind you
that photography is not justabout F stops.
It's not just about megapixels.
Photography is about learning tosee.
Photography is about slowingdown.
(01:26):
Photography is about noticingbeauty in the every day, and I
think to capture and preservethe moments that matter most in
our life.
And again, that's why today I'mgonna share the core principles
that not only guide thispodcast, but how I interact with
the community and my own journeybehind the camera.
(01:51):
So, what we're about to getinto.
They're not just tips.
It's not just, do this thing andeverything's gonna change.
These are more mindset shifts.
I think the mindset ofphotography is one of the most
important things to focus on,because tips and tricks we can
always pick up along the way,but if you come into photography
with a solid understanding ofwhy you're doing it, then
(02:15):
everything else is just, justextra, you know?
So all of these mindset shiftstoday are here to help you to
take more meaningful photos.
They're here to help you feelless intimidated.
And for those of you who maybehaven't picked up a camera in a
few weeks.
Again, that's been me,especially over the wintertime.
(02:36):
I hope that this episode helpsyou to rediscover the joy of
simply picking up your cameraand snapping a few photos.
This episode will apply to youwhether you're just starting
out.
Maybe you did get a camera overthe holidays, or you've been
shooting for years, and you're,you're still trying to refine
your craft.
(02:56):
These simple six principles thatI'm gonna give you today, I hope
give you clarity on exactly whatto shoot.
That's the motivation why youshoot and help build a creative
foundation for you to grow intoover the next lifetime of
photography.
So why don't we go ahead andjust dive straight on in.
(03:21):
I came up with these coreprinciples because I want
photography to be easier foryou.
don't want you to get stuck inthe weeds of everything related
to photography.
Especially the gear.
We have so much emphasis andstress on gear these days, and
as a professional photographershooting for 10 plus years
shooting weddings, I've had acamera in my hand, going on more
(03:43):
than 20 years now, I can tellyou that core principle number
one moment matters more thansettings.
I can definitively say that.
A compelling image.
I think that's what we all wantto capture a compelling image.
And a compelling image is aboutemotion.
(04:03):
It's not about perfection.
As a photographer, one of themost important things that you
can do is lean into yourinstincts, trust your instincts,
and then instincts on, ontiming, on what it is that
you're shooting on, why it'simportant, and then you focus on
framing, and then you just letyour subject guide the shot.
(04:23):
So if you've been listening tothe podcast for any length of
time, you've heard me sharethat.
I went to film school.
That's how I got into thisvisually creative career.
And I majored in cinematography.
And if you don't know,cinematography is, well, it's
focused on the technicalperfection.
It is the director's job toworry about the actors and their
(04:48):
movements and their reactions,and he's gonna control their
movements and it's the directorwho's gonna control all of their
movements.
So again, my world as acinematographer was purely
technical perfection.
I didn't have to worry about thepeople.
I didn't have to worry aboutanything else.
But the camera movement, thelens choice, the lighting, and
(05:12):
of course camera settings.
So when I transitioned out ofcinematography and into
photography, I brought that withme and honestly, that was to my
detriment because I didn't thinkabout the people.
Because I never had to before, Ialways told myself, this is what
they look like.
This is how the moment happened.
(05:32):
I'm not gonna interfere withthem and make them look like a
version of themselves that maybethey're not.
I'm gonna focus on the thingsthat I can focus on in my first
family shoot.
I got kicked in the teeth.
I metaphorically, I got, I gotmetaphorically kicked in the
teeth.
(05:53):
The daughter was sick.
She never smiled.
She didn't wanna sit still, youknow?
Surprise, surprise.
It's kids.
And in my head I rememberthinking, okay.
If I am technically perfect withmy camera settings, with my
light, with my lens choice, withmy background, that's gonna
overshadow how bad everythingelse is going, And it didn't.
(06:18):
It did not.
In fact, don't even think thatthey cared about, about the
light, the lens choice, thebackground, any of that.
They didn't even care about it.
They just wanted to know whytheir daughter looked like
garbage.
Why did she look so sick?
But what hurt the most is, getthis.
The family used a cell phonephoto from that day of a candid
(06:40):
moment where their daughter waslaughing for their Christmas
card photo that year.
They chose a photo of awonderful moment, as a family
laughing, it was joy over aphoto that was technically
perfect.
