Arts and crafts

How to learn photography from scratch

You learn photography by shooting to an assignment and reviewing the results, not by buying gear. You can start with your phone and move to a camera with manual controls once it is clear what exactly you are missing. Below is a three-month plan, from light and composition to exposure and editing.

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Do you need a camera#

Not in the first month. Light and composition do not depend on equipment, and a phone lets you shoot a lot, every day. A camera becomes worth it when you hit the phone's limits: you want a blurred background, you want to freeze fast movement, you want to work in low light. At that point a second-hand camera with interchangeable lenses and a simple fast prime lens (a 35 mm or 50 mm f/1.8, for example) are enough.

Month 1: light and composition#

Shoot one theme for a whole week. Week one is light: the same object by a window in the morning, at midday and in the evening; in direct sun and in shade; with side light, backlight and front light. Week two is composition: the rule of thirds and when to break it, leading lines, foreground, a frame within the frame. Week three is viewpoint: the same subject from below, from above, very close, far away. Week four is simplicity: a frame with nothing in the viewfinder that does not need to be there.

Every week, pick the five best shots out of everything you took and write down why those five.

Month 2: exposure and manual mode#

Three settings control how bright a photo is. Aperture changes depth of field: a wide aperture blurs the background. Shutter speed controls motion: a fast shutter freezes it, a slow one blurs it. ISO raises brightness at the cost of noise. Do a series of three exercises: a portrait with a blurred background at a wide aperture, water or traffic at a slow shutter speed on a tripod, a running person at a fast shutter speed. Learn to read the histogram: blown-out highlights cannot be recovered.

Month 3: focus, shooting RAW and editing#

Learn your camera's focus modes and how to pick the focus point: in a portrait the nearer eye has to be sharp. Switch the camera to RAW — it keeps more information for editing. Learn basic editing: cropping and straightening the horizon, white balance, exposure, highlights and shadows, careful contrast. Free programs such as darktable and RawTherapee do everything you need.

A beginner's editing rule: if anyone can tell at first glance that the photo has been edited, you have gone too far.

How to review your own shots#

Once a week, sit down for a review and do not go easy on yourself: what is the main subject, does the background get in the way, where does the light come from, what would you do differently. It helps to put your photo next to one by a master on the same theme and name a specific difference — "the light comes from the side and the background is darker", not "theirs is better". Share your work in communities where people critique photos, and ask for feedback on a specific question rather than "what do you think?".

Common mistakes#

  • Buying gear before you understand what you are missing.
  • Shooting everything without an assignment — hundreds of frames and not a single review.
  • Keeping every near-duplicate in a set: a set is strong because of strict selection.
  • Trying to rescue a bad frame in editing instead of reshooting it.

Step-by-step plan

  1. Month 1 — light and compositionOne theme a week: light, composition, viewpoint, simplicity; five best shots with a written explanation.
  2. Month 2 — exposureAperture, shutter speed, ISO and the histogram; three exercises on background blur and motion.
  3. Month 3 — focus and editingThe focus point, shooting RAW, basic editing in a free program.
  4. Wrap-up — a set of ten photosOne theme, strict selection, a review of every frame and a plan for the next stage.

Start learning this in your own space

The plan goes into your repository: tick off stages, keep notes — the change history shows how far you have come.

Start the plan

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