What Are The Best Camera Settings for Landscape Photography?

This is a question I get asked a lot, and I mean A LOT. Not just about landscape photography, but about all sorts of different photography - what are the best settings for portraits/ICM/product/wildlife… the list goes on.

The bad news for some people is that there is no ‘best’ settings for any of these types of photography. The best settings for the photo that you are taking are the ones that you need to be able to take the photo you want to take.

Let me unpack this a little…

For some situations, there are preferred settings. In a landscape shot, I am going to want use the sharpest part of my lens, and for the lenses that I have, that’s usually somewhere around the f/8 mark.

This is going, to some extent, dictate the rest of my settings as I am making the aperture smaller; other things are going to need to change in order to compensate. If you’re new to photography, then reading my blog about the exposure triangle, is going to help you to really understand what I am talking about in this entry.

Once I have set my aperture, I have a number of things I want to consider… do I want to freeze motion or do I want motion blur? Do I need to inject a ton of ISO into the image to get my desired exposure length? Does the ISO value I choose mean that I am going to be adding a load of noise/grain into my image that is going to ruin it?

Even though I want to use the f/8 aperture, this might not be possible and I may need to make some compromises.

It may even mean that to get my desired level of sharpness across the whole image, I need to consider focus stacking.

There’s a lot going on in just this one scenario.

Thinking again about the original question, “what are the best settings for landscape photography?”, we then need to remember that as landscape photographers, everything we do is at the mercy of that staple of British conversation, the weather. As a landscape photographer in The Lake District, I know only too well the perils of the changeable Lake District weather and understand that at certain times in the year, it isn’t uncommon to experience all four seasons in one day! However, the most common thing you are going to come across is changing light, no matter where you are.

Sometimes the light will be bright, you’ve got your camera settings dialled in and made your image. You want to take another couple of images at the same location, or of the same subject, but the light has changed, the clouds have positioned themselves firmly in front of the sun and everything that you have just done correctly to nail the first exposure, now needs to change. This is normal and for me, it’s one of the challenges that makes this pursuit so much fun!

But I’m Not a Landscape Photographer!

To be quite frank, this doesn’t matter. What I have just said can apply to all manner of photography genres, particularly those where you have little-to-no control over what the light is doing, because you are shooting outside and are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

To give another example…

I used to live in London and was used to shooting in low light - night photography was a real staple for me, as were shots of “bus trails” and light trails. For a time, I was obsessed with taking cityscape images, with long exposure times to get either light trails or capture the motion blur of a bus that was driving through my scene.

After much experimentation, I figured out that for me, on my camera with my lenses, the optimum exposure time for a perfectly (in my opinion!) blurry bus was around 0.3 seconds. Notice that I said “around” in the last sentence? This is because it wasn’t always 0.3 seconds, there are a lot variables at play, not least the speed of the bus that was driving through your scene. If it was going too fast for my settings I wouldn’t get what I wanted. If it was going to slowly for my settings, it wouldn’t make it out of my scene and I would end up with something that I didn’t want.

What about portraits?

Surely for portraits, what you need is a fast lens and then just to shoot everything at f/1.8 also that you get good bokeh? Not in my experience.

Bokeh is great, we all love the way it looks, be that light orbs in the background of our images, or a blurry background that makes your subject ‘pop’ and creates some separation from background.

The issue is the focus plane. I try to imagine the focus plane of my image as an invisible entity that stretches from the front to the back of my scene. The higher my f number, the deeper the depth of field and the more of the image will be in focus.

But when it comes to shooting portraits, you want to be sure that all of your subject is in focus. I have found in my experience, the shallower the depth of field, the less of my subject is in focus and by the time I have looked beyond the focus of someone’s nose, I am starting to see a fall off in sharpness and by the time I have moved along that invisible plain to their ears, I am really not seeing as much sharpness as I should.

In the portrait scenario, your settings are not only going to be dictated to you by the amount of light that you have available, but also by your distance from your subject, and further more, your subject’s distance from the background. You might need to adjust your settings, your positioning and your subject’s positioning to make sure you are getting the level of focus you want and the correct exposure that you need.

If you’re doing headshots in a controlled lighting environment, against a backdrop and you can have your subjects stood on a mark, then this is going to be a little bit easier to figure out and to maintain your settings.

But if, for example, you are trying to tell a story in your images, then you are going to want completely different settings. Let’s say for example you are taking a series of portraits of people that tell us about the job they do and you are taking a portrait of a fisherman who works on a boat. You’re shooting on location at a harbour and his boat is moored up.

In this setting, you could set your aperture to f/1.2 and have a really buttery-smooth, bokeh’d background. Or… you could stop down your aperture ring to give you more of the background in focus so that you can see the harbour and the boat behind the fishermen. All of a sudden you have gone from a photograph of man who looks and dresses a bit like a fisherman, to a man who is a fisherman, with his workplace and working environment behind him to really sell the concept and to help to tell the story. Context, sometimes, is everything.

How About In The Studio?

Again, it’s a similar story here, but you do have much more control. This is because in a studio, you have full control over the lights - if you have a decent set of lights/strobes/flashes etc then you can control the brightness/intensity of the light, how soft or hard the light is (with the use of modifiers), how long it lasts for, where it is coming from and its distance from your subject, the way the light is diffused, the colour of the light… the list could go on.

What this means is that you could set your camera up and change the lighting settings or you could adjust your camera to the lighting scenario depending on what it is you are going for, but generally, if you’re changing one setting, you are going to need change something else.

In the studio, there is not a single set of perfect settings, the settings you need are going to be dependent on the look you are going for, what you are shooting (shape, size, etc) and how you need to present the final images to the client.

We are however, always looking for an image that is sharp, so our aperture is likely to be the overriding factor in our decision making here.

There are preferred settings…

… but there are no best settings!

Your preferred settings are the ones that you prefer. It doesn’t mean that they are the best ones - they might not be someone else’s. Think of it like this: If there were a set of best settings for every scenario, someone would have written the book, we’d all have a copy and we’d all be shooting the same images in the same way.

We’d also all be reading the book and thinking to ourselves “well they’re not the best settings for that situation, because what about that photo of x that I took at y”.

There’d be umpteen YouTube videos on the topic of “why I disagree with the best settings manual and what I do instead”. You see my point? These are personal, artistic choices/decisions based on an infinite number of possible scenarios with an infinite number of desired outcomes.

As you have probably gathered by now, there isn’t one single set of best settings for each of the situations you are looking to shoot. The best settings are dictated by where you are, the time of the day, the weather, the kit that you are shooting with and what your final intentions are.

Some of this is also going to be dictated by personal taste, especially when it comes to the creative aspects of your own work (if you’re doing client work then a big part of the creativity is going to be dictated to you, but remember that you’ve been hired for the way that you shoot, so your creativity still plays a role).

The best way to ensure that you can get the correct settings for your intended outcome is to practice, learn your camera and what it can do, what it is capable of and how to make it do what you want it to and how to programme the settings effectively. Spend some time learning about lighting, experiment and always have a project on the go so that you’re actively creating.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this useful/insightful! If you’d like to be the first hear about new blogs and reviews and to keep up to date with what I am doing and see my latest work, please consider spending a few moments signing up to my newsletter.

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Focus Stacking: How to Get Sharp Images in Landscape Photography

Sharpness. It’s a hot topic in photography and it’s never going to of away. We all pixel peep whether we admit to it or not, and not just for our own photos.

However, there are limitations to our equipment, even the very best, most expensive lenses can only achieve so much sharpness - you can’t beat physics, you just have to adapt to it. You can come close. Coming close is expensive, and expensive will only get you most of the way. Sometimes we just have to work with what we’ve got and that usually involves using our computer and some editing software.

For this one, we’re going to be using Photoshop, as it’s the easiest and quickest way for us to get the results we want.

What is Focus Stacking?

A good starting point for this would be to look at my blog on exposure blending if you’re not sure about it and then come back and finish this off. If you’re already au-fait with exposure blending/stacking then read on!

Focus stacking helps us to ‘remove’ some of the limitations of our lenses. Even at their sharpest f/stop, there are parts of the image (often the corners), that aren’t as sharp as we would like them to be. With focus stacking, we can take several different exposures of the same subject, with different focus points, usually working from the front of the image to the back and then we can blend them together in Photoshop which creates one image which is sharp across its whole area.

How Do You Focus Stack?

The first thing you need to do is to take your images. I am going to use an example which I have taken in the studio, for the simple reason that this is the place that I have the most control over as much of the process as possible. I’m going to be shooting tethered using capture one, but the process you will go through will be exactly the same, be it in the studio or out in the field. The major difference is that when you/I are working out in the field, instead of being in the warmth of the studio and working on a nice big monitor, we’re often out in poor conditions and working on the ‘tiny’ screen on the back of the camera.

Essentially, what we’re going to do is take at least 3 different exposures. In the first image, we are going to make sure that our foreground, or the front of our object is in focus, in the second image, we are going to focus on the mid ground and then finally, we are going to focus on the back of the image; this will either be the back of your object in the studio, or on infinity if you are out in the field. I have tried to visualise this for you in the image below.

This image shows where your (minimum) 3 focus points will be when you are shooting images for an exposure stack.

How many shots you need is going to be influenced by what you are shooting and what you are shooting on, what f/stop you’re at and if there is any movement in your scene. Three exposures is a good rule of thumb for this type of photography, if you take too many images, this can start to complicate things in post processing and your image can end up looking strange, have weird artefacts in it when your exposures are blended or simply, it just won’t work!

The other thing to remember is that you need to keep your settings locked in. If you start to change the settings on your camera between each exposure, this can cause issues and slow down the process.