As a photographer, I learned avery important lesson that day,
(07:01):
and it was, I need to be both acinematographer and a director
because the majority of peoplecan't name a single
cinematographer, but they canname at least a director.
And when you think about that.
The director's job is tointeract with people and get
them to feel something so thatthey can capture that on film.
(07:25):
That's what you need to get tolearn, to interact with people,
learn to see the moment, and ifyou do that, rather than
watching, I don't know, anothercamera review or tutorial on
YouTube, you're gonna be gold.
Now the goal, of course, is, isboth right.
Get to the point to where you'reboth, where you can focus and
capture both a great imagetechnically and a great moment.
(07:49):
But if I'm just starting out inphotography, I'm worried less
about the camera and more aboutthe people and the moment.
So that was core principlenumber one.
Moment matters more thansettings.
I've said it before.
Another variation moment mattersmost.
Alright.
Core principle number two.
(08:10):
The best camera is the one thatyou use.
I'm sure you've heard othervariations of this as well.
But it's hard to feel likethat's true when you first get
into photography.
You typically don't have a topof the line camera.
You have something, more entrylevel and you're not able to get
the photos that you see otherpeople getting.
(08:30):
it, it's a very easy bridgedacross to think, okay, if I use
the camera that they're using.
All get better photos, but yourgear doesn't define your
creativity.
Your skill as a photographercomes from your experience.
Not the hesitation, oh, thiscamera isn't good enough.
I wish I had something better.
(08:52):
Seriously, pick up whatevercamera you have and just start
shooting.
I end every episode with, themore you shoot today, the better
of a photographer you'll betomorrow.
Every shot you take is a stepforward in the direction of
becoming the photographer thatyou wanna become.
And let me, let me just go on alittle, diatribe here for a
moment.
If you have been shooting forless than three years, you have
(09:16):
no business watching camerareviews.
There's no point.
I get emails and I see commentsfrom photographers all the time
saying, I'm looking to get, intophotography, but I can't decide
what camera to buy.
And I understand that, if you'regetting into photography, there
is an investment involved.
You wanna make sure that it's agood investment.
I understand the sentimentthere, but the truth is, is that
(09:39):
any modern digital camera todayis great.
My recommendation is to buy thecheapest DSLR that you can.
And yes, even if it is a cropsense, in fact, especially if it
is a crop sensor, I think thatyou should start with a crop
sensor camera.
If you find a cheap DSLR andit's a crop sensor, buy that
(10:01):
one.
Whether it's Cannon, whetherit's Nikon, whether it's Sony,
whether it's Fuji, whatever.
Buy that one.
And here's why.
You have an idea of what youwanna shoot as a new
photographer I did, I thought Iwanted to shoot, you know,
photograph families.
But it's not until you getbehind the camera consistently
that you will know for sure.
(10:21):
And by the time you do know,guess what, it's gonna be 2, 3,
4 years into your photographyjourney.
By that time, guess what?
It's time to upgrade cameras tomatch your skill level at which
point in time you'll knowexactly what features are the
most important in a camera foryou and for what you shoot.
(10:43):
Personally, I will never buyanother camera that doesn't have
a tilty screen.
It sounds stupid.
I get it.
I understand.
But it's because of how much Iphotograph my kids at their eye
level.
I never take photos of my kidsat my, five foot 11 height
looking down on them.
I always bring the camera downto their eye level or slightly
lower and look more up at themwith a tilty screen.
(11:05):
It's just simply easier to standtall and, and hold my camera at
my waist and still be able tosee and compose my frame at
their eye level, because that'show I like to shoot.
But guess what?
That's something that I neverwould've known was important at
all until I spent tens ofthousands of shots bent over,
breaking my back with my eye upto the camera.
(11:26):
But if I would've spent, athousand or$2,000 on a top of
the line camera that stilldidn't have a tilty screen, I
would just wanna upgrade inthree years anyway.
once I knew that there was acamera that was better suited to
me and what it is that I shoot.
So would you rather spend, say,$200 for an entry level camera
that you're gonna replace in twoyears or$2,000 on a camera that
(11:48):
you'll still wanna replace intwo or three years And going
back to the, crop sensor forfull frame thing, if you shoot
birds or sports orastrophotography, a crop sensor
lends itself way more to those,those genres of photography than
a full frame camera does.
Because of the built-in cropfactor, you're able to get
closer to the action withouthaving to invest in longer
(12:09):
lenses.
