Jim Hamel - Getting Started in Photography: A Complete Beginners Guide to Taking Great Pictures

Grapevine Sailboats

Exposure: Shutter Speed 1/10 second; Aperture f/11; ISO 100

Focal Length: 105 mm

Location: Silver Lake Marina, Lake Grapevine, Texas

I have spent much of my time in recent years teaching and writing about photography and youll read a lot more about my website Outdoor Photo Academy throughout this book. As I answered a lot of questions about photography, I began thinking that it would be nice to have a basic guide of photography information all in one place, so I could just point my readers to it and get them up to speed quickly. Frankly, that need surprised me, because it seems like there are a million intro to photography books out there. Why would I need to add to that list?

I thought about it and realized that what I want for my readers is something a little different than the standard introduction to photography. It seems like most others simply introduce you to photography concepts and then provide you with some different options and ways of doing things. Many do an admirable job of that, and I have enjoyed many such books over the years. But it always seems to me that they are afraid of appearing pushy so they never actually say, Here is what you should do. In other words, they might work through all the different kinds of cameras, but never say, Heres what you should get. They might talk about the ways you can set up a camera, but rarely do any of them say, Heres how you should do it. They might show you all sorts of different compositional elements, but not say, Here is a process for composing your photos. And so on.

If you came over to my house and said Jim, how can I take better pictures? would I say to you, Well, here are some principles of photography and a bunch of options? No. Frankly, I dont think anybody would do that. Instead, I would say, OK, let me show you how I do it and then Id proceed to show you that. Thats what everybody does, so why should we do it differently in a book?

Therefore, instead of options and principles, Im going to take you down one path. Im going to tell you exactly what you should do. Im going to tell you what type of camera to buy with a few specific models. Then Im going to tell you exactly how to set it up. After that, Im going to tell you how to expose pictures properly without resorting to automatic mode. I will show you how to choose good subject matter and also how to compose your pictures. Finally, Im going to tell you how you should process the photos. Ill walk you through the entire process. We will try to get as far down the path as we can in as short an amount of time as possible.

Now, does that mean I expect you to slavishly follow my approach? Obviously not. I assume that you will take this information and incorporate it into what you already know, using some and discarding some. Just take this information, digest it, and then go off and do it your own way.

This process will help you take much better pictures in a very short period of time. You will not have to muddle through a bunch of options. Just do it this way and watch your pictures get better.

Chicago River

Exposure: Shutter Speed 30 seconds; Aperture f/13; ISO 200

Focal Length: 20 mm

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Why should you bother doing this at all? Because taking great pictures is worthwhile no matter who you are. The process is fun, and the camera acts as a passport to take you to see all sorts of interesting people and places. It also provides you with little mementos of the great times youve had and places youve visited. Youll end up with a tangible thing, which might be as simple as something you post to Facebook or a picture in a frame on your desk or a print hanging on a wall in your home or someone elses home.

No matter what you end up with, remember that pictures are the things that everybody says would be the first things they would save in case of a fire. If these are the things that are the most precious items in the world to most of us, we might as well learn how to make them as good as possible.