Article by- Chinar Tekchandani & Apurv Jadhav

Visual arts have the power of influencing people. They can make or break your thoughts and perceptions. And photography is one such visual art. An art, that with the click of a button can capture the emotion and beauty of a place/subject. It’s also a very popularly growing form. With better quality cameras in phones and more accessible and sophisticated instruments, any person can pursue this art. But the question that most people have is, where do you start?

Well, if you’re new to this area, it’s ideal to start with minimum investment. The idea here is to allow yourself to grow at your own pace. With photography, you have to be patient. Learn about the different modes of your camera. Read the manuals or watch videos. Think about the importance of lightings and positioning of your subjects.

We, the people of this generation are lucky. We have access to brilliant cameras on our smartphones and YouTube tutorials at the click of a button. It makes our lives much simpler. Our phone cameras have pro modes that we can use to get better images. We can experiment and create photographs whenever we want, wherever we want without even carrying heavier equipment. And from that stage, we can only progress. There’s no looking back. And if you’ve invested in a camera, you can always try different settings at different places. You will observe that with every image, you will get better and start visualising and observing things in a way that you never did before.

Shoot as much as you can and try to figure out which kind of photography you enjoy more. Try to associate yourself with a genre that you enjoy. That way, you will start to experience the process whole-heartedly. Once you figure out your genre, you can go to places and shoot the subjects of your choice. Find out about the various artists in this field. Read about them and look their pictures up. Check their styles of photography and learn from them. Their photographs can be your teachers. You can understand exposure, angles, emotions, etc from them. This is also how you can keep yourself updated with the current developments in photography.

There is no shortcut to becoming a pro in this field. The idea is to be observant of different scenarios, try to look at things from different angles, understand your equipment slowly by reading manuals and watching tutorials, and shoot. Shoot as many photos as you can, take whatever equipment you have everywhere. Participate in various photography tutorials and move ahead.

We’ve listed down a few tips that can help you get acquainted with photography and make your journey more fruitful:

• Work with your composition
• Use the camera that you already have before investing in a fancier one
• Learn different settings
• Pay attention to the light
• Learn when to use flash, tripods, etc
• Try new things
• Get together with other photographers and talk to them
• Look at your old photos
• Don’t use cheap filters
• Attend workshops
• Fix your weak points
• Don’t hurry

We hope this helps you and you can begin now with ease. We wish you all the best  for all your endeavors!