Learning by example
Some people learn best when they start at the basics: This is a camera. Press this button to make it go ‘click’, and it takes a picture. Change the aperture to… etc. Me, I like to work the other way around – I learned a long time ago that photography – like computers, cars, etc – is interesting mostly for its results, rather than for its technology. Who cares if your camera can do 1/4,000 second or 1/12,000 second shutter times… Unless, of course, you need the faster shutter time to achieve something.
Learning by example, then, is the act of starting at the other end of the learning process: Find a photograph you like, or come up with a crazy idea, and then start stepping backwards: What do I need to do to create the photograph I have seen / imagined / come up with.
What’s the point?
Boats on Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. Taken with a Canon Digital IXUS at ISO 200, f/8 and 1/30 second exposure, at widest possible zoom
The interesting thing of learning by example is that there’s a pretty good chance you miss whole fields of photography. If ISO or lens length isn’t relevant to the shots you’re taking, you’ll never have to learn them… It’s kind of like mathematics: I could never wrap my head around calculus. Not because I don’t have the brain capacity (or, at least, I would like to think), but because I never saw the point. Just like I never saw the point of geometry, until someone managed to bring it to life by explaining how I could apply it to my life – suddenly, I had a need for a bit of knowledge, so I went out to acquire the necessary information and understanding, and was able to do the calculations I needed.
I’m a strong believer in doing the same thing with photography: If you don’t think you need something, well, you probably don’t. You’ll eventually find out that the techniques you’re using at the moment are limiting you – or making the things you’re trying to achieve more difficult – but that’ll be new motivation to learn something new again.
So, how do you do it?
My sister in Vietnam. Taken at ISO 100 with a 50mm f/1.4 prime lens stopped wide open, aperture mode. Shutter time was whatever the camera suggested. Slightly desaturated the RAW file to get a more timeless 'feel'
Well, it’s easy: Find a source of inspiration. Personally, I use all sorts of sources: Magazines are a great starting point (especially amateur photography magazines like Digital Camera Magazine or similar – also check out PhotoRadar). Flickr, of course, is a marvellous source as well. The problem with on-line, however, is the nature of computer screens. Call me old-fashioned, but I really prefer the high-resolution way of looking at photography: Prints, books, magazines, etc.
The other problem is that, even on Flickr, not that many photographers take you through their way of thinking, or their technique for getting the shot (I love the idea of the How I Took It group, but so far, only 22 photos have been posted, which seems like a huge shame). Luckily, you can often ask questions, and many are good enough to help you along, but that’s still not an ideal way of getting tucked in. (Of course, I’m also guilty of this, but if you find any photos in my photo stream which you’d like explained and deconstructed, I’d be more than happy to – leave a comment and I’ll dig out the info!)
Using books for inspiration
Photos that Inspire is one of the few books I'm aware of that goes into detail about the individual photos, with how, why, where and when they were taken - perfect to start learning
There are a lot of fantastic photography books out there, but many of them are by a single photographer – the problem with that is that they have only a limited number of styles, and most of them say nothing about how the photos were taken – you’re expected to enjoy them as art, rather than as part of a learning experience. As you get better, this is a sensible approach, but when you’re starting out, it can be mighty frustrating.
The best one I’ve found that does things a little differently is Photos that Inspire (Amazon US / Amazon UK) is in the same series as my macro book – the Photo Workshop series published by Wiley – and it’s a peach.
For one thing, it has a couple of my photos in there (which obviously makes it a much better book already) but the important bit is that it contains tons of photographs taken by professional photographers – who explain why and how the shots were taken. It’s like a small art gallery with a personal guide by each of the individual photographers – and a fantastic place to start learning, of course.
How do you learn?
So, that’s my take on it – How do you prefer to learn about photography? Where do you get your inspiration? There’s a comment box down there somewhere…
My day job, if it can be called that, is being a writer. I've got one book out there so far and it's awesome, so go ahead and buy a copy! It's available from 
In front of you, five hyperactive men with guitars, drums, and microphones. Behind you, five thousand fans. In your hands, a camera... You're going to need more than just a little bit of good luck to pull this one off. That's where this book comes in.
Take a Canon EOS 450D. Attach a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. Hit the streets of London. See what happens.
Insights, suggestions and comments
My best source of inspiration are the books of the ‘Aperture Masters of Photography’ (Amazon US / Amazon UK) series.
Going over their works, and trying to understand what made them take the photo is a great experience.
Many times I try to ‘reproduce’ their works which is also a great way to be inspired.
My best source for inspiration is Flickr. I look at a lot of peoples work and for those pictures I like and am inspired by I take a look at the settings that user has had their camera on. This has taught me more about ISO and aperture than anything else.
Groups are especially useful for this, esp a group for the same camera you are using.
I’m not sure if ‘the same camera you are using’ is all that important, Cyran – cameras have remarkably little to do with the final results of a photograph. Lenses, perhaps – lighting equipment, certainly. But there’s not really any reason for why a 50D owner couldn’t learn all (s)he needs to know from a 350D owner or a 7D owner. What does set people apart, however, is the amount of money they’ve invested in camera bodies: Beginners tend to have cheaper bodies (and yet, I only ever use my 450D, and I’m hardly a beginner anymore), and more advanced photographers tend to have more expensive bodies (Although I’ve met plenty of people who are completely useless as photographers who have all the latest kit…)
I also like learning with examples. I’m capable of judging if I’d be able to take a similar photo to the one I’m looking at or not. If not (and I like the outcome), I search and try to find out what did the author probably do to achieve given effect. Sometimes it’s difficult, especially when it comes to postprocessing, since there are so many possibilities. On the other hand – it’s fantastic :)
Oh, I forgot to mention, that I love blogs (unfortunately found only a couple of those) that show before-after images. That’s usually imensly inspiring.
I find it useful to look at the pics of users of the same camera as me as I use a high end compact camera and not a DSLR. It’s always good to see what can be achieved with the same limited range that I have.
I really like your approach to learning! I never thought of it that way!
very nice, good trick very nice pictures. I cannot resist not to try it myself!
LOoking forward for your next invention!
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