A Mix of Learning Methods For a Serious Hobbyist Photographer

When I started out with photography, I was actually intimated by formal classes or workshops.  Someone actually suggested this to me, when she learned that I was interested in photography.  But I like learning on my own and it's not new to me to learn things myself.  After all, there's a whole lot of information out there on the internet these days.  I also didn't feel the need to spent money for classes as this is just a hobby.

I never realized how those first workshops and classes actually boosted my learning.  Here are some reasons where I believe taking formal workshop and classes would be beneficial:

Well Directed Outline

• Despite the internet having so many information, the information may not be organized and conducive for learning.  It is often hard to know where to begin, which topics to choose or which to prioritize.  Everybody's interpretation of "beginner" is different.  And you end up with a spaghetti-like program.  On the other hand, the formal workshops and classes compiles the topics that I needed to start off as an amateur photographer and presents it in a sequence where I can follow through to advance my skill level.

Learn, Apply, Feedback

• Formal classes and workshops also allow me to quickly apply concepts to real life applications. I got to try the concepts out there and then and most importantly, I got feedback immediately and I learned on the spot.  I believe feedback is crucial.  Photography can't be learned through one-way information loading.  It is very difficult to get quality feedback from the internet, if at all any, and some could actually direct you off course.

Commitment/Focus

• Formal classes also forces me to focus on it either for a day or for a consecutive few days depending on which program I take.  I dedicate time for it from my day to day activities.  If I learn on my own, the tendency is to do short sessions whenever I'm free.  Thus, continuity is not achieved and this hinders learning efficiently.

So when I said it boosted my learning, it surely gave it a big push.  Then after doing these, I can always supplement with continuous self-learning.  For example, these days, I find those how-to articles in DPS quite helpful.  They are usually specific topics or answers to very detailed questions.  I subscribe to Facebook and I browse through them in my newsfeed.  I save the ones I'm interested in and go through them.  Sometimes, I also choose refreshers and some are actually questions that I would ask myself.

Then comes practice.  I rarely shoot other than when I'm travelling so that's also a challenge. I travel a couple of times a year, so it's still quite good.  But sometimes, time passes and it takes some warming up before I could shoot well again.  I've joined special interest photography trips as well over the last few years and that greatly helped not just to practice but also to get feedback from pros and improve.  It's like taking formal classes or workshops, but the focus is on shooting, critique and applying solutions/improvements, and not on concept learning.  I've even informally piggybacked on my niece's prenup shoot just to observe pros in action.

I think this particular combination of learning methods works well for me as a serious hobbyist photographer who do not necessarily shoot regularly but still wants to advance my skills.  And I go through the same cycle every year or so as I advance my skills in photography.

When I look back at my photos a few years back, I find myself critiquing my own photos and identifying areas where I could have done better.  And this is a good sign that I've at least achieve some positive progress and it feels good :-)

Story Behind the Shot: Burano Island

Minimal Post Processing
Burano Island, Venitian Lagoon, Italy, December 2010
Nikon D60, ISO 100, F4, 1/640 sec

This shot was taken 4 years ago and is still my favorite shot.  I was just starting out then with my DSLR which ironically was bought 2 years earlier by that time.  I shot with Manual Mode but I was new at it.  I still shot with JPG only and I didn't even know post processing.

We were on a family trip.  In fact, two of the individuals in this shot are my brothers also exploring the island with their own cameras.  We had some free time and instead of going to see how lace was made in Burano, we went to photograph the colorful houses.  It was nice walking around and seeing the locals going on with their day to day activities, ignoring tourists like us.  I guess they are so used to it.

I loved the reflection and the stillness of the water which makes the reflection really clear.  At that time, I loved the shot, cause the conditions were perfect.  I composed my shot.  I made sure I had some people for perspective.  I had my reflection. I had my leading line.  I had the vibrant colors.  All I had to do was click the shutter button and made sure I had my camera still to get a sharp photo.  This was the original shot I got, no post processing, right out of the camera.

No Post Processing, Right Out of Camera, Normal Picture Control
Burano Island, Venitian Lagoon, Italy, December 2010
Nikon D60, ISO 100, F4, 1/640 sec

Awards/Recognition
I submitted this shot to CNN iReport on May of 2012 and they featured my shot under their website Travel Photo of the Day.  See my blog and screenshot of May 9, 2012's Travel Photo of the Day.  I was ecstatic!  My first published shot online!  Well, technical published, but not paid work, LOL. Good enough for an amateur eh?

So didn't I already tell you I love this shot?  So come 2014.  I resurrected my photo.  I was trying out some of my photos in free photo contest sites like Pixoto and Viewbug.  I wanted to see if any of my older photos could win me some awards or recognition at least.  Of course, my first choice was still my favorite photo.

Lessons Learned and What I Can do to Improve

I reviewed it and felt it required a bit of basic post processing, just to enhance what's already captured.

• I love my photos vibrant and this shot definitely shouts vibrant because of its bright colors.  I didn't know about the Vibrant Picture Control setting when I first shot this so even my out of camera shot was a bit dull, but probably saved by the originally bright colors anyway.  Now the color of the sky looks like what it was in reality.  It was a very nice day that day and really, the scene was exactly like out of a postcard.  But I didn't realize the photo I shot was a bit duller than reality.  I'm sure CNN also did a bit of auto-correction before they post it in their website.
• I brightened the shadows a bit to show more detail on the darker areas and balance the entire photo
• I put a bit of contrast and clarity as well to make the picture crisper
• And lastly, I did a bit of sharpening on the edges by using mask

If I would shoot this again today, I would be shooting it in RAW+JPG.  And I would shoot it with a slower shutter speed.