Finally, you need to (99.9%) of the time, do this on a tripod. You want your exposures to line up exactly between shots, if they don’t, guess what… more complications!

So you’re set up, you’ve got your shot framed and you’re ready to start shooting. The next phase of this is going to be dependent on the camera you have. A lot of newer Canon camera’s have a focus stacking setting built into them. You will need to consult your camera’s manual for instructions on how to do this, but you can tell it how many images you want in the stack and how much you want the focus to shift between each image. The other way of doing it, and the way I am going to describe in this blog (because my camera doesn’t have the focus stack function!) is manually, using either manual or autofocus.

This is fairly straightforward.

1) Frame up your shot and select your settings.

2) Focus on the foreground by either twisting your focus ring, or tapping the screen to select a focus area and half pressing the shutter button. Check the focus is sharp and capture your image.

3) Repeat step 2 for the midground.

4) Repeat step 2 for infinity/background.

I always find it useful to grab an exposure which has my hand in front of the lens after I have completed each ‘stack’.

You can take as many stacks as you like whilst you’re out and about, but keeping them organised whilst you are working and before you get into post will make your life a lot easier in the edit.

How to Create a Focus Stack in Lightroom and Photoshop.

I have shared a video below which explains this process in full, but the first thing you are going to want to do is import your images into Lightroom.

Once they are in Lightroom, edit your first image and get it looking the way you want it. Once you have done this, you want to copy the settings from you first image to the other two in you stack, so that they all have the same adjustments applied to them. I usually just make some global adjustments at this stage and do anything local on the image I get out of Photoshop. You can see this process in the video below. You can make your adjustments in Camera Raw in Photoshop, but I find the process of copy and pasting the adjustments in Lightroom much easier.

Once you’ve done this, you need to select your three images and then right click and ‘open as layers in Photoshop’. When you’ve done this, you can move on to the next stage.

Now your images are in Photoshop, the process is pretty straightforward; you’re going to shift click to select all three images, the in the edit menu, we’re going to select “auto align layers”. This will make sure that our images are neatly stacked on top of each other. Leave the ‘Auto’ option checked and click OK.

Once this has completed, make sure that the three layers are still selected, go back into the ‘edit’ menu and select “auto blend layers”. Make sure that “stack” is selected and then I always keep “seamless tones and colours” and “Content aware fill transparent areas” are checked. The latter will fill any transparent areas (usually around the edges) that have been created when your images were aligned.

Now that Photoshop has done it’s thing you will see that it has created masks on each of your layers, and if it’s worked well, you should see that the masks are broadly letting the focussed areas of each shot show through. If you need to fine tune these masks, you can do this using either a white or black brush and painting on the respective mask.

The final step is to check that you are happy with what you have, that it’s sharp where you want it to be, and that’s the process done!

All you need to do now is hit save, and if everything is working well, you should see it appear back in Lightroom as a .tiff file that you can now make some local edits on and get it looking exactly how you want it!

I have made a video of this whole process below, so you can see each step and hear some commentary that I hope you’re able to follow along with!

Step By Step Focus Stacking Video Tutorial

Check out my YouTube video on focus stacking - please head over to the channel and subscribe!

Original Images:

I set this up on the studio against a yellow backdrop and one light source (just a video light for this for the sake of speed), this is just three props I found amongst some old props in the studio - a lego mini-figure, a pocket watch and a Funko figure. I set these up in a line extending away from the camera. These images were shot at f/4, just to force the depth of field to clearly illustrate what I am trying to demonstrate. You should be able to see the three focus points by looking at which part of the image in focus, you should be able to see each subject in sharp focus as the focus point moves towards the back of the image.

Whilst I have done this in the studio to illustrate it, the process in the field is exactly the same. The only thing you might find is that when you’re not in a controlled environment, you’re much more likely to have changes in light and the position of your camera to deal with.

After following the process outlined above, all three images are combined to produce the final, stacked and fully focussed image you see below:

I hope that you have found this useful, I am trying to put some more of this type of content together and will eventually get them uploaded to my Chris Kendrick Photography YouTube Channel so you can digest them at your leisure.

If you have found this useful, I’d be grateful if you would like to support the blog and help me keep producing Lake District photography content, honest gear reviews and regular website updates, you can do so via my Buy Me a Coffee page. Keeping everything running smoothly takes time, and your support makes a real difference. Thank you.

Check out some more of my latest blog posts below…

Gear Review: Godox X3 Pro Wireless Touchscreen TTL Flash Trigger.

Ahhh, flash triggers! For years (for me at least) these have been unnecessarily difficult to use bits of kit with complicated menus, too many buttons and some of the least intuitive things I have ever had in my photography set-up.

The Godox X3 Pro-C was launched in late 2025, with initial availability starting in September/October 2025 and changed that! It is something that I have been wishing someone would make for a number of years and finally something has come along that ticked a lot of the boxes I was hoping for.

I’ve had a number of different flashes and I still own some of them. One of the first sets was some Neewer off-camera flashes (the catchily titled Neewer NW-562 E-TTL Flash Speedlite), which came with their own triggers and a manual which contained some literal translations which were largely unhelpful. They were a lot of faffing, but once I got some settings dialled in for the transmitter and the receivers, I didn’t change them. I could just about work with the plethora of buttons and dials on the flash to change things like the output power and the zoom, and I did find it handy being able to reposition them. I still have them as they make useful lights that I can hide in scenes to light them more creatively.

I eventually upgraded to some more powerful strobes, this time from Godox and went for the Godox SK400III, which I paired with Godox XPRO-C TTL trigger. This was a real step-up from the previous trigger as now I could set up groups and store some different settings. Again however, I found this really complicated to use. The old style LCD screen was, I found, very confusing, difficult to use and to be quite honest, a bit of a pain. It did however give me some more flexibility and allowed me to do a little bit more. When I say ‘allowed’, what I mean is that I could control the strobes from the trigger rather than having to go and off fiddle with two set of buttons on two different flashes.

More recently, I have taken delivery of the Godox X3 Pro C Wireless Touchscreen TTL Flash Trigger. Yep, you guessed it, I got in the Black Friday sale last year, and I have had a couple of months to play with it before giving you my thoughts. One of my overriding thoughts is that they need to come up with some better names for these things!

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links and I may receive a small kick back if you make a qualifying purchase after you have clicked one of these links. This is a great way to support the blog, so a massive thank you goes to you if you choose to make a purchase, all of the money I make from this goes back into helping me to create reviews for the blog, it’t not a huge amount, but every little helps!

First Impressions:

This is much smaller than previous triggers that I have owned, yet you don’t lose any of the screen real estate that you want with a piece of gear like this. It’s light, which is a real bonus when you’re sticking it on the top of your camera via the hot shoe. One of the other things I like about it is that it has a built in rechargeable batter - HOORAY - no more faffing about with AA batteries which cost a fortune or rechargeable ones that never seem to last very long. The battery is rechargeable via a USB C cable which comes supplied.

It’s a lovely little object to hold, the plastics feel solid and the branding is fairly tame which means it looks quite subtle.

The touchscreen is bright and responsive. It’s also big enough that you’re not forever bumping icons you didn’t mean to and it’s not so sensitive that you’re accidentally changing your settings by just brushing against it.

There are 2 buttons on the right hand side, which give solid feedback when your press them (one of these will test fire the flash and the other is the power/menu button). Finally, on the same side, you have a multifunction wheel, which you can turn to navigate the menus and press to make selections, it has a reassuring click which lets you know you’ve made a selection. This might be handy if you’re working somewhere cold and are wearing gloves, or if you struggle to use your hands to make the changes via the touchscreen.

On the front of the unit there is an autofocus assist beam and at the bottom of it there is mechanical button which retracts a pin on the hot shoe to enable you to release it from the camera when you’re ready to pack down.

It came with about 60% charge already in the battery and to charge it to full took about 45 minutes. I don’t know what the full battery life is, but it’s been enough to get me through a full day’s shooting.

My Experience with The Trigger

I have really enjoyed using it so far. Once I had everything set up (which took no more than a few minutes after I had watched some YouTube videos), I was ready to go and shooting. I had someone booked in for some headshots not long after I took delivery of it and it got me through the whole session with no issues (I did have the old one on standby just incase I ran into any issues), I was able to make range of adjustments which synced to the strobes with no issue.

One thing I really like is that you can scan the 2.4ghz frequencies and the trigger will tell you which channels are the clearest ones for use in the environment you are, and then you can set this on the strobes and the trigger. I use each of my flashes in its own group and I don’t bother with the ID numbers as I am not often working in an environment which requires me to do this. I have however, messed around with creating different groups and using ID numbers for the purpose of this review, and have found that it’s a fairly straightforward process.

There is a slight lag from when you make changes on the trigger to them registering on the flash, whilst this hasn't been an issue for me, it’s something worth knowing. We're talking about delay of less than a second, but I know there are people who aren’t going to be into this.

What other features does it have?

One little ‘'bonus’ feature of this unit is that you can also use it as an intervalometer, but you will need to connect the trigger to the camera with 2.5mm TRS cable (male to male). These are less than a tenner for two if you click the link I have just posted, but a lot of you might find that you already have one of these knocking around at home somewhere, especially if you have purchased flash gear before.

One of the big plusses, for me at least, of this trigger is that it is a radio trigger so this does away with the need for line of sight to enable you to trigger the flash, which gives you some more flexibility on set/location and it saves the need for the use of optical slaves.

Switching between TTL and manual flash is straightforward, which is especially useful when working in changing light conditions.

The updatable firmware is also a huge bonus for lighting setups and products which are constantly evolving, and will reduce the need to keep spending money on buying new gear.

