5 tips for New Photographers - Advice I wish I would have received

so in this video I want to share with you guys my advice for beginners things that I screwed up when I was first starting photography and hopefully you guys can learn from some of the mistakes that I made when I was first starting so thing number one the photography industry though will call it is a pyramid at the base of this pyramid are a whole bunch of people that have just gotten their first camera people that are in their first several months maybe the first year of photography and then as we go up the pyramid people get more and more advanced with their skill level and once you get to the top of that pyramid there's very few of those people there's a lot of content creators and software developers and camera gear creation people that realize this they know that there's a whole lot more people at the base of that pyramid there's a lot of people out there preying on the inexperienced photographer and I want you guys to realize that you don't have to spend all of that money when you're first starting photography to get better at photography there's so much free information on YouTube you don't need all of those you know $29.99 lightroom preset deals a lot of those things are in my opinion they're like predators preying on the inexperienced photographer and watch you guys to be aware of that if you are going to buy a set of tutorials or you know whatever it is an e-book vet your source is a little bit especially if the if the product is very expensive the last thing you want to do is spend a bunch of money on junk and there's a lot of it out there take it from someone like myself that bought a lot of that stuff in the in my early years there's a lot of junk out there so I encourage you guys to actually like take that money and invest it in gas for going out on a trip and spend some of the time that you were going to spend on that just consuming free content there are so many great YouTube channels that teach all of that same stuff but they do it for free and you don't have to invest a whole bunch of money in something that is going to be the same content only from less well-intentioned person invest the money in an experience invest the time and free content tip number two don't throw money at the problem I know that there's a lot of photographers that they take this chunk of money and they just try to purchase their way into becoming a better photographer and that's not always the way that it works it's going to be the experience in the amount of time that you pour into photography that actually gives you the best results you can't just purchase your way into being a better photographer and I know that there's a lot of people that frankly have more more money to invest than they have time the thing is is that that new camera or that new lens is not going to make you a better photographer unless it's a particular lens that unlocks a type of photography for you maybe it's a fast prime that you can do Astro photography with or maybe it's a super telephoto that you can finally get wildlife photos with sometimes some pieces of gear will unlock parts of photography for you but more often than not it all it really is is people throwing money at the problem so I encourage you to rather than spend that money on new gear spend it on an experience spend it on a new trip or maybe it's a road trip or maybe I don't know maybe it's a helicopter flight over a particular mountain range you can purchase those experiences and those experiences are going to be far more fruitful than that piece of gear that nobody can tell the difference between that camera and your old camera most likely one of the guidelines that I give myself is will anybody else be able to tell the difference between this piece of gear and my old piece of gear most often the answer is no I'm a slightly different user case because I'm a professional that does it all the time and I a lot so I want to keep up with the Joneses so to speak but my advice for people especially in that first year to a photography is take that money that you're going to invest in a new piece of gear and invest it in an experience or a trip because that is going to be something that everybody can see the difference in tip number three post-processing is 50% of the creative process and I know this is kind of a controversial subject it's very divisive because everybody has their own lines in the sand of what they wanted their post-processing to be but the truth is the better at post-processing you are the better you will be at realizing your creative vision for whatever type of photography you do I don't care if you're somebody that wants to be very documentary being better at post-processing will make you better at your job so tip number four don't over process and I know that's totally related to tip number three but take it from me I've over processed my images you could star you I still over process my images but in the beginning I really over processed my images I was crazy with the clarity slider and I went through an HDR phase like I did all of the same mistakes that maybe many of you are still making so the thing is you you learn a new trick you learn a new tool you learn what's possible with post-processing and then after that you kind of get it out of your system and then you dial it back as I've gotten better I've I've constantly trying to dial back my post-processing that way I'm only using what the image calls for rather than just throwing every trick I know at the at the image having all of these tools in the tool box will make you a better photographer but in the beginning you can overdo it and then you have to analyze it and then dial it back so most of you or some of you I don't I don't know you but I'm guessing there's some of you watching this right now that knows that you probably over process a little bit so take a step back and you know dial it back a little bit tip number five consumes lots of photography learning to analyze the work of photographers that you really admire is an incredibly useful tool for your own photography it's kind of like a musician sitting down and not only listening to music but listening to what the drummer's doing and and listening to all the little things that make that drummer sound the way he does you can do the same thing with photography only you're analyzing you know the way they compose the shot maybe why did they compose that shot and why is it so pleasing when they compose a shot that way you can really analyze all of these different photographic influences and that is going to influence your own photography and learning what it is that you like about a particular photographer's work and trying to understand that is going to make you better because the next time you go out and shoot you're gonna have that stuff in the back your mind in the beginning it might feel like you're copying somebody but all you're really doing is drawing influence from drawing inspiration from Enrico facade ease moody trees or Ryan dyers epic skies you know there's a difference between totally emulating and copying and drawing inspiration from photographers and especially in those first couple years you need to just consume lots of photography that way you know you know what's possible and the more you analyze the work of photographers you admire the more of that kind of influence you're gonna see in your own photography awesome guys thank you so much these are things that I wish people would have told me sooner I would have I would have got better faster but hopefully you guys can learn from my mistakes and and follow some of these tips that I've got for you make sure to ring the bell like and subscribe and we'll see you in the next video take it easy everybody [Music]

Channel: Nick Page

Views: 26,801

Rating: 4.979351 out of 5

Keywords: photography, landscape photography, nick page, travel, 5 tips, 5 tips for beginners, new photographers, advice for photographers, advice for landscape photographers

Id: Y90uezwO3Gk

Length: 8min 12sec (492 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 25 2019