I was happy with the result of the enhancement and I entered it in Pixoto under Buildings and Structure Category.  It was #1 for Day 1 and Top 5% for Week 1.  Let's see how it goes for the rest of the weeks, and hopefully stay on top for the Best of the Year awards.  I entered it in a few of the Pixoto Challenges as well, so we'll see how it fares over there in a few weeks when the contests end.

Here are some other shots I took that day:

Same thing here, I prefer this with more vibrancy

Thought this was artistic framing, but turned out to be dull,
maybe can still salvage this with some enhancements in post processing

Wish I hadn't cut off the left edge of the 1st door :-(

Learning From Mistakes: Shadows, Lighting and Basic Framing

While searching through the internet for common mistakes photographers do, I encountered a very good website that talks about the very basic mistakes.  You'll probably laugh at these, but these are mistakes that most people make, even if they have taken photographs before.  Let's not even talk about rule of thirds or handling difficult lighting situations.  Most of these mistakes relate to basic composition and framing and lighting. This website provides scanned copies of real printed photographs so you can see that it is not much different.  Most of these are very much applicable to digital photography as well except for the 3rd and the last, which are unique to the use of films.  As you probably already know, the only advantage of digital photography is that you can probably filter out these mistakes immediately after taking the shot, and thus, have the opportunity to take another shot.


Here's a summary of the common mistakes presented by the author.  I suggest you visit the website.  It's a good opportunity also to get a glimpse of photography in the early years.

1.) The photographer's own shadow is in the picture.
2.) Distance from subject: Too close, too far away
3.) Forgot to advance the film: The Double Exposure
4.) Blocked the lens with a finger or a thumb or something
5.) Somebody moved, either the subject or the photographer
6.) Not framed right, Missing heads, feet, people
7.) Improper lighting (Overexposed, Underexposed)
8.) Fogged negative from miss-loaded film or a damaged camera.

History Behind This Project

Blogs are a very popular way of life now, everybody seems to be into blogging these days, about anything out under the sun.  Most common topics of course are about food and travel.  Now everybody can become a food critique or a travel writer, even if they do not possess the expertise to do so.  But then again, blogs are exactly that, and these are not like the formal articles that used to go through a gazillion reviews, editing and approvals to get published.  Blogs simply contain the writer's opinions and thoughts.


I love to write.  Even as a child, I would write poems and short stories.  I would write letters and also keep a journal.  Back then, it was referred to as a diary.  So what should I blog about?  I do not want to be another food or travel blogger in the vast sea of bloggers out there, although I do admit I keep a personal journal as well as a travel blog of all the places I have visited.  I thought to blog about something that I love to do, so that I get inspired and can keep up with the regimen.  I love to eat and I enjoy trying out different types of food, but I don't feel like I can contribute something to the public which isn't already known to many.  Besides, it's a bad idea for keeping healthy and losing weight :-)


So what else? I thought about travel and photography, which are two of my strongest passion.  Again, so many travel blogs out there, and so many photoblogs too.  I'm sure I can think of something different, something that not a lot of people have done yet.  Then one day, a movie called "Julie and Julia" inspired me to revisit blogging.  The movie was about a young girl on a project to blog her experiences as she cooked every recipe from the famous Julia Child's recipe book, more than 500 of them in 365 days. What's interesting is that it writes about both the positive and negative experiences, including the struggles that she has undergone as she follows through a recipe book.  I love the time she had to learn to kill a live lobster, something you won't see in a cookbook nor a food blog.  So I thought, what a wonderful idea, it's not about any pretentious critiques and/or reviews that has unfortunately resulted from the frenzy of blogging and marketing people taking advantage of this channel; but it goes back to the original intent of a blog, which is to provide an outlet for the writer to journal the experiences as he/she goes through the journey of cooking all the recipes from a famous chef and learning from it.


I then built from this idea and decided that I can still blog about photography, and I don't need to be a professional expert, but rather I can be a student learning the ropes, which most of my readers will be.  Most photography blogs present tips and techniques as well as present to you a sleuth of resources on how to take better photographs.  Other photoblogs feature their best work.  And most photography books teach you how to's and provide expert techniques on how to improve your photographs.  But I often thought after going through these, "Ok, I know how to improve, but can you give me an example of a bad one so that I can learn from it?"  Few of these teach you about the common mistakes and how to learn from these.  Ideally, I would want to put two pictures side by side (a bad one and a good one) and and then explain the how to, the what to do, and most importantly, what not to do.  I love the books where they show you how to improve your composition and present two photographs so that you see the difference.


I'm an amateur photographer and every time I take a shot, I make mistakes.  I'm sure all photographers do, even the experienced ones.  From these mistakes, I find the motivation to learn how to correct these and further improve my shots.  There are just so many valuable lessons out there that is worth sharing with other photographers.  Wouldn't that make life simpler and as a whole, allow us to take better shots faster?


I don't seek to become a professional photographer, but I seek to take great photographs even as a hobby photographer.


So, as I write about my experiences; hopefully, in the process, I can share my journey with other similar beginners and amateurs like me, or even benefit the experienced ones too.