I got into photography my freshman year of college because: 1) I figured that becoming a photographer for the newspaper would encourage me to go to lots of events on campus and get to know lots of people, and 2) I liked the process of photography, as it felt a lot like hunting/shooting a rifle (which I enjoyed for reasons unknown to me; maybe the movies/TV I watched growing up). if the pen is mightier than the sword, it truly seems to be the case that the cam is mightier than the gun. i myself don't hunt but i've spent time around people who do and so I'll add hunting analogies to each part of this b/c i really think it's a good analogy.
Step 1: Get the best equipment you can (preferably spend $2k+).
- i.e. a DSLR and good lenses with a variety of focal lengths (zoom)
- ordinarily-mundane pictures will suddenly look amazing
- this is analogous to riflery b/c an inaccurate rifle will severely limit you, no matter how good a shot you are. For example, I've read that those beat-up AK-47s that you see rebels lugging around are very durable, but they're nowhere near as accurate as the M-16s that US troops use. Similarly, my old Canon a510 pocket-camera was way more durable than a modern DSLR, but it won't be able to produce images of anywhere near the same quality.
Step 2: Find interesting subject material.
- if you want to get famous, go to a war zone
- emotional, unusual, human subject material is usually the best. if you can't get all three in one picture, two out of three is usually pretty good too.
- analogy to riflery/hunting: i know a guy who goes from maine to upstate NY to hunt deer b/c the pickings are better. some people travel around the world to africa.
Step 3: Be willing to use uncomfortable methods to get a good shot.
- ex: getting an interesting angle even if you draw attention to yourself
- ex: asking strangers if you can take their pictures
- ex: staging photographs
- analogy to hunting: guys sit in tree stands in the cold for hours before dawn to get an advantage (that's uncomfortable)
Step 4: Take a LOT of pictures (hundreds if not thousands).
- when professional photographers are taking pictures of models, they'll take hundreds/thousands of pictures to get a single image.
- analogy to hunting: you need to spend a lot of time out in the field before you can expect to get good results
Step 5: Choose one photograph to display out of a hundred that you take.
- I, like most people, used to post every single picture I took, but eventually I came to the conclusion that this diluted the effect of each picture on the viewer (e.g. when I post 20 variations of an image, the best image of the set won't hit someone the same way that it would if it was presented by itself).
- analogy to hunting: hunters may kill a whole bunch of deer but only take the very best one to the taxidermist to have mounted.
Step 6: Make the photograph look better with Photoshop ($) or GIMP (free).
- most photographs look better if you sharpen them a little
- many photographs look better if you crop them a little/lot
- many photographs look better if you mess with the brightness/contrast
- analogy to hunting: take the animal you want mounted to a GOOD taxidermist and it'll look like it's still alive; take it to a bad taxidermist and it'll look like junk.
Step 7: When presenting the photograph with others, try to minimize repetition.
- analogy: in a movie, each scene should have an essential role to play in the progression of the film; no scene should be extraneous.
- analogy to hunting: having a bunch of different animals mounted in your home will be more visually interesting than having a bunch of the same animal.
Step 8: If necessary, include a caption to explain to the viewer the context of the picture.
- a lot of pictures will seem much more interesting when people know the story behind them
- analogy to hunting: being able to tell the story behind each mounted animal is more interesting than just displaying some animal you found at a garage sale.