There's plenty of professionalsports and wildlife
photographers who only shoot incrop sensor cameras because it
makes their job easier.
It's not about one is betterthan another, it's what's best
for you.
And again, you cannot know thatuntil you spend a lot of time
behind the camera shooting.
(12:30):
And lastly, like, what if, Godforbid, what if you fall outta
love with photography?
If you do, that's gonna happenin the first year or so, you're
gonna realize, oh man, this is alot more than I thought.
The juice is not worth thesqueeze.
I'll just use my iPhone.
So again, I'd rather mitigate mypotential loss with an entry
level camera than a full framecamera.
And if you buy an entry levelcamera.
(12:52):
If you were thinking of buyinga, a flagship camera, and then
again, you do decide to investin just an entry level camera,
spend the rest of that money onlenses.
Lenses will make so much more ofa difference in your photography
than the camera itself.
I would way rather have a$200camera with a$800 lens than an
$800 camera with a$200 lens.
(13:14):
Seriously, it's, it's nocomparison.
So there you go again.
The best camera is the one thatyou actually use.
Now, alright, before we move onto the next four core
principles, I did put somethingtogether that I think you're
really gonna find helpful.
We've been talking about how thebest photos aren't the ones with
(13:35):
perfect settings.
They're the ones that actuallymean something.
But in the moment, trust me, Iknow it's easy to overthink it.
It's easy to second guess orjust, flat out miss the shot
because you're messing aroundwith your camera.
So to help you with that, Icreated a simple one page guide
called Five Questions to AskBefore You Press the Shutter.
These are the exact samequestions that I still use in my
(13:58):
head to slow myself down, getintentional and capture the
moments that actually matter inphotography.
Not just the ones that aretechnically perfect.
It's free, it's quick to read.
And honestly, I think that it'sreally gonna help you to see
differently, the next time thatyou pick up your camera.
So you can download it right nowby heading over to beginner
photo pod.com/five qs for fivequestions.
(14:22):
That's beginner photopod.com/five.
The letter Q, the letter s.
Or just hit the link in the shownotes.
All right, so core principlenumber three.
Don't worry about raw, do notget overwhelmed by the different
file formats.
Simply take photos so that youcan build your confidence.
(14:45):
Raw versus JPEG can come later,trust me.
But just start shooting now AndI'm not saying that raw is bad,
it's not bad, it just adds toomuch on your plate as a new
photographer.
So if you haven't fell down therabbit hole of, shoot RAW versus
jpeg, or what are thedifferences, they are simply
different image file formatsthat your camera can capture.
(15:07):
JPEGs or jpg, so dot jpg file.
So when you, click on a photo onyour memory card, if it says, I
don't know, DSC 1 0 6 4 jpg,it's a JPEG file.
If it says, something like dotC3 or NEF or RAF or something
like that, it's a raw file.
(15:28):
JPEGs are the standard forsharing images on the internet.
It's a small file size, so theydon't take up a lot of storage.
They're easy to download, butthe trade off is that you don't
have as much flexibility as araw file when you're editing it.
A raw file captures all of theraw light and color data off of
the camera's sensor.
(15:49):
And a raw file.
The format is designed to beedited in a program like Adobe
Lightroom all before it can beshared.
So if you are less than threeyears into your photography
journey, I firmly, firmlybelieve that you should not
shoot raw.
(16:10):
It's a hot take.
I get it.
I can hear people angrilyturning off their podcast player
right now.
You've been told for so longthat raw, raw is the superior
file format.
You can't be a seriousphotographer if you don't shoot
raw.
I hear that.
But to that, I say, give me adamn break.
Gimme a break.
Come on.
(16:31):
If you look past the fact thatas a professional photographer
for 10 years, I shot the lastfive years strictly in JPEG and
still was named one of the topwedding photographers in
Indianapolis, or that I neveronce had a single client say to
me, wait, is this photo shot injpeg?
What's going on here?
Or, that sensor technologycontinues to develop and get
(16:53):
better and better and is so muchbetter than it was 10 years ago.
That JPEGs today have a lot moreflexibility in editing than you
may imagine.
You listen to any photographeronline who talks about shooting
raw, they're gonna make youthink that JPEGs are just
useless and good for nothing.
(17:14):
And I am here to tell you thatthey are not.
