How to Become a Professional Photographer

Photography is an art. There are many people who are pupil and going to learn this art as well as they are currently making some money from photography. Today, I am going to help out some newbies in this field to get started with photography as a start-up.  I , myself started photography around 14 years back and faced certain difficulties during the learning process. There was not huge contribution online as today people can get free tutorials to starting taking shots while you have a full frame or semi-professional camera in-hand. Let me introduce you the basics of photography today. I am going to point out few tips, a photographer needs at his start-up.

Buying your first camera and lens

While buying your first camera, I don’t have much suggestions for you as at start-up, any semi-professional or professional camera can work for you, however you need to see if the following basic features are there in the camera, you have chosen.

1. Is your camera allow you rechargeable battery?
2. Are you able to use ISO settings?
3. What memory module you have with that camera (You need to get quality memory card with speedy data transfer facility).
4. Are you able to set shutter speed as well as BULB mode?

In start, I will suggest you to use  NIKON or Canon, brands at this stage, because this would be cost effective solution for you and will allow you to get a good camera body with quality and price optimized. I will personally suggest you to see if you can go for a used but fully functional camera body with optimized features at the startup, there are lot of sites which allow you to find new and used DSLR cameras on cheaper rates, I would personally go for DSLR CamerasCamera list on amazon.com. There are lot of cameras listed. I am unable to recommend you any camera as there may be different choice of yours, you can just see your budge, brand and features listed above to select a good camera.

Taking your first shot

If you have already bought your camera, then its right time to take your first shot while keeping in mind the rules to shoot a good photo. There are lot of factors which effect your photo overall, therefore here are some basic things to keep in mind when you are ready to take your first snap.

1. Light availability. Light takes an integral part of a photo shoot, if there is no proper or balanced light, you won’t be able to pick a good snap. Professionals recommend to use available lights when possible, therefore there may be some circumstances where the available light is really low and the image can not be exposed well. In this case, I would recommend you to use external flashes and use bounce flash technique as you can point the flash light to some brighter object near the subject and reflect that light while bouncing it to subject. This will allow you to produce approx a balance light that will roll over the floor and surroundings too and your subject will be glowing as much as needed.
2. Angle of view. The angle of view matters too, as taking photo from wrong angle will give a loose impact and if you are on the right angle, you can produce something different. Try using different angles while taking photos, this will make you learn many things.
3. ISO Level.The ISO level plays well part when you are shooting in low light. This feature in DSLR cameras can produce artificial light when there is low light, specially in night photography.
4. Aperture Settings. DSLR Cameras have adjustable aperture, you have control over the aperture up to some extent. The aperture range very Lens to Lens, normally a standard lens which is 18mm  to 55mm enables you to control camera aperture from 4.5 to F33. The highest the aperture range is, the sharper the images will be but it will reduce the amount of light. This means using lowes aperture range enables you to shoot in low light whether the higher range will allow you to shoot in high amount of light like sun-light or if needed in low light, then you can drop down the shutter speed and make long exposures.
5. Shutter Speed. DSLR cameras have one other essential feature which is controlling the shutter speed. You can manage your shutter speed from few seconds to few thousand milliseconds.  Shutter speed plays an integral role in photography. You need to choose the right shutter speed for different type of conditions, like if the available light is low, you can lower the shutter speed, it will allow your camera to pick up a good amount of light from the available light and expose the image well. I will recommend you to make experiment with shutter speed, aperture, and ISO when you are a beginner, this will let you know how to and which range to use for different circumstances while getting a good image.
6. Zoom Level. You can use the optical zoom feature to proper focus and take the desired piece of subject into frame. When you select right parts of the subject in view finder and and shoot that picture, that will have different impact than putting the whole subject and surroundings into the frame and shooting. In my experience, many photos look good when we properly crop them, this means the selection of the subject body effects the overall impression of the photo, you will take.

I just tried to explain basic things for the newbies in photography, I don’t wanted to go tecky here, therefore I will recommend you to ask me questions and I will more than happy to help you when you have some issues in taking professional looking photos.

If you have any questions about photography, I would love to answer your questions, please post your questions in the comments below to get urgent help.