You can also change the trigger distance or range and you have two options here, 0-30 metres and 100m. I have found that when I am shooting in the studio, it’s much more reliable and has fewer misfires when working in the 0-30m setting. I haven’t used it outside yet, so can’t say if it works well up to 100m.

Finally, in the menus there is a function called ‘legacy’ which allows you to turn off all but one of the pins on the hotshot (the centre one), which means that it has greater functionality across a range of older camera bodies. You should be sure to check that your camera is compatible with the unit before you buy it.

Who is this for?

The Godox X3 Pro-C is ideal for photographers who want a compact, modern flash trigger without sacrificing control or reliability. It’s particularly well suited to Canon shooters who regularly work with off-camera flash and want a streamlined, clutter-free setup that travels easily. If you shoot on location, work with multiple light groups, or frequently switch between TTL and manual flash modes, the X3 Pro-C’s touchscreen interface and intuitive layout make lighting adjustments quick and efficient.

It’s also a strong choice for photographers moving away from optical triggering and into a radio-based workflow, offering dependable performance indoors and outdoors without line-of-sight limitations. Those who value portability, a clean camera setup, and fast access to lighting controls will appreciate what the X3 Pro-C offers.

However, photographers who prefer physical dials and buttons, work extensively in cold or wet conditions, or want interchangeable batteries may find a more traditional trigger a better fit.

Where Can I Buy One?

The easiest place to get one of these is on Amazon, where you will find it for around about £88. Make sure that you buy one which is compatible with your camera. There are a number of different versions, so don’t end up with something that you need to return! The ‘C’ in the name of this one stands for Canon, there is an ‘S’ for Sony and so on. They are clearly labelled with the camera brand on Amazon.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Bright touchscreen with intuitive navigation and operation.

• Small profile makes it great for travelling and on location marking.

• Supports Canon TTL metering and high speed sync

• Uses the Godox X system which gives compatibility across a wide range of flashes/strobes

• Built in USB C rechargeable battery negates the need for a high pile of AA batteries.

• High speed sync speed up to 1/8000 if your camera supports it.

Cons

• Touchscreen can be fiddly in cold and wet conditions

• Not hot shoe pass through. Once it’s attached, there is no way to connect anything else, which could be a limiting factor in some setups.

• More expensive than some other Godox triggers without much development around the core functionality.

Final Thoughts

The Godox X3 Pro-C is a strong choice for Canon photographers who want a modern, streamlined approach to off-camera flash control. It delivers reliable radio triggering, a clean and intuitive touchscreen interface, and a compact design that keeps camera setups lightweight and uncluttered. In real-world use, it offers all the core functionality most photographers need, from multi-group control and TTL support to High-Speed Sync for working in bright or fast-changing light.

While those who prefer physical buttons or interchangeable batteries may gravitate towards more traditional triggers, the X3 Pro-C excels in ease of use, portability and workflow efficiency. For photographers looking to simplify their lighting setup without compromising on control or performance, the Godox X3 Pro-C is a capable and well-designed trigger that fits comfortably into both studio and on-location workflows.

Technical Specifcations

Godox X3 Pro-C (Canon) – Specifications

Quick reference spec sheet

Compatibility

Canon EOS (E-TTL / E-TTL II)

Wireless system

Godox X 2.4GHz radio

Range

Up to approx. 100 m

Channels

32

Wireless ID

01–99

Groups

A–E + ALL

Flash modes

TTL, Manual, Multi

High-Speed Sync

Up to 1/8000s

Flash compensation

±3 EV (1/3-stop steps)

Sync modes

Front & rear curtain

Interface

Colour touchscreen

Power

Built-in rechargeable battery

Charging

USB-C

Firmware updates

Via USB-C

Mount

Canon hot shoe (quick-lock)

Remote control

Power & zoom control on compatible flashes

Size

Approx. 72 × 51 × 38 mm

Weight

Approx. 48 g

How to Overcome a Creative Rut in Photography: Tips and Strategies for Every Photographer

We’ve all been there. We don’t have any ideas, we don’t have the want to get up and go out to shoot and find every excuse under the sun not to go out (there’s no light, it’s raining, *insert your own here*) and sometimes, you’re just not “feeling it”. So what do you do when you’re feeling this? How could you get yourself out of it? How do you recover that lost will to go and shoot? In this blog, I’ll go through some of the things that I have done when I’ve struggled to pick up the camera.

Thankfully, this hasn’t happened to me in a long time. I’ve always loved photography since the first time I really started to do it seriously about 6 years ago, but there have been times when I just couldn’t be bothered, or simply wasn’t feeling like I wanted to. Let’s not also forget that most of us are doing this as a hobby and simply don’t always have bags and bags of disposable time to go out and shoot! Sometimes, it can be just a struggle to know what to do and where to do it.

I’ve been fortunate enough not to have ever felt like giving it up, but but under this intro, you’ll find some of the strategies I have used to get me off the couch to get out to shoot.

These tips/ideas aren’t exclusive to landscape photography, let alone landscape photography in The Lake District (which is what I talk about a lot on here), they will will work for everyone who owns a camera. You don’t need to go out and by things to help you with any of it, most photographers will have the things I talk about in this blog already. In fact in one part of this entry, I’m going to tell you not to buy gear to help with this problem!

Anyway, enough waffle. Let’s jump in…

This blog contains Amazon affiliate links and I may receive a small kickback if you make a qualifying purchase after clicking one of my links. The images in this blog are from unsplash.com and credits are at the bottom of the page.

1: Build a Shot List

I like this one because it’s free (most of us already own a pen/pencil and a piece of paper), it’s easy and it encourages you to look at other photographer’s work, or to actually go out and explore (when I am shoot planning, it tends to be a mixture of both). Doing the latter means that just in the planning stage, you are likely to go and scout the location and take the camera with you.

Come up with a list of locations and some ideas of photos that you would like to get, find some spare time in your day/week, and then head out and start to tick them off!

As with another point further down this blog, don’t plan exactly what shots you want to get - if you end up not

getting the shot(s) it makes the whole exercise feel like a bust and this could put you deeper into the rut that we are trying to escape here.

My final point about any list is that it allows you to see your progress, ticking things off as you go can help you feel a real sense of accomplishment.

2: Look at Photography Books

I have a not inconsiderable collection of photography books from a wide variety of photographers and in all manner of styles. Look at the greats and check out some newer more contemporary photographers. It’s worth looking in magazines as well. As a landscape photographer, I get Outdoor Photography Magazine every month. Other magazines are available so find which one is the one for you and try it out.

Photobooks are a bit of a double edged sword. They’re great ways to find things you want to do and maybe to find a new technique you want to try but on the other hand, they are also a great way to limit your creativity to a certain extent.

The problem is that we often see photos that other people have taken and think “I want to go and shoot that”, and you come home and you’ve got a great picture that another, unknown number of photographers have got too and can mean that in some ways, your image lacks originality. There’s nothing wrong with shooting ‘honeypot photos’, they’re great ones to have in the bag and will generally do well on social media, but they’re just not original. Look around when you’re out and find something new: be the one who’s copied, not the one who copies.

If you’re looking to improve your composition, then there are some great resources online, or take a look at The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman, it’s a great resource and can give you some great ideas that you can apply to the different scenes that you plan to shoot and perhaps even some new ideas for a favourite location.

3: Challenge Yourself (a post a day/a shot a day)

There might be some days that you don’t post, and that’s ok. Just post two shots the next day, but don’t take the Mickey with missed posts - not posting for a whole month and then posting 30 photos on one day to make up for it isn’t really in the spirit of the challenge!

If you’re someone who is into social media then challenging yourself to a post a day is something you can try in order to get you out shooting. If you’re going to post every day, then you don’t need to go and shoot everyday that isn’t possible (or sustainable!) for many people, but if you like a challenge then this is something that with a little bit of effort, will ensure that you are out shooting to build up enough content to have something to post every day for a whole year.

You could try to do a shot every day, a nice (but massively expensive) way to do this could be with a Polaroid, but have you seen the price of I-type film lately? Trying to do this with colour I-type film would set you back somewhere in the order of £700!! If you don’t have money to burn then this isn’t the way to do it.

However, if you did want to shoot every day for a year, just one shot, then this can be doable, with some caveats, and gets you into the habit of taking your camera with you every day and if you need to shoot locally (see point 4 for some tips on this), then this can be a great way to start building up a fairly cohesive body of work.

4: Shoot in Your Local Area

I can already hear the cries of “but where I live is boring” or “there nothing to photograph where I live”. It isn’t and there is. You just haven’t found it yet, because you haven’t tried doing this. There is a ton of YouTube videos on this subject (usually called something like “Photographing a Boring Town”).

This can be a great way to find the interest and the beauty in the everyday. When you go out and start looking, you will start to notice the details and the compositions will start to present themselves to you.

If you have a massive camera, it can feel a bit intrusive and a bit like everyone is looking at you. Two things will help here: 1) The more you do it, the less weird it’s going to feel and 2) stick a smaller lens on the front of your camera. My 80D is a bit of a unit, but if I stick something like a 50mm, 35mm or even my pocket dispo (read my review here) on the front of it, you will reduce the size of your camera and it won’t draw as much attention to what you’re doing.

5: Come up with a Personal Project

This ties in neatly with the point above. With something like this, anything is possible, but start small. The hardest part of this can be figuring out what it is you want to do. It could be anything from documenting family life, taking photos at football matches you attend (I’m off to see the mighty Barrow AFC play in league two later and will be taking it with me), shooting around town and building your street photography skills to a still life project in the studio.