Any image that you've seen ofmine over the past, well, close
to 10 years, was shot as a jpeg.
Okay.
But this whole thing, okay, Iwant this to be very clear.
I'm not saying that JPEG isbetter than raw.
Objectively Raw is a moreflexible and a better file
(17:37):
format if you intend to edit thephotos, but shooting raw when
you are new to your photographyjourney, introduces just yet
another thing to learn andanother variable to go wrong.
And if you're somebody who has afull-time job and photography is
a hobby and you want to getbetter and take some great
photos, and now not only do youhave to learn this camera and
(18:02):
you know what the millimeters onyour lens do and should be doing
and why?
And now you're trying to capturethe moment and, oh wait, you're
in the wrong, auto focus modeand you miss the shot and then
you add an entire another levelof editing onto those images.
Where you can tweak everythingfrom the individual colors and
(18:23):
add stylistic effects and usepresets.
And how do you know when you'redone editing?
And how come it took like thesethree to four photos?
I took them at the exact sametime, but now one is darker than
the other, or this one lookslike green.
And people look like zombies beDoing two things at once does
not make you better at twothings at the same time.
It makes it so much moredifficult.
(18:45):
Imagine trying to become aprofessional race car driver.
The day that you started yourdriver's lessons for your permit
or whatever.
It doesn't make sense.
You have to understand thebasics and get a foundation of
photography before you moveforward.
Let's say you go out shooting,and the light is, it's beautiful
(19:05):
and everything's working right,and you get home only to have to
bring those images into a rawphoto editor like Adobe
Lightroom, and after a fewminutes of moving sliders, but
you're not entirely sure what itis that they do.
Your image now looksoverprocessed and not natural at
all.
And because you don't know whatall of these sliders and buttons
do when you're editing, youdon't know how to get back and
(19:28):
you think, wow, I liked thephoto as it was.
It was such a beautiful momentalready.
Whereas if you shot jpeg, itwould be ready to share right
away whether or not you want toedit the image.
And again, that meansphotography becomes more fun.
It becomes more enjoyable.
There's less stress.
(19:50):
Shooting raw from the beginningadds too much to your plate when
you just want to take somephotos and have some fun.
Again, don't mix up my words.
I'm not saying that JPEG is asuperior file format.
I'm saying that if you'relearning photography.
JPEG is the way to go so thatyou can focus all of your
(20:10):
attention on learning thecamera, seeing the moment,
rather than adding in a wholenother layer of editing on top
of that.
Hold off on shooting raw JPEG isgreat.
Seriously, again, I've shot allof my personal images of my
family, of my kids, of myadventures, and five plus years
(20:31):
of weddings in JPEG and neveronce thought to myself, man, I
wish I shot this in raw.
But I will say the first fewyears of shooting weddings, I
shot them all in raw as aninsurance policy because, well,
what if I did mess up the light?
I wanted to ensure that I hadthe flexibility when editing to
be able to save and recover aphoto as I got better of a
(20:52):
photographer and my style inphotography.
I became more confident that Ican shoot it right in camera so
that when I'm done shooting it,I just am done.
And that's the style ofphotographer that I want to be.
If you wanna be the photographerwho edits every photo, every
aspect of it, you know you'rebringing them into Photoshop,
(21:13):
then yeah, shoot raw.
There's nothing wrong withshooting raw, but if you're new
to photography and you'relearning all the things and
you're feeling overwhelmed,then.
Don't beat yourself up if you'reshooting in jpeg.
All right?
I'm already mentally preparingmyself for the amount of hate
mail from people who didn'tfully listen to that.
That's, uh.
It's coming my way.
(21:33):
Alright, anyway, core principlenumber four.
Let's move on.
Let's get past this whole rawversus JPEG thing.
Core principle number four isthat lighting matters more than
your camera gear, so therefore,learn to see light and you'll
become a better photographer.
Understanding light is going toimprove your photos so much more
than upgrading your gear.
(21:54):
Your job as a photographer is topay attention to how light
shapes a scene and use what'savailable.
You may or may not know this,but photography is actually, a
Greek word, which comes from towrite with light, not to write
with the newest backlit stackedCMOs global camera sensor.
(22:19):
It is to right with light, andtherefore learning to see light
is one of the most powerfulthings that you can do to be
able to consistently takedynamic and visually beautiful
photos.
But learning to see light canseem hard.
What do you mean learn to seelight?
