Focus shift

(Image created with AI)

Silent Lens here! :)

I wrote I'd be focusing on my own type of photography. I also mentioned my nature photography photos and glossed over them. 

Then, I thought:

"I remember being a beginner! I remember thinking about tripods, cameras, lenses, video because every YouTuber tried to shadow convince me I needed my own YouTube channel (stay tuned?) and how much money I didn't want to spend!"

If you're a beginner and need direction, I'm the right person; not because of my experience, but because I also hate spending money {:D

So let's start with what gear you'll need: 

PSYCHE!

Incorrect! Your focus is in the wrong place. First, identify what you'd like to shoot. If you have zero idea, that's okay! Start out with your phone. You'll likely see things in your neighborhood that you enjoy looking at, such as: 

- A sunset

- Your neighbors flowers (don't shoot in the direction of their homes :)

- Insects

- Birds/squirrels

These photos probably aren't going to look good at first, but buying a film/digital camera or even... a *clears throat* mirrorless camera WILL NOT make you a good photographer. 

Live by this: 

*There is no need to buy something if  you don't even know what you'll use it for.*

I wish I had a few of my really old photos to show you just how "bad" some of them were (looking back). I loved them in the moment. Some I still like quite a bit!

Here are two of my best phone shots when I was just starting (so cut me some slack):

Usually, I took photos like this though:

The quality isn't the greatest from the HTC desire 626 (which is currently at the bottom of Lake Cumberland; don't ask) but if taken with a digital camera, the resolution would have been higher. That's it.

Start with your phone. While I did mention composition, don't worry about that in the beginning. You can use grid lines for a basic rule of thirds (look somewhere for a tutorial-it should be in your settings section when you tap your phone settings in your camera app).

My favorite landscape photographer Joshua Cripps (love you man) essentially said this:

"Fill the frame. Keep what you like and get rid of what you don't like." If you do that, you'll be well off. 

That's how you get shots like this:

Not award winning, but a very noticeable step up from the phone shots. 

99% of my photography ability is from practice. It's not easy. You won't get better watching YouTube videos unless they're a critique of an image. Even then, you still may need to make the same mistakes as the ones who sent an image to be critiqued to actually learn. You have to take the "bad" shots. I'll end with a little encouragement to help you:

While you do need to take a lot of images to learn why many won't "work", don't count it as failure. 

See it as closing your creative gap. You haven't "failed"; you simply haven't achieved your creative outlook yet.

That's all from me! Use your phone.