This is only going to cost you time, and it might uncover a hidden passion and could even encourage

you to step out of your comfort zone and try a style of photography that is new to you. The image for this section uses intentional camera movement (ICM), and is a fun and free way to develop a new skill and maybe find a new artistic passion in your photography.

I know it’s a bit cliché, but the possibilties for this are endlesss.

Some ideas to get you started could be:

• Changing Seasons (longer term project)

• Empty Streets (good for low light fans)

• Everyday Objects Reimagined (Find interest and/or beauty in the everyday)

6: Take your Camera Everywhere

I mean literally everywhere. Going to the shops? Take your camera. Walking the dog? Take your camera. Driving long distance? Take your camera. Going to a museum? Take your… you get the idea.

I recently ‘found’/remebered I had a very small, very old digital camera that was given to me by a relative when she was clearing some stuff out. I am going to be taking this everywhere with me for a month to see what I can come up with and how it affects what I do. The point here though isn’t about buying new gear, it’s not about having the best gear, it’s about having your camera with you. The time when your camera isn’t with is the only time it’s useless.

It’s also likely to be the time when the best light and the best opportunities present themself to you. It will stop those “I wish I had my camera with me/if only I had my camera with me” moments and grabbing an absolute banger of a photo when you wouldn’t have normally had your camera with you can be inspiration enough in itself.

7: Plan a Trip with Photography in Mind

Pick somewhere you want to shoot. Plan a trip there. Get out and shoot. I had written this first sentence just as some placeholder text as I was planning this blog, and as reminder to me what I wanted to write when I got round to fleshing this out. Now I am looking at it, I kind of feel like it doesn’t need anything else adding to it!

Find a new location, research it, consider what shots you want to get and then go out and get them. I think with this though, and the mindset that the this blog aims to address, it’s really important not to plan your shots in too much detail. I say this because whilst it is good to have something in mind, if you don’t tick them off your list, or you don’t get the light you wanted/needed then you could well come away from a shoot like this feeling like you have failed, and that’s not what we’re trying to do here.

And yes, I know the image in for this entry is the view from a plane window, but this doesn’t need to be a huge trip - you could combine this with a local area project, or a longer trip that you can turn into a day out, you don’t need to get on a plane!

8: Try Something New

This one feels like it is fairly obvious.

This could be a new style of photography, a new technique or you might even decide to branch out and shoot some video if you haven’t done much of that before.

As long as it’s something new for you, it doesn't matter what you do, but have an idea and then go and try it.

Some things that you could try:

• Long Exposure

• Astrophotography

• Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

• Taking out just one lens and sticking to that focal length. (If you only have a zoom, pick a focal length and be honest with yourself!)

9: Revisit a Favourite Spot

This is another point which I think really speaks for itself, but for the avoidance of doubt, here’s what I mean…

We all have spots that we love. These are the places that we return time, after time, after time. Sometimes we know why we go back, sometimes we don’t know what it is that draws us there, and that’s the beauty of it. I have a few places that are my go -to’s, and one of my all time favourite shots comes from one of these spots. Yet I keep going back.

I think part of it is because it looks so different at different times of the year, and the sunsets across the fells are often very colourful and seem to last forever!

It might be that your favourite spot is a real honeypot location for a particular shot and you’ve not managed to nail it yet - go back and have another go; you never know, this could be the time that you get the perfect light and everything comes together to give you the shot that you’ve been hoping for.

I think that well over 99% of the shots we take are truly once in a lifetime, so make sure you’re there to capture it.

10: Don’t Buy Gear

For me, this is one of the most important ones. You should only by gear when you need it, not because you think it will make you go out and shoot. I’ve done this before, so learn from my mistake. I didn’t learn the first time. Or the second.

It didn’t cost me a ton of money, but that’s beside the point. Every time I did this, I ended up with a shiny new desk ornament for the first few weeks as when these items arrived, they just sat unused for longer than they should do and I just ended up taking them out the next time I thought I might need them. I didn’t. These weren’t things I needed, they were things I wanted and probably because I thought they would solve my lack of motivation, and that just wasn’t the case.

Save the money and when you do need to upgrade something, you’ll already have a chunk of it there. Or save the money and use it to visit somewhere new, this is far more inspiring than having a new toy to (not) play with.

Feeling stuck happens to every photographer, but the key is to keep moving forward. If you found this guide helpful, don’t forget to save it for later and explore more of my blogs for fresh inspiration. And if you’d like regular tips, insights, and behind-the-scenes updates straight to your inbox, sign up to my mailing list. It’s the best way to stay inspired and never miss new content.

Photo Credits:

Header Image: @ryansnaadt @unsplash, List writing: @glenncarstenspeters @unsplash, Stack of books: @kimberlyfarmer @unsplash, Better Days Ahead: @carrier_lost @unsplash, Signpost: @deemoonie @ unsplash, ICM: @photoken123 @unsplash, Here the and everywhere: @jannerboy62 @ unsplash, Aeroplane window: @vorosbenisop @ unsplash, NEW Graffiti Wall: @jannerboy62 @unsplash, Instagram like: @karsten116 @ unsplash, Kid with crossed fingers: @markusspiske @unsplash

What’s wrong with my photo?

A beginner's guide to reviewing your images after your shoot and diagnosing what’s not quite right in the bad ones!

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So you’ve got your camera and you’ve chosen a lens, you’ve read my blog about the exposure triangle and you have taken some of the information from 10 Things I Wish I Knew as a Beginner Photographer, you’ve been out on your first shoot and now you’ve had a look at the images in your editing suite of choice.

You’ve managed to secure a few shots that you’re really happy with and you’ve got a few others that have got issues, they might be blurry or noisy or out of focus. You know there’s something that you should have done differently, but you’re not sure what changes you need to make.

We’re looking at some technical stuff in this one, some of which will be specific to your camera so you might want your camera and its instruction manual to hand when you’re reading this. An open YouTube tab might be handy as well.

This blog is going to aim to show you some common mistakes, what they look like and what you can do to stop it from happening again!

Blurry Images.

This image was taken at night, outside my old flat in London and it’s blurry. Really blurry.

There are different kinds of blur in photography, but the two we see most of in camera are motion blur (where the subject is moving) and camera movement (where the camera has moved as you take the shot).

This image hits the jackpot as it has both! The tree is blowing in the breeze and the camera has moved as I have taken the shot.

So what’s caused this?

There’s a couple of issues here, both related to the amount of light available. It’s a night shot, so lots of light needs to hit the sensor to properly expose the shot. To let enough light into the camera means the shutter needed to be open longer. In the case of this image, the exposure length was 0.5seconds which isn’t massively long, but certainly long enough to cause the issues that we can see.

This image was also taken hand held, i.e. not on a tripod and without a shutter release cable. When I pressed the shutter, the camera moved and in the 0.5 seconds the shutter was open, I also moved and as a result the camera moved even more. It was also a windy night, so in the same 0.5 seconds, the wind has blown the tree and this has been recorded as blur by the camera’s sensor.

As a general rule of thumb, if your shutter speed is longer than the focal length you are using, your camera should be on a tripod. So for example, if you are shooting at 50mm and to correctly expose the shot you need a shutter speed of (for example) 1/10 then you should be on a tripod.

There’s other things you could do as well that could be useful if you don’t have a tripod. You could try increasing the ISO - this would make your sensor more sensitive to the light, so you could reduce the shutter speed, but remember his could introduce noise to the image.

You could also try increasing the size of your aperture but remember, this could impact the sharpness of the image (lenses are usually sharpest towards the middle of their aperture size) and will have an impact on the depth of field of your image. This shot was taken at 50mm with a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second and an ISO of 100 - I could have increased the the ISO but it would have introduced too much noise into the image so the tripod would have been the best way to go here.

By contrast, the skyline shot above was a 30 second exposure, 15 times longer than the night image of the tree and the house, and the whole thing is pin sharp. It was shot at f/8 with an ISO of 100 at 70mm so the above rule regarding focal length and shutter speed comes into play here; this would have been impossible without a tripod!

Underexposed and Over Exposed Images.

The image on the left is one that we would use the phrase “blown out” to describe the sky. The shutter has been open for too long.

This means that when this image was taken, the shutter was open for so long that enough light hit the sensor to “overload” the photosites that it’s made from.

This means that effectively, no data has been stored in them, there is no detail there and the image shows a patch of complete white. No amount of editing is going to sort this out unless you replace the sky in Photoshop.

By contrast, the image on the right is under exposed, so the opposite is true. The shutter wasn’t open for long enough to let sufficient light into the camera to hit the sensor and so the photosites on this image are black, but this presents the same problem - there is no data present in those parts of the image.

Fortunately, the solution to under and over exposed images is simple and doesn’t require any extra kit to solve it (unless of course you are needing such a long exposure that you need to crack out the tripod). It pays to get this right in camera!

An over exposed image needs a shorter exposure time and an underexposed image needs a longer exposure time.

You should always check your exposure using the light meter which is built into your camera making sure it’s as close to the centre as possible.

You can also turn on the zebra stripes/similar in your camera. Check the manual to see how to do this, but the premise is simple, if you have over/underexposed areas of your image, the LCD screen will flash to show where the problem areas are. This a great way to see these areas at a glance and its really helpful when you’re starting out if you don’t know how to read your histogram or aren’t confident with the light meter.

But what about images that high dynamic range, and what is high dynamic range?

Images that have high dynamic range have really bright elements and really dark elements in them. You can often find these sorts of scenes at sunrise and sunset whilst the sun is rising/setting and parts of the scene are falling into darkness or haven’t been lit up in the morning light yet.