I see light every day.
(22:40):
You're right, you do in fact seelight every day, but
understanding things such asdirection of where light is
coming from, the differencebetween quality of light and
quantity of light, and even thecolor of light, those are the
things that once you start topay attention to and understand,
that's how you see lightphotographically.
(23:02):
There's a, a very simplelighting setup that has been
used to create some of the mostbeautiful and flattering
portraits for well hundreds ofyears, even long before the
camera was even thought of orinvented, and it's called
Rembrandt Lighting.
It was named after the famousDutch Renaissance Paint,
(23:22):
Rembrandt, and it is easy toachieve.
And it is beautiful.
And it is timeless.
Okay, so imagine this.
You have a subject that isfacing you in front of your
camera, the light for the scene.
You're in a dark room.
The light comes from a windowthat is slightly above your
subject and a little bit more infront of them than, directly off
(23:43):
to the side.
It's not hitting their ear.
It's a little bit more in front.
So that light coming in from thewindow.
Directly illuminating the sideof their face closest to the
light.
That's how light works.
But in the far side of theirface is mostly in shadow, except
for a small triangle of lightunder the dark side of their
(24:05):
face, under their eye, and undertheir cheek.
It is just a tiny bit of lightthat spills over from that
window that isn't being blockedfrom the nose and that triangle
gives depth, it gives mood andit forms the face, and it will
instantly make your portraitsmore interesting and artistic.
(24:29):
You don't need studio strobes.
You just need to find the rightlight and know how to position
your subject.
That's it.
Rembrandt didn't have any studiolights.
He didn't have any fancy lenses.
He didn't even know what acamera was.
It wouldn't even be invented foranother 220 years.
And yet his paintings hang inthe world's best museums because
(24:51):
of his ability to capture lightand mood.
That's what light can do foryou.
So strive to do the same withyour images.
Alright, core principle numberfive, and this one's my
favorite.
Photography is a way to see it'snot just a skill.
Photography teaches us manythings.
It teaches us mindfulness, itteaches us appreciation.
(25:15):
It teaches us to be morecreative.
It's not just about the images,it's about how you experience
the world.
Here's a, a short story.
Shortly after moving to Indiana,I moved to Indiana knowing that
I was gonna get into weddings,but I needed a day job at first
to pay the bills until I got thebusiness off the ground.
It took a while.
And I worked this horribleplastics factory that was so
(25:40):
incredibly hot and loud andsmelled like hot plastic.
Man, that first summer,experiencing the humidity of the
Midwest and having to workinside of this place with I
guess 15 plastic mold injectionmachines.
Oh my gosh.
It had to have been 120 plus inthat building every single day.
(26:04):
But I knew that I had to workthat job so that I could afford
to buy a camera.
So every day I worked 7:00 AM to7:00 PM every day.
I took the same route to work,passing cornfields, passing old
barns, passing farm equipment,just dreaming of the day that I
was gonna get this camera sothat I could start photographing
(26:24):
the world.
And I remember one morning thelight was just, it was so
stunning and it, it made youtake notice.
Maybe there was a, a rainstormthe night before, whatever, but
the clouds were out and then thesun just peaked through the part
in the clouds and it was like aspotlight on the earth.
(26:45):
And right at that moment is whenI drove by this open field that
was probably about to be tilledto plant some more corn.
It's a field that I had drivenby, hundreds of times before
this, and I had never reallynoticed it.
It's just, just land, right?
But there was something aboutthat light that right then I
pulled over and there was nobodyelse on the road.
(27:06):
It was these rural back roads,country roads.
And I got outta the car and Ipulled out my iPhone four and I
opened up the camera app and Itook a photo and it was just a
snapshot.
I looked at that photo and Ithought to myself, oh wait.
This photo can be so muchbetter.
So what did I do?
I took, I walked into thatfield.
(27:28):
I took a few steps into thefield.
There was a big tractor outthere.
I got closer to the tractor.
I took another photo, and it wasbetter, right?
The subject became larger in theframe.
It was better.
But I'm missing the thing that Iloved so much about this photo,
this moment rather, which wasthe sky, this beautiful sky.
So I got the camera lower tomake the tractor look larger and
(27:49):
see more of the beautiful sky inthe light hitting this tractor.
I wanted that photo to reflecthow I saw the world in that
moment.
Now I had to go back through myarchives and find that photo to
ensure that I could share itwith you.
