Believe in yourself, photographers need to go through the stage, look seriously
No skill can be developed overnight, and the same is true of photography. In order to become an excellent photographer, in addition to skilled photography skills, we should have aesthetic skills and understanding of photography itself. In general, we will inevitably go through the following stages in the process of photography.
Stage one: The recorder
This stage can be collectively referred to as the period of not paying attention to skills. You just like to take pictures, simply press the shutter with your digital camera or mobile phone, and simply record the little bits and pieces of your life without paying any attention to the photography skills of aperture shutter exposure and composition. No need to think too much, just press the shutter to record.
Stage 2: Half focus on technique
At this stage, you start to worry about simple techniques, understanding the three elements of exposure, and understanding the effect of aperture shutter on imaging, because you’re not satisfied with simply pressing the shutter. The machine’s automatic exposure is always not what you want. You want to make your picture more beautiful.
You even start to care about the equipment and what kind of equipment will give you the look you want. You know that taking pictures depends on more than equipment, and buying equipment is not a gift of technology, skill and experience are the most important, but you still want to take shortcuts, want to use the equipment to get the effect you want.
You’ll still be a photography enthusiast, and photography will be an important interest in your life, but it won’t be a big part of it.
Stage 3: Focus on technology
This is the stage where you really start to pay attention to the impact of technology on photography. You start to systematically learn photography techniques, learn composition, learn how to use light. By this time you should have a good camera, you’ll have set yourself up with several lenses in different focus segments, and you’ll even start learning studio techniques and lighting.
You’ll start learning Photoshop because you know that the perfect post is part of the whole process. You have made photography a part of your life. No matter what the future holds, photography will be with you for the rest of your life.
Stage 4: Overvaluing technology
I believe that you will be able to take pictures that look good at this stage, because your photography skills are relatively mature. But you obsess too much about technique, superstitiously believe in parametric perfection, pursue absolute quality of picture quality, but ignore the soul of photography.
You hit a plateau where you just keep doing it and it doesn’t seem to be progressing. A lot of people will probably stop at this stage and start using photography as a tool of life, taking pictures for money. But are you satisfied taking the same pictures day in and day out?
Stage 5: Rethinking photography
After the last stage of stagnation, I believe you have come to the realization that the techniques are all means, and only the finished work is the end. All the techniques serve the soul of the photo. You have to do more than just adjust the parameters and press the shutter, you have to use the photos to tell the story.
So you think about what you want to say each time you click the shutter. You hold the camera for less time, but your work is fuller. Yes, they may not look “that good,” but the photos begin to convey something to the viewer.
You begin to stop believing in the equipment and become adept at using the equipment in your hands and using it to its fullest function. You start to make some simple shooting plans. You start to shoot thematic, systematic shots.
Stage six: Maturity
Photography is no longer an enjoyable interest for you, but a tool to talk about it. You can master the tools you have at your disposal and shoot with intent.
If you’re a commercial photographer, you can take advantage of the current situation to get exactly what your clients want and what they want to say. If you are a visual artist, then your work can be your own exhibition. Your work will put you on the map in your industry and elevate your status in your community.
Stage 7: Start a family
Each piece of work you take is not simply a picture, but a whole system, each picture tells a deep story. Photography techniques and concepts are handy to you. You are not only a photographer, but also a photographer.
Very few people reach the seventh stage. Most people stop at the third and fourth stages. Unless you make photography your career, it’s hard to find time in your busy working life to study photography.
It takes a lot of time and effort to break through each stage. You need to keep shooting and thinking to make progress. Photography and music painting, don’t expect to jump to the top. It takes years of practice and accumulation. Pressing the shutter is easy. What happens after you press it? Technology is just your tool. The soul of your work is the world you want to express.
Would you have persevered if you knew that it would take so much effort to make progress, and that even the effort might not be successful? Depends on how much you like taking pictures?
There are seven stages a photographer must go through. What stage are you in?