There is a way around this, and it’s called exposure bracketing. To do this, you need to take a correctly exposed image, an under exposed image and an over exposed image (you’re going to be exposing for the highlights, shadows and “midtones” in the respective images). Most cameras have this function built into them, and it will be called Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) and you should consult your manual to see how to do this with the model of camera that you have. Once you’ve got this set up, you can capture the images and then blend them in either photoshop or Lightroom to get yourself an image that is perfectly exposed! In most models, if you change the shooting mode to “burst” it will take all three images without you having to touch the camera and risk introducing any movement into the image.

Spots

More precisely, sensor spots! I have highlighted some of the ones in the image to the left although they’re already quite small and the size of this image isn’t helping, but they’re there! If you look closely, you will find even more.

These aren’t uncommon, especially if you’re changing lenses a lot and if you’re not changing them in a way that can help to prevent it.

The good thing is that they are easy to deal with using the clone stamp and/or spot removal tool in photoshop and/or the clone tool in Lightroom, depending on what you prefer. Both programmes will provide good results.

Whilst these are easy to get rid of, if there is a lot of them in your image then they can be time consuming and you always find more when you start to look for them. You might also find that they appear in some images and not in others, even though they were taken seconds apart. This is because the focal length you are using and the aperture size you are using can impact how many, if any at all, appear in your image.

These tiny, yet terribly irritating blemishes are caused by tiny dust particles settling on your camera’s image sensor and are easy to prevent and minimise if you do a couple of things . Firstly, never leave your camera without either a lens or or a body cap over the mount. This prevents the sensor being exposed to the open air and dust.

Secondly, whenever you are changing the lens on your camera try to have it pointed with the lens mount facing the floor. Dust tends to fall down and not up, so by doing this, you minimise the risk that you are exposing your sensor to. The more you change lenses, the easier this task will become as you build up some muscle memory.

You should also make sure that you keep your sensor clean. You can do this, or your can pay someone to do it for you. It’s not a difficult process, but it is a very delicate one and you’ll need a steady hand. If you’re not confident in your own ability to do this then most good, local camera shops will have a sensor cleaning service. You can buy packs of sensor cleaning swabs on Amazon and they are fairly cheap. I have linked the ones that I like to use here. You’ll pick a whole pack of these up for less than half the price of a sensor cleaning service in a shop but be warned that if you cause any damage to the sensor, you have set yourself up for a pricey repair and in extreme cases, you could completely write off your camera.

Always consult the manual for your camera and the manufacturers instructions for cleaning your sensor prior to having a go at doing it for your self.

Soft Images

Or, in the case of the image to the right, soft subjects.

When we talk about soft images, what we are talking about is an image which is out of focus. Or at least the subject of the image is out of focus or “soft”.

In the image of Chaffinch on the right is out of focus, or at least the subject is. What we have is an image where the camera has focussed on the wrong part of the image, you will see that the grass and debris in the back ground is much sharper!

The grass in the foreground is also out of focus, but in a shot like this (were the subject in focus!), could actually be desirable and help to draw the eye to the subject, but as we don't have the focus in the correct place, this is a moot point.

This image is unusable and unrecoverable. Were this the only shot of this bird I had, it may have been disappointing but fortunately, I managed to get one that was in focus!

Thankfully, again, this isn’t a difficult one to sort out, but the way in which you go about it is something which is going to be partially dependent on your camera brand and you’ll need to consult the manual, or YouTube to get the right settings.

You will need to familiarise yourself with the different autofocus modes in your camera, and make sure that you have the focussing indicators turned on so that you can see, through your viewfinder, or LCD screen exactly where the camera is focussing. This will help you in most cases to ensure that you are nailing the focus on the subject.

The autofocus in many newer cameras is powerful enough to detect the subject, recognise what type of subject it is and focus on it, if you have an older camera, you won’t have this luxury so you’re going to need to practice.

The image above was also shot at an aperture of f/4, which means that the depth of field is quite shallow, stopping down to f/8 might have help to save this image and given a deeper depth of field with more of it in focus, but this would have also mean slowing down the shutter to a speed which isn’t practical for shooting faster moving subjects.

If you’re shooting fast moving subjects like birds or sports, then you also might want to explore back button focus as this can make your life a bit easier - again, the way in which your camera is able to do this is going to depend on the make and model so consult the manual and consider watching some model specific videos on YouTube which will show you how to do this.

It can be slightly different in landscape photography and still life photography, or indeed any other genre where your subject is moving very slowly, or not moving at all, as you are likely to be using manual focus. The rubber duck above was shot in a studio using manual focus and a smaller aperture to give a greater depth of field.

Manual focus gives you complete control over where you focus and how you focus, within the limitations of your equipment and settings. When you have focussed your image, use the functions on your lCD to zoom in and check that you are completely pin sharp! You could also turn on focus peaking if your camera supports it as this will give you a further visual signal as to if/when your subject is in focus.

With any discussion about focus, we should remember that lenses have limitations. They have a minimum focus distance (how far away a subject should be before the lens is physically able to focus on it) so you’ll need to be in the right place to get the subject to be “focusable”. You’ll find this information printed on the lens you are using. You can also use the tools in PhotoPills to help you calculate hyper-focal distances. This can be quite complicated, so work on the basics first and then about going down this rabbit hole!

Grainy/Noisy Images

Sometimes, when you get your photos into Lightroom, you will be able to see that they have a kind of texture to them, almost like they have been printed on sandpaper.

What we’re dealing with here is digital noise, which is introduced into images when the ISO setting is cranked up, this amplifies something called “photon shot noise”in your image which leads to the grainy feel that you can see in the grass in the image on the right hand side.

This is one of the easiest things in this list to sort out, you just need to know your camera and be familiar with how well it deals with high iso. For example, on my Canon 80D, I know that I can get the ISO up to around 6400 before the grain starts to become an issue, but this varies from camera to camera, there is no hard and fast rule. You will need to do some experimenting to find out where the red line for you is and how much grain you are willing to accept in your images.

Remember that if you reduce your ISO, you will need to adjust shutter speed and/or aperture to compensate for this. If you are working at higher ISO’s then you really need to nail the exposure in the camera, as if you try increasing the exposure too much in Lightroom you’re really going to exacerbate any noise in your image and could end up with something that is unusable.

The other way that you can deal with some noise is in post production. The latest version of Lightroom has a noise reduction function built into it and this is pretty good at removing noise, but the trade off is that you can end up with images that look a but un-natural if you use it too much or if there was a tremendous amount of noise in the image to begin with. Other tools which can do this are available, but you need to be aware of the same issue and you should check the cost of these bits of software too!

To wrap up, understanding and avoiding common photography pitfalls is all part of the journey to improving your craft. With a bit of practice and attention to detail, these issues become easier to spot—and even easier to fix. As with most things, it comes with practice, and sometimes a lot of patience.

If you’ve found this guide helpful or have any questions about your own photography challenges, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to drop me an email, or connect with me on Instagram and Facebook for more tips, inspiration, and behind-the-scenes content. Happy shooting!

10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Photography.

Beginner Photography Tips from Someone Who’s Been There

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I have been working on a lot of things for beginner photographers in the last few weeks and a few people have had a read of my blog from last week, Essential Photography Gear for Beginners: What You Really Need to Get Started. https://chriskendrickphoto.co.uk/blog/what-gear-do-you-need-as-a-beginner-photographer

To this end, I thought I would go one further and think more about beginner photography and this led me to think about the things I wish I knew when I started taking photos. 

This turned into quite a long list (with some repetition!), which I have tried to distil into ten points below. I will try and keep it short and simple, but I do have habit of trying to share as much as possible - it’s all about helping each other. I’m not a gate keeper! 

So let’s jump into 10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Photography…

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1. You Don’t Need an Expensive Camera to Take Great Photos

This one kind of touches on the “Does Gear Matter Question”. The answer to that, as we know, is yes. But also a resounding no. But, it does a bit and “categorically no”. 

Ultimately, what matters is that you have some gear AND you know how to use it. Some of the best time you can spend as a photographer  is time getting to know your camera (or the camera app on your phone!), what the buttons do, and more importantly, where they are. You will miss shots if you’re spending ages trying to remember what the buttons do and where they are. Its also well worth learning your menus, where to find things and what they all do.

But this doesn’t answer the question. The main point in the previous paragraph is “that you have some gear”. It doesn’t matter what that gear is, as long as it works and you know what you’re doing with it.

You can take a great photo on any camera. It doesn’t matter whether its a Hasselblad X2D or an Canon R5 MKII. Breson didn’t have either of these. Gilden doesn’t use one. What they do know how to do is to frame a shot, when to take the shot and how to edit the shot to make it exactly what they want. 

If you have camera that uses older tech, or you have a camera that is more basic, or you’re using your phone, you can take a great photo. 

Good photos mean something. Good photos say something. Good photos tell a story. You achieve a photo that does all of these things with any camera, be that the latest offering from one of the big companies, or a 20 year old DSLR. What matters is what or who you are taking photos of. 

This is one of the most important things I have learned. When I started out, I bought the best camera I could afford and paired it with a kit lens. I still have that camera now. I have added more lenses, but I still have that camera and use it most days. 

Another way to think about this. In “real life” I am a teacher and I have taught photography at A-Level. The best photography student I ever had, the one who took the best images was the student who had the cheapest camera (not just in their class, but across all 4 classes I taught) and they created some images that were genuinely first rate images. I always remind myself of this when I am looking longingly through the window of my local camera shop. 