It's actually the thumbnail forthis episode.
So if you're looking at thethumbnail of this episode and
you see the tractor photo,that's the photo.
(28:10):
And if you look at that photo,you're thinking this photo
wouldn't win any awards.
And you're right, but damn, ifit didn't change something
within me and how I see theworld.
Because it, it wasn't aboutbeing perfect.
It wasn't about perfectsettings.
I couldn't change any of thesettings on my iPhone.
It wasn't about shooting withthe newest camera.
It was about learning to seewhat had always been there.
(28:33):
And that is what photographydoes.
It slows you down.
It teaches you to look again, itteaches you to see the world.
I mean, really see the world andnot just pass through it.
All you watch is doom and gloomnews.
You're gonna look at the worldthrough a lens of everything is
doom and gloom.
People have bad intentions.
(28:54):
The world is a bad place.
And on the opposite side, if allyou watch was just good, happy,
happy every time, fun time,everything news, then that's how
you would look at the world.
This isn't about news, but whenyou look at the world through an
actual lens, throughphotography, you start to see
the world photographically.
(29:16):
And when I look out at theworld, I don't think, oh, this
would be great at F eight.
And one, two 50th of a secondand I, so you know, 400.
I look at the world and say,look at that light.
What a beautiful moment.
Look at that laugh becausephotography is a way to see,
it's not just a skill to knowwhat the numbers mean, and it's
(29:38):
that skill and that awarenessthat grows within you, and
that's what makes photography somuch more than just taking
pictures.
Oh man, I could talk about thisall day.
But then it can, it can be less,practical and more cerebral.
So that's all I'm gonna sharewith you today about that.
(29:58):
I really want you to start tosee photography as a way to see
the world and not just learningthe tool in your hand.
Okay?
Core principle number six isthat you must share your work.
Your photos are meant to beseen.
It's fear of judgment that isholding you back.
I know that because that's whatholds me back from sharing
photos, but sharing evenimperfect work can build your
(30:23):
confidence.
It can attract feedback and itwill lead to growth.
A few years ago, our family gotto spend, an extended amount of
time on vacation, in Californianear the beach.
And it was one of those likeonce in a lifetime trips, you
know that this isn't gonna belike an every year type of
thing.
And one day our family was atthe beach and my son is just
(30:43):
digging in the sand to see howdeep he could get.
And my daughter was runningalong the beach, like right as
the waves were like crashing andthey were right on her feet and
she was like giggling.
And it was warm and the oceanwas beautiful.
And it was one of those momentsthat as a parent you kind of
just want to live in forever.
(31:05):
And I had my camera with me ofcourse, but for a second before
I took a photo, I kind ofhesitated, like before I reached
for that camera, I hesitatedThere was kind of this, you
know, the angel and the devil onyour shoulders that was like,
should I even be taking thisphoto?
Like, shouldn't I just stayright here and be present with
my family?
(31:26):
And I don't think that anybodywould fault me for, for either.
It's not like taking a phototakes a long time, or, The kids
were kind of in their own headspace doing their own thing, and
I was in my head own head spaceand just watching this and
enjoying it.
So I did take a photo and again,that photo's not gonna win any
awards.
I would say that it's probablymore of a snapshot than one with
(31:47):
intention, although I didintentionally wait for a right
moment so that the compositionwould be better.
So maybe it's not just asnapshot, but regardless, when I
look back at my time spent thereand I think of all the photos
that I took and how, like, yeah.
Okay.
I could have put away the cameraand been more fully present with
(32:09):
my family and not take anyphotos I could have.
And would it change anything?
I don't know.
I mean, we still got toexperience the trip together,
but a few weeks ago, my son hadasked me, he's like, Hey, do you
remember that day in LagunaBeach when I dug that super deep
hole?
And I was like, well, he doesthat at every beach.
So I wouldn't necessarily saythat him saying that stood out
(32:31):
to me.
He was like, oh, yeah, he onlydid that once.
But what I did was we came overto my computer.
We sat down to look through allthe photos that I took, and
almost immediately he pointed atthe screen to a photo that I
took on a different day, on aday where we went on like this
long hike.
I mean, my daughter, I think wasfive, maybe she was six at the
time, and it was just too longof a walk for her.
(32:52):
Like, we shouldn't have done it,but we did it anyway.
