Developing Photography Skills
Recently I’ve found a new hobby to get involved with, Photography. I’ve always had an interest in taking pictures. I remember back to my younger days, family members would always comment on how good my photos were. Back then however, I was simply pointing and clicking, so I think any good images I captured were more down to luck than skill.
This year however, with everything going on in the world with COVID 19, Getting out and about has been had been tough. But when I have been getting out, I’ve soaked up my surroundings more and noticed lots of details I normally wouldn’t. Noticing these little things has been a catalyst for my interest in photography, as I felt like I wanted to immortalise those moments.
It all started at Hardwick Hall, in the middle October. We were walking through the grounds and the leaves were falling from the trees, being autumn and all. As we were walking down to the hall I noticed a solitary brown leaf on a holly bush, which also happened to be sat right in front of the ruins of the old hall. There really wasn’t much more I could ask for that composition and I was more than happy to take the shot.
I got home and played around with the photos, editing them using the built in iPhone tools and posting them to Insta. From here, I was recommended the use of Lightroom to edit my photos, which gave me even more control over what I wanted to do. Then came the lens acquisition.
I did some research on and found a lens kit for around £40. I wanted to give myself some more versatility, while at the same time not spending too much on the off chance that this new found hobby wasn’t going anywhere. A few days later, the kit came and it was just in time for another outdoor trip to Clumber Park. Before this however, I had a quick test of all the lenses that came with the kit and I have to say I was very impressed, especially with the macro lens.
As I started to take more and more pictures and get more into editing, I soon started to realise that I would soon be looking to add to my equipment even more. I began watching videos on YouTube to try and understand the basics a little better. I invested in a tripod, so that I could stabilise my shots, and whilst I was semi thinking about investing in a camera, I was thrown a lifeline by a friend who had one, but was t really using it. So now I had a good setup to go out and about and try to take some better pictures.
My first outing with all this equipment didn’t go the best, mainly because 30 minutes into the outing the battery on the camera died (despite checking it the night before and it saying it had 3 bars). Luckily, I had my phone and lens kit on hand so I could carry on snapping. Once I got home and went through the pictures, I wasn’t particularly happy with any from the camera, which made me realise I needed more practise and to learn more about how to use it more effectively. Having said that, the conditions from taking camera shots to taking phone shots had completely changed, where the early camera shots were in an overcast environment, the latter phone shots were taken when the sun made an appearance, so that may have had a bearing on my final feelings.
Since then, I’ve been trying to grab my camera on every occasion I can, in an attempt to grab as many shots as I can. I’m still not sure what area of photography I’m more into at the moment, so I’m trying my hand at a variety of styles. I’ll be sure to post more on the website as I develop more and feel like I have more to discuss / showcase. If you’d like to keep up to speed, you can always follow my Instagram account (link in the site footer below). If you’ve got any suggestions, be sure to comment below as I’m always eager to learn and hear the opinions of others 🙂