2. Manual Mode Isn’t as Complicated as It Seems

It really isn’t. It might seem it, but it’s not. I promise. The thing you need to master is the exposure triangle. Conveniently, I have made a blog about the exposure triangle, which you can read here. https://chriskendrickphoto.co.uk/blog/a-beginner-photographers-guide-to-the-exposure-triangle

If you can master the basics of shutter speed, ISO and aperture. Get the hang of this, then you can start to think about white balance and picture profiles (if your camera supports them) and maybe go one step further and start to explore things like long exposure photography and ICM (Intentional Camera Movement). 

You should also look into aperture and shutter priority on your camera and learn to use these too.

3. Light Is the Most Important Part of Any Photo

It’s the name of what we do… The word “Photography” is taken from two Ancient Greek words “Photos” meaning light and “graphé” meaning to draw or write. Photography literally means “writing or drawing with light”. 

So yeah, light is kind of important! Without it, we can’t take images. 

But then we have low light, good light, bad light, soft light, hard light, specular light… and many more. 

A good space for us to start is Golden Hour. This is the light we have after sunrise and before sunset. The term  Golden is a bit of a misnomer, it can be about an hour, it can be 15 minutes and it’s also really dependent on the weather and atmospheric conditions where you are taking photos. If you’re covered in thick grey cloud, you aren’t going to get amazing golden light, but you will have some lovely soft light to work with.

It doesn’t have to be soft light though. Hard shadows can work really well and add drama to your photos, just look at the work of someone like Fan Ho, for example. He used harsh shadows to great effect in a lot of his work (he also shot on a dual lens reflex camera, not a mirrorless or a DSLR, because they hadn’t even been thought of at this point!) 

As you get more confident with your camera, you will find new ways to manipulate the light with long exposure and exposure stacking and this will produce you some awesome results!

Use your weather apps and maybe look at experimenting with apps like PhotoPills. They will help you to decide what the weather might be like at the location you are visiting and will tell you where the sun is going to be in the sky and this will enable you to pick the right place to make the most of the light. 

I’m going to include reflections in here as well, because they’re made of light too, right? Reflections are some of my favourite things to include in my shots; I used to live for a good reflection when I lived in the city, and the same is true now I live out in the sticks, they just tend to be a bit bigger in the countryside that in the city. But you don’t need a tarn in the Lake District with the reflection of a mountain, a puddle and tree can work just as well!

4. Composition Can Instantly Improve Your Photos

This is one of the most important things and one of the easiest ways to improve your images, quickly and cheaply. 

Composition as both a topic and a concept is HUGE. As a beginner, I didn’t know much about it, let alone the different types of composition. When I started out, I was just taking pictures of things I liked and sticking them in the middle of my frame. 

Then I learned about the rule of thirds, leading lines and the golden ratio. There’s more than this, but these are the three that you will hear the most about. You should go and find out about them and start using them - the difference you will see is huge. 

5. Editing Helps — But Subtlety Is Key

Editing is one of my favourite things to do. You need to know that it takes practice and you are constantly learning. You can never know everything about editing. 

When you first start out, one thing you are likely to do (I know I certainly did!) is to find the saturation, virbance and clarity sliders in Lightroom and drag them all or most of the way towards the right hand send. This will make your colours unnatural and it’s not a desirable look for your photos. 

Take your time, practice, look at other photorgapher’s work, watch YouTube videos to learn, but keep it subtle and let it look natural. 

When it comes to editing, less is more. Just like this section of the blog!

6. You’ll Take a Lot of Bad Photos — and That’s Fine

Time for clichés. 

We learn by making mistakes, so go out and make them. The only stupid mistakes you make are the ones that you don’t learn from (2 clichés already!).

But joking  (and clichés ) aside, embrace your mistakes, establish why it’s a mistake and then go out and try again. Rinse and repeat.  

(I’ve used stock images in this blog, but this one is mine, it was handheld and the exposure was too long for this method of taking the image, so it’s blurry and there’s camera movement!)

7. Stop Comparing Yourself to Everyone Else

“Be yourself, everyone else is already taken” Oscar Wilde. 

This was on the wall in a school I used to work in and it’s stuck with me. It works for so many things in life, but in this instance, it works really well. 

Don’t sit and compare your landscape shots to Ansell Adams’ work. Don’t compare your portraits to Annie Leibowitz and don’t compare your still like/commercial photos to Scott Choucino. These are well established professional photographers, have years of experience and have forgotten more about photography than most of us will ever know!

But aside from those I have mentioned above, don’t compare yourself to other photographers on social media. You’re not them and they are not you. Work on your own images and discover your own style!

8. Consistent Practice Beats Occasional Perfection

Use it or lose it. If you’ve ever played and instrument, you will know that you need to practise to get better. Stop practicing and it takes longer to learn the piece. If you’re a sports player and don’t train, you lose the skills you are developing and your fitness decreases and you don’t perform as well.

The same is true with photography. If I go out to shoot and haven’t done so for a couple of weeks, I really notice it and I find that it takes a while to get my eye in and I don’t always know where the camera controls are - this leads to missed shots and missed shot can’t be a good shot or a bad shot!

9. You’ll Start Noticing the World Differently

This sounds like a bit of a cop-out, but it’s true. You’ll notice leading lines, you will notice good light and you will notice that you don’t always have your camera with you when you wish you had - but we all have a camera in our pocket these days anyway, don’t we?

I have lost count of the number of times I have been driving home and have seen amazing light on the fells. The number of times I wish I had my camera with me or the the numbers of times I wished I wasn’t driving at 70mph watching the world zip by the car window is huge. 

If you look hard enough, everything can be a photo and as you practice more, you will begin to see that you can find images where you might not have thought there could be one. Even in harsh sunlight (which isn’t always the photographer’s friend), you will see that you start to see shadows that will make a great image!

10. Enjoy the Process

What is the point in doing it if you don’t enjoy it? It’s probably going to be difficult at times, but what you experience in difficulty, you will more than make up for in sense of achievement. 

Go out there and take lots of bad photos! Learn from the mistakes and use them to improve. Enjoy getting frustrated at the edits but having something beautiful at the end of it. 

I’d also recommend getting your photos printed. I print my own images but if I’m not printing them to hang on the wall or want smaller images, I use services such as Free Prints and get a stack of 6x4s delivered direct to the door for about three quid! It completes the process and brings everything full circle from scouting to shooting to editing, to having those prints in your hand - it’s nice to have a tangible reward at the end!

Photography is great fun, if at times it can be challenging and occasionally frustrating. It can be your best friend and your sanctuary, and it can also, at times, be your worst enemy and some subjects will become your nemesis, but it wouldn’t be fun if it were easy, right?

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Thanks for sticking with me through this post — I hope it’s helped you feel a little more confident on your photography journey. If it has, why not stay connected? You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook for regular tips, behind-the-scenes content, and new work. And if you’d like more beginner-friendly photography advice, early access to blog posts, and exclusive updates, make sure to sign up for my newsletter here. Let’s keep learning and creating together!

What Gear Do You Need As A Beginner Photographer?

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So you’ve decided you’re going to take your photography more seriously and you’re in the market for some new camera gear! But what is the best gear for beginner photographers? What gear do you need as a beginner? What gear can you do without? In this blog I will outline the things that (in my opinion) are the essential and highlight some of the stuff you can do without, and a couple of things that you might want to completely avoid.

I’m going to come at this from the point of a landscape/travel photographer rather than a studio/still life photographer. I will explore the latter in a different blog later in the year as it can be a bit of a different ball game. 

I will try to look at different set-ups for beginner photographers on a variety of budgets. This is probably going to have a bit of a Canon bias, but I will do my best to offer suggestions from across different eco systems. I will also try to untangle some of the jargon for you!

The first thing to explore is new camera gear vs second hand gear that you can purchase from a variety of sites, such as MPB.com; this can be a great way to get more for your money. Using a site like MPB means that you’re getting the item that you see on the screen as they photograph every item and don’t just show you a generic pack shot of the camera/lens/other that you are buying. Buying from a reputable retailer also means that you’re covered by some kind of warranty (check with the individual seller). I have also made purchases from CEX and from my local camera shop; both of which have been completely hassle free. The other advantage is that buying from somewhere reputable (rather than the minefield that is Facebook Marketplace), is that you’re going to get some kind of warranty which will vary depending on the country you are in.

One of the great things about your local camera shop is that you can get some great advice and at the same time, can support local business. You also get to feel the camera and get a sense of what it feels like in your hands. The drawback is that you often find that there is a more limited choice of items on offer and this can mean that you end up buying online anyway. 

So what do you actually need?

A Camera

This one is a bit of a given! You could use your phone, but if you are reading this, I am guessing that you are someone who is looking to buy a dedicated camera that doesn’t make phone calls. I have awlways maintained that modern phone cameras are great, but they don’t offer the flexibility or a mirrorless or a DSLR.

Len(es)

You’re going to need a lens to put on your new camera. Most camera bodies won’t come with a lens, unless you are buying brand new and they have bundled a kit lens with it. There’s lots to choose from, but which one(s) should you get to begin with?

Tripod

Because we’re talking about landscape and travel photography, you’re probably going to want to buy a tripod to keep your camera still for long exposures and also to help you move it more accurately and smoothly for some of the panoramic applications that you might find yourself doing with it. 

Camera Bag. 

You’re also going to need a camera bag so that your new kit is protected when you are moving it around. Some people will tell you that you don’t need one, but my attitude is that although your new camera is ultimately the tool that you are using and you can’t ‘baby’ it, you also don’t want to break it beyond repair by throwing into a rucksack and letting it rattle around inside there when you are moving it from point A to point B and then to point C and so on. 

So, let’s unpack some of these and try and find something that suits your budget.

