| You have just bought your digital camera and start | | | | camera was a compact with a good lens. It made no |
| your first lesson in a digital photography course. The | | | | difference to the image. Don't get me wrong, it's nice |
| reason you have enrolled is to learn to take great | | | | to have higher resolutions when you print out large |
| photos. As the lesson starts you realise that they are | | | | photos, but most of the time it's not necessary. |
| emphasising a whole bunch of technical specifications | | | | To become a better and more creative photographer |
| regarding how the camera works. Is this necessary? | | | | you have to emphasise good photography techniques |
| I teach creative digital photography with almost zero | | | | and the fundamentals of photography. Taking a |
| emphasis on digital. It is just there to catch the | | | | course on creative photography over an introductory |
| uninformed student. Once I have their attention it is | | | | digital photography course, I'll take the creative |
| no longer necessary. Because, as far as I am | | | | course any day. You can always read your manual to |
| concerned those parts of the course are just there | | | | find out about megapixels. How they work and what |
| to fill the course and make it feel value for money. | | | | the sensor does is irrelevant to taking a great photo. |
| Megapixels, memory cards and magnification factors | | | | We are bombarded all the time by marketing |
| don't help you to shoot better and more creative | | | | campaigns of the big camera manufacturers telling us |
| images. I'll illustrate the point. In my last creative | | | | why the latest model is so important and why we |
| photography class I gave my students the | | | | need the new features. Don't be fooled by all of that. |
| assignment to shoot an object in 100 different ways | | | | Learn to take good images first. A good |
| and bring there top 5 images to the next class. My | | | | photographer takes a great photo and not a great |
| first student showed some amazing shots of a | | | | camera. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and not |
| Tibetan prayer wheel. After chatting about it I asked | | | | the camera sensor, memory card or Digic 4 |
| what type of memory card he had in his camera. He | | | | processor. |
| gave me a blank look. He couldn't answer my | | | | Once you have mastered the art of photography |
| megapixel question either. He had taken some | | | | then it's time to figure out which camera is the right |
| stunning images and didn't know the technical specs. | | | | one for you in order to concentrate on the genre |
| The other example I have is a photo I took of black | | | | that excites you the most. Many courses have a lot |
| and white border collie puppy asleep on a bright | | | | of information that is not necessary for the beginning |
| green lawn, shot close up. It was one of my | | | | of your photo learning journey. It wasn't necessary |
| favourite images which I had printed at a photo | | | | with film cameras and it is not necessary now with |
| store. The resolution was 2.1 megapixels and the | | | | digital cameras. Happy shooting! |