And my son had yelled, oh, Iforgot about that.
That was so amazing.
We had such a beautiful view atthe top.
And then like, it hit me like,something within me changed.
Like I understood for a moment,like, oh, wait a second.
While yes, I shoot for myself.
I'm not shooting specifically toshare it with others.
Photography, isn't somethingthat I do just for the praise of
(33:16):
others.
I shoot for myself to enjoy theimages that I take, right?
But photography isn't only aboutcapturing the moments for
ourselves.
Sure, I took the photo formyself, but an image of photo
now creates connection.
Yes.
That photo helped me to processthe feeling that I had in that
(33:37):
moment, of this hike that wewere taking.
But it allowed my son to relivehis own story of that day in his
life, one where his little legswere tired, one where we saw a
snake that day.
In fact, I just remembered thatwe saw a snake, even though I
did not get a photo of it.
And it's a day where we saw themost amazing view of the ocean
(34:00):
from the top.
And if you are your family'sphotographer, you will
understand this.
We have all the images.
We catalog them, we know wherethey all are.
The good, the ones that we hopeno one ever sees because,
somebody would say, wait, areyou sure you're a photographer?
Which hurts, but seriously, butsometimes our own family doesn't
(34:20):
get to appreciate them.
Like they should be appreciatedbecause we are the keepers of
the photos.
So we just kind of keep'em onour computer where we know that
they're gonna be safe.
But that doesn't allow ourfamily to see these photos.
And almost never is, is thememory that sparked the
connection back to that momentdirectly tied to the technical
perfection of that image whenthey see it, My son didn't see
(34:43):
that photo and be like, wait,that's not precisely how I
remembered it.
I remember it being a brighterday.
I remember my whole view wascloser to the ground, you know,
whatever.
It's never tied to thetechnicals or the perfection of
the image.
Sharing those images.
Even the messy, even theimperfect, even the unfinished
photos is, it's how you findyour voice.
(35:05):
You gotta be vulnerable.
It's how you inspire others.
It's how you create meaningwithin a frame.
Brené Brown has this, quote thatsays, in order for connection to
happen, we have to allowourselves to be seen, really
seen.
Sometimes we take bad photos inbeautiful locations.
Our culmination of images shouldnot just be the ones that are
(35:27):
technically perfect.
There's another quote fromAustin Cleon He has a book,
called Show Your Work, at veryAply titled book, and in it
there's a quote that says Youcannot find your voice if you
don't use it.
Sharing your work is how you useyour voice.
Your camera is the tool that youuse to voice how you see the
(35:48):
world.
Sharing your image is how youshare your voice.
Getting feedback, hearing fromothers, even just objectively
looking at at it later.
You know yourself is how youthen find that voice.
But to find your voice, you haveto use it.
And to use it is allowingourselves to be seen, really
(36:09):
seen.
So there you go.
it's these principles that I'veshared today that make
photography less intimidatingand make photography just so
much more enjoyable while stillfostering that technical growth.
Right?
You need to learn how to use thecamera, but that's not the only
thing.
So whether you're picking up thecamera for the first time, or
(36:33):
you are refining your skills,it's these core ideas that will
guide your journey towardscapturing meaningful and
beautiful images.
So let's do a quick recap.
Core principle number one,moment matters more than
settings.
Core principle number two, thebest camera is the one that you
will use.
(36:53):
Core principle number three,don't worry about raw.
Core principle number four,lighting matters more than your
camera gear.
Core principle number five.
Photography is a way to see it'snot just a skill.
In core principle number six,you must share your work because
photography is meant to be seen.
I hope that these coreprinciples gave you a fresh way
(37:15):
to think about your photography,and more importantly, I really
hope that it inspired you toactually get out and shoot.
But before you go, I wanna leaveyou again with something, that
is going to keep the momentumgoing.
And it's that free one pageguide that I created called Five
Questions to Ask Yourself BeforePressing the Shutter.
It's short, but super valuable.
(37:36):
It is designed to help you slowdown.
It is designed to help you shootwith more intention.
It is designed to help youcapture photos that actually
mean something.
Whether you're photographingyour kids a landscape or just
those everyday moments, thischecklist is gonna help you
focus on what really matters toyou.
So again, head over to beginnerphoto Pod slash five Qs five Qs
(38:02):
to download your free copy rightnow, or just click the link in
the show notes.
That is it for today.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com