Cameras

This can be a bit of a minefield of technical jargon - megapixels, APSC vs Full Frame vs Micro 4/3, medium format, mirrorless vs DSLR Canon vs Sony… the list goes on. 

All of the latest cameras that are being pushed at you online, are likely to be full frame ones - Things like the Canon EOS R series, Sony A7R5 and Nikon Z6. These are all full frame mirrorless cameras.

The ‘mirrorless’ part refers to the fact that these cameras don’t have a mirror which reflects the image through prism into the viewfinder of the camera. Instead, you have an LCD screen in the electronic viewfinder (EVF) which shows you what the camera is looking at. This makes the camera lighter and also means that there are less moving parts to fail on you as the camera gets older. 

I would urge you to go for a full frame option as this is the direction that camera manufacturers are heading and the APSC stuff is going to start falling by the wayside (it does mean that lenses are cheaper though!).

Medium format cameras are often extortionately priced and are also not something I would recommend for someone who is just starting out - you’re unlikely to use it to the fullest of its capabilities. 

Mirrorless cameras are also a bit smaller and a bit lighter as they don’t have to house the mirror to reflect the image to the viewfinder. This is great if you’re doing a lot of walking around with it. 

If I were to write about all of the idiosyncrasies that each of the brands and various models have, this would turn into a super long blog (it could be a post all on it’s own), so once you think you have settled on a brand, do some research and make sure that you get something that is right for you. 

Cameras to consider:

• Canon EOS RP

• Sony A7 II

• Nikon Z6

All of these come in at under £500 on MPB.COM and could be cheaper deepening on how you feel about the cosmetic condition of what you’re buying.

If you want to go for something which is cheaper still, then something like the Canon 80D, which is an APSC camera (it has smaller sensor than a full frame camera) is a great option and has been my workhorse for a number of years!

Don’t be blinded by the megapixel count of the camera, most images these days are viewed on a screen and the cameras I have recommended above have more than enough resolution to produce images that you will love! The only execution being if you’re hoping to shoot (with a camera!) a lot of wildlife and need to crop in - if this is the case and you don’t have a lot of resolution then you are quickly going to see some image degradation.

Lenses

This is another area which can be absolute nightmare. There are thousands of different lenses available in endless focal lengths and apertures, colours and specifications. 

Things you need to know about lenses:

The focal length of the lens refers to its field of views - the smaller the number, the wider the field of view. For example, a lens with a focal length of 10mm is going to take in much more of a scene than a 600mm focal length which is going to be zoomed right in and is usually used used to take photos of things such as birds/wildlife and sports; things where we can’t always get as close to the subject of the photograph as we would like. 

Aperture: This refers to how wide the iris of the lens opens. The lower the number, the wider the aperture will open. This is usually indicated in a format such as f/2.8 or f/3.5-5.6. This is know as the f stop. The smaller this number is, the wider the aperture will open. The wider it opens, the more light it can let in, and this can influence your shutter speed and will affect the depth of field. You can read more about this in my Exposure Triangle Blog. Lenses which have a low f/number and let in lots of light, are often referred to as “fast lenses”. 

Prime/Zoom. This one is an easy one. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length. This means that a 50mm prime lens takes photos at 50mm and 50mm only. It doesn’t zoom in or out. A zoom lens, such a 70-200mm lens takes photos from 70mm and can zoom in to a 200mm focal length, meaning that your subject is brought “closer” to you. Prime lenses are often much sharper than zooms but they are also often more expensive!

It’s a nice idea to have a couple of lenses when you start out so that you have some flexibility in what you do snd how you do it. I love my 70-200mm lens for landscape photography as it allows me to pick out details in a scene to create different compositions, so this can be a good starting point. I also really rate the Canon 50mm prime len (as do millions of other photographers) and the great thing about them is that you can pick up a second hand one for around £60-70!

A 24-70mm lens is also a really nice to have in the arsenal and again, gives you some flexibility and a wider field of view than the 70-200mm lens. 

Most camera companies will offer what’s called a “kit lens”. This will be a zoom lens, and will usually have a focal length of somewhere around 18-55mm and a variable aperture (the more you zoom in, the smaller then minimum aperture size available becomes) and these are a great starting point. You’ll often find them bundled with new cameras so that you can get started. A lot of people will tell you that kit lenses are rubbish, but I have taken some of my best and most favourite shots with mine; there’s even an image taken with a kit lens available in my store!

Again, if I listed lenses from every manufacturer here, this would be a massive list, but some focal lengths worth considering are listed below. 

• 18-55mm - Gives some flexibility for wider shots and allows you to punch in to find some different compositions. 

• 24-70mm - similar reasons to the 18-55mm but what you gain in zoom, you lose at the wider end of the scale. 

• 70-200mm - probably my go to for landscapes these days, makes me think more creatively about compositions and the reach at 200mm encourages me to pick out interest in the landscape that’s in front of me. Can be a useful one for some wildlife photography, if you can get close enough.  

• 50mm prime - a great lens which is cheap, light and will make you think creatively. These are a great thing to have in the bag. 

You don’t need to buy all of these lenses at once! If I could only pick one of these to suggest to a beginner, it would be the 18-55mm kit lens; this will give you the most flexibility for the cheapest price and will allow you to figure where you want to go next as a beginner photographer.

Tripods

This one is much more straight forward. If you want sharp images, want to take images that are shot with longer exposrure times or you find yourself doing a lot of panoramic shots, you need a tripod. The great thing is that they can be as cheap or as expensive as you want them to be.

A good tripod should be, sturdy, steady and not too heavy. The lighter you go, the more money you can expect to spend.

You also want to make sure that your tripod has a decent head on it. If it’s a bit naff, you will end up with camera movement and potential breakages which can lead to your camera breaking. Consider the weight of your camera when you’re thinking about this. 

I like to use an L-Bracket on my camera rather than relying on the tripod to do this bit of work for me, as I find that it’s quicker for me to get set up and I have more confidence that my tripod will do its job and not break when I am using it. My L-bracket practically lives on my tripod and I use a ball head from K&F concept.

Some tripod options to consider:

• Amazon Basics Tripod

• K&F Concept 79” tripod

• Smallrig 72” Tripod

• 3 Legged Thing - L Bracket

Camera Bags. 

The camera bag market is crazy and most photographers will have a small collection of bags and even then won’t tell you that they are 100% happy with their preferred option. Unfortunately, bags are something which is very much a personal preference. Online shops are packed with a million and one offerings and then a million and one more. As a beginner photographer, you don’t need some crazy lightweight bag with all of the latest tech inside it. You need something comfortable that you can get in and out of easily, which keeps your gear safe and allows you to carry your camera gear in a way that works for you. I have four bags and I use them all for different things.

Some bags ideas here:

Lowepro Tahoe 150: This was the first camera bag I had and is great value for money. It fits in a ton of stuff, is comfortable and full of padding. I do wish it had a waterproof cover, but you can pick one up on Amazon for a few pounds. It’s a great bag when you’re setting out. 

Lowepro Fastpack: I’ve had this for a little over 12 months and absolutely love it. It’s great if your going to spending time out and about walking and I have written an in depth review of it here. 

Editing your images

I always recommend shooting in raw format as opposed JPEG. This means that there is more information for your editing software to use to aid you in enhancing your images in the edit. 

When you’re first starting out, it can seem a bit crazy with the amount of options that are available to you, some are paid, some are free. 

When you first start out, consider using things like Photopea or GiMP. These are free applications that will allow you to edit your images in much the same way you would in photoshop. 

When you’re ready then take a look at the Adobe website and see what works for you. As a beginner, the photography package, which includes Lightroom and Photoshop will be more than enough to start to get to grips with. There are tons of tutorials on YouTube.

You could also consider Capture 1 Pro, but this only has colour grading functions so you might want to think about whether or not you want the more in-depth options that photoshop offers.

Things you don’t need to buy as a beginner photographer.

Instead of buying these things when you first start, maybe consider investing this money in some of the stuff I have mentioned above.

Drone - learn to compose shots and edit them first, then think about taking aerial shots with a drone. I have one and love using it but don’t use it anywhere near as much as I thought I would. They’re great for video but take things slow and take this leap when you are ready.

Lens Ball - gimmicky to the point that I have four of these. One I bought myself and the others were gifted to me and have hardly been used. I have taken one photo using one of these that I actually like. Buy one and say hello to your new optically engineered paperweight. If you’re going to buy one of these and don’t have a 50mm prime, then buy the prime lens instead. You can thank me later. 

Filters - As you develop your skills and learn about photography, you will definitely want to learn about filters and how and when to use them. Not having them won’t cause you any huge issues when you first start out and will help you to get to know your camera. You can use exposure bracketing to manage scenes with high dynamic range rather than reaching for an ND filter.

Gimbals - Unless you are planning on making a ton of video content then there is no need for one of these. I have a mobile phone gimbal which I use now and again to create timelapses but haven’t used it anywhere near its full capability! 

Other things to consider buying when you buy your first camera

SD Cards (you can never have too many of these), spare batteries (especially of you’re buying a Somy camera or you think you are going to be shooting a lot of video - make sure you get the right ones for your camera), lens cloths, rocket blower and if you’re a landscape photographer, a head torch!

When you’re buying SD cards, buy the biggest you can afford, but check the read/write speeds on your camera specs. There isn’t any point spending money on a superfast card when your  camera isn’t able to write as quickly as the card can handle - you won’t notice any difference. 

Another thing I would consider is a shutter release. This is a simple bit of kit which allows you release the shutter on your camera without touching it. This can be important when you’re shooting on a tripod, and even more important if you are shooting on a tripod at a long focal length. No matter how hard you try, when you press the shutter button on your camera, you are going to introduce movement into your image. Movement often results in either blurred or soft (out of focus) shots, and that’s often not what we are aiming for!

Final Thoughts

I hope that you have found this useful! Buying a camera can be a bit of a nightmare as there is so much choice and the way cameras are marketed makes it even more difficult to make what is the right choice for you and not what is the right choice for the camera manufacturers. Don’t get sucked into spending money that you don’t need to.

Make sure that you look at the second hand websites as I said at the start of this blog. The second hand market for camera is awesome and given the current global economic situation, this is only going to continue to save you some money and the great thing is that when you’re ready to upgrade in the future, you can sell them back to where you got them from and have something to put towards your new purchase!

If you have any questions about what is in the blog, or if you buy new gear and want to learn how to use it then drop me an email with a question or to discuss a photography workshop in the Lake District where I can spend a day or half a day with you showing you how to get the most out of your new camera gear!

5 Quick (and free) Tips to Boost Your Photography

Nothing techy, nothing expensive, just 5 things that you can do today!

1: Shoot what you love and what you enjoy.

Don’t be a slave to social media and shoot what you think everyone else wants you to photograph. Photography should be something that you do because YOU enjoy it; i really believe that if you’re shooting what you enjoy, somewhere you enjoy doing it, then you will take better images because you will have more of a connection with your subject matter. It might be wildlife, it might be landscapes, it might be street, it might be commercial but it should be what you enjoy! I manage to combine my love of being outside with my photography, so I get the best of both worlds!

2: Look at the work of other photographers. 

Read photobooks, look on the internet, soak it all up! You don’t have to copy everyone else’s work but it's useful to have inspiration and to see how other people compose images.

If you can avoid all of the other distractions, then using the internet to do this is a great idea, but know what you want to find and then go find it!

Some of my favourites are Nigel Danson, James Popsys, Scott Choucino (these three have really active social media and YouTube channels and I have learned a TON from them!), Galen Rowell and of course, the master: Ansell Adams.

These aren’t the only photographers out there, so find ones that you like and learn about their photography!

3: Talk to other photographers!

This is where I have learned more than via any other medium, other than actually going out and shooting. And let’s be honest, if you’re talking with other photographers, you’re probably out shooting anyway! Talking to other photographers and shooting with them is one of the best ways to learn, to get better and to develop your skills.

4. Be Present. 

By this, I don’t just mean be there and be ready to get the shot. I mean be present in the moment, be aware of what is going on. Put your phone away, take the AirPods out, look and listen. Doing this meant that one a recent trip to a local viewpoint, I got to see things in the night sky that I haven’t seen before and it was really special. Allow of your senses to play a part in what you’re doing. Nothing beats being out early morning listening to the birds and watching the world come to life in front of you and capturing it with your camera.

5. Get out and shoot!

Make a plan and stick to it. Go out without a plan. But go out! 

Some of my best shoots have been spontaneous, some have been the planned shoots, but they all involved getting off my behind and going out and doing the thing that I love. New years day last year was a really special one - I was up early and took advantage of the empty streets (I was still living in London) and saw one of the best sunrises I saw in all of my time in London. It was a great start to the year!

Bonus Tip!

Take lots of photos - I see so many people who have gone out and taken 10 photos on the same photo walks where people have taken 300. It pays to have shots in the bank, because the more you take, the more chance you have having something different or something interesting. Taking fewer photos because you “know how to get the shot” doesn’t make you a better photographer, it means that you get shots that other people miss. 

Bonus Tip 2!

Know your camera. It should be like an extension of your body. READ THE MANUAL! Watch YouTube videos about your camera and find out everything it can do and then learn how to do it. There is nothing worse than seeing something amazing happening in front of and then having to faff about with your camera to dial in the settings meaning that you miss the shot. Even during the longest of golden hours, the good light can be there and gone in a minute (or even seconds!) and you don’t want to spend that time staring at your camera wondering why you can’t make it do what you want it to. Oh, and make sure that you’re shooting in raw so that you have the flexibility when you’re doing your post processing!

Keep Creating!

Chris

Does Photography Gear Matter ?

Welcome to my first blog! It’s a cold, sunny, Sunday morning here in Cumbria so I’ve made a brew and sat down to try and answer the question “Does photography gear matter?”. This a question that will have ten’s of thousands of answers out there on the wider internet, and I’m going to share my thoughts here.

Where to start?

There are thousands of camera options available to you, just as many lens options, there’s all of the different filter and tripod options and don’t even get me started on bags (this is a separate blog all on its own!).

I get asked a lot “what’s the best camera?” or “what’s the best lens for portrait/landscape/street?”. The best answer I have heard to these questions and the one I like the best is “the one you already have”. Even if that’s the one that you have on your phone. Phone cameras are getting better by the day, and some of them even shoot raw images, which give you more flexibility when you’re editing.

But what if you don’t already own any camera gear and want to move away from your phone, where should you start, what should you get and where should you buy it from?

In truth, if you have a budget of, for example, £1000 (about $1200US), then you should (in my opinion) look to spend about half of this on your camera and lens combination. Why? Because if it breaks or you break it, it gets full of water or some other unthinkable thing happens to it then you have enough in the bank to be able to replace it. So the best camera is the one that you have and the one that you can afford to replace. I’ll talk about your first lens later.

Buying you first camera and lens is only the beginning. Once you have made this purchase, you’ll need to think about what sort of photography you’re going to do and the conditions that you’re going to be shooting in. If it’s anything that’s likely to be in low light situations, then you’ll need a tripod if you’re going to get sharp images, free of camera movement, which you can be proud of.

Then you’re going to need to be able to move it all so a decent, comfortable camera bag will be essential. So out of our remaining £500, we’ve probably just spent another £50-75!

But what about your lens? This is an important decision. The quality of your glass is important and is probably one of the things that will have the biggest impact of the quality and feel of your images (vintage lenses create some great looks, when you’re ready to dive down that rabbit hole). Most consumer DSLR/mirroless cameras can be supplied with a “kit” lens. These are usually cheaper than premium lenses, but won’t be weatherproof, so be careful if you’re using it in the rain. Kit lenses are generally zoom lenses, which is great when you are just starting out as it means you’ve got a range of focal lengths covered so you can experiment, be flexible and have fun with your images. The Canon 18-55mm f/4.5-5.6 is a common kit lens that you can buy with their cameras. Just be sure the check that the lens is included in the price that you pay, as a general rule, DSLR/Mirrorless cameras don’t come supplied with a lens and you’ll have to buy this separately.

New or Secondhand?

This is a question that is likely to be dictated by your budget, but you also get a lot more bang for your buck if you are willing to make a second hand purchase. The secondhand camera market is huge and there are some bargains to be had if you know where to look. The best places to start this search are websites like MPB and Wex.

Both of these sellers are reputable UK brands who supply the kit with a warranty and everything is thoroughly checked before it goes on their websites, so you can be sure you’re not throwing money away and buying a dud.

3 of the lenses in my current set-up were bought secondhand and haven’t caused me a single problem and have proven to be great value for money.

You can also consider places such as Facebook marketplace and eBay, but make sure that you do your research and don’t get either ripped off or scammed!

There is also a large “grey market” for cameras. I won’t post any links here, but I am sure you will be able to do a quick Google search and make up your own mind. With regard to the grey market for cameras, you’ll get an authorised product but outside of the manufacturers authorised distribution channels. So you might buy a lens from a UK based seller, but the product wasn’t intended for the UK or European markets, meaning you don’t get any of the manufacturers warranty protection if something goes wrong.

Will people take me seriously?

Don’t worry about what other people think. Use what works for you; the most important thing is that you ‘get on’ with your setup. That being said, if you get booked to photograph a wedding and turn up with an iPhone and nothing else, you’re going to get some funny looks!

“Is this a professional camera?”, another question that gets asked repeatedly and one that doesn’t have a really well defined answer. Any camera can be a professional camera if you’re using it to make money. What portion of your income you need to be making to be considered professional is another discussion for another time! Also worth noting at this juncture, if you’re out shooting and you end up on private land (such as Canary Wharf in London or the area around Tower Bridge), you’ll probably told by a security guard that any camera that has an interchangeable lens is a professional camera so that they can make you stop and move you on (always be polite and do what they ask, it makes it easier for everyone else who has to encounter them in the future); luckily, you’ll probably have another camera in your pocket anyway.

So, does gear matter?

Yes.

And no.

And also maybe. To some extent.

If you’re reading this and you have made it this far, chances are you’ve read a few articles on this topic and heard a number of different opinions.

If you have a camera on your phone and you’re happy with it then great! If you want some more flexibility in what you do then you may want to consider your first DLSR/mirrorless purchase.

Gear matters if you let it matter. Going out and buying a Canon R5 with an L series lens is going to set you back in excess of £6500 and isn’t going to make you a better photographer, no matter what your experience level. It will create lovely files with lots of data that will be great to edit, but they won’t necessarily be “good photos”. If you’re spending this kind of money on your first camera because “it will encourage me to go out and shoot” then the chances are that in 6 months time you’re going to have a very expensive ornament sat on your shelf! Remember the old adage that photography happens in the space between the photographer’s ears.

The resolution/megapixel count on newer cameras is huge, which is great if you’re drastically cropping images and want to retain the image quality. But bear in mind, that if you’re after the resolution, then consider the Canon 5DS or 5DSR. Both of these have more megapixels (50.3MP) than the R5 and are now about 8 years old so can be found for about £5000 less than the newer cameras.

What matters most is that you’ve got a setup that works for you and that you can use easily, confidently and that allows you to be out there making photos. You can’t make images if you don’t get out to take them!