Hi, everybody. Welcome, to episode nine of the photography explained podcast. In this episode, how can I learn to use my new camera? I’m your host Rick and each week I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes without the irrelevant details. My aim is to explain things in just enough detail to help us with our photography no more.

Now this might sound like an odd one.

How can I learn to use my new camera?

There is a particularly important point, this is not necessarily a question. Well, I guess it is a question. But what I wanted to get over to you in this episode is the mistake that I have made over the years, many, many, many times.

The best way to learn to use your camera is to go through the camera manual from start to finish with your camera and try out all the things that you can do with your camera. Buy one book about your camera and learn the things that you want to learn. Go out with your camera and practise the things that you have learned. You should aim to be able to use your camera with your eyes closed – that is when you have learned to use your camera!

You can listen to the episode here

Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!

Learn from my mistakes

I want to share my advice with you on how you can learn to use your new camera, or indeed, the camera that you already own if you haven’t already learned how to use it properly.

I guess we’ve all been guilty of that. So first things first.

Why is this important?

Then it was out to take some photos, which is all fine and good by the way because you need to go out and take photos so you can get used to how things work. And I’ve done that.

So what was the problem?

I actually sold a camera that I wasn’t happy with before I’d learned how to use it properly, which is, looking back all those years ago, quite frankly, ridiculous.

It wasn’t the camera’s fault? – It was the person operating it.

Me.

Had I learned to use my camera? No, I hadn’t. I thought I knew what I was doing. I was arrogant. I thought I didn’t need to read the manual. And that’s what I did. Or did not do. So I took average photos. And it was just ridiculous, really.

So I’d be pleased if you take one thing from my podcast ever, it’s this.

I took average photos. And it was just ridiculous, really. So I’ll be pleased if you take one thing away from my podcast – this.

Learn how to use your camera. Learn how to use your camera slowly and properly. And that starts with the thing that the manufacturer gives you.

The camera manual

I think we still get books with cameras these days, and probably get CDs as well (or links to a download). But I’m a fan of a camera manual.

I haven’t bought a camera now for a few years, but I’ve still got the manual for my Canon 6D, as I have for my Olympus EM5 Mk 2. Just looking on the shelf there I can’t see it – probably still in the box.

Did you know I keep the boxes for everything I ever buy? Slight aside. And I am not sure why I am not going to lie to you.

So read the manual.

Why is this important? Because you find out what your camera can do. I sold a camera without knowing features, things that it could do, features that it had. I had a Canon 6D for quite a while before I read the manual and found that there were things on there that I needed to turn off because I didn’t want them – one being auto highlight correcting.

I didn’t know it was doing that. I don’t want it to do that. I want to sort the exposure out myself.

Read a book.

In the end, I bought a book that accompanied it (the Canon 6D). And then I bought another book. And then I bought another book – I thought if I get loads of books, I’ll be really good with this camera. That was another mistake.

Buy one book

So you have got the manual, I will suggest you buy the best book you can for your camera and work through that as well. I even took the book from my Olympus EM5 Mk 2 on holiday with me. One of the problems with that was it’s quite a heavy thing. It actually weighed one kilo, which when you have got 20 kilos of luggage was quite a big impact on my luggage – probably equivalent to about six t-shirts.

Oh no the holiday t-shirt thing

Let’s not talk about the time we went on holiday and I forgot to take all my T-shirts. That’s another story.

Back to the manual

Read the manual, start to finish. Do it once and you’ll know what’s in there. You can always go back to it while you’re trying stuff on with your camera. Do the things your manual explains. Try them all out, get used to them. And then go out and take photos and try all these wonderful settings and variables that you can find in a camera.

And buy that one book

You’ll be amazed at what you can find in there and how clever these things are. Seriously. So yeah, buy a book. Read the book, and work through the book. Try all the settings, and practice.

Blimey, that’s my list of bullet points there – I should stop but no we will go on.

Practise

Practising trying the things in the camera manual is so important because some of the things well I’ve taught myself here – I read things in the manual that didn’t necessarily make sense. But when I actually did them on the camera, they made sense.

How I learn

I’m quite a literal visual person, I need to see the thing. If you give me directions to a place I’ve never seen before, I’m pretty hopeless about it. If I can see something in front of me, then I’m fine. That’s how I learn.

And again, give yourself some time to do it. Because you will save time later on when you’re sat down with whatever editing software you use, and you won’t have a load of rubbish such as out-of-focus stuff or stuff where you’ve just made mistakes, it’s worth spending the time and hopefully you’ll find it enjoyable.

Practise again – getting the point?

So yeah, do all that practice, go out, take the photos, and try different settings. The beauty of digital photography is once you made the investment of the camera, and all the other stuff, it doesn’t cost you any more money, say to take 10 photos or 10,000 photos. Play around and experiment, you have nothing to lose literally.

And look at the photos you’ve taken, you don’t need to write down settings anymore, I used to write them all down in a book back in the day. Now all the information is there.

Lightroom

So if you’re using Lightroom, for example, which is what I use for my image editing, all the information is there that you might need. So yeah, it’s particularly important that you do this – don’t go and take loads of photos, read the manual, take loads of photos, read the manual, take loads photos, all without looking at the photos that you’ve taken and seeing what results you are getting.

Enjoy your camera

Enjoy your camera – cameras are wonderful things. I love cameras, which we’re relieved to hear! It’d be a bit concerning if I didn’t – cameras are brilliant, I love them to death. They’re my favourite bits of kit.

My camera

My Canon 6D – basically, I can use it with my eyes closed. I’ve just bought the next point. I’ll get onto that next point now. And this is what I’ve written down.

Learn your camera until you’re able to use this and change settings with your eyes closed.

Really. This is what I can do with my Canon 6D – I don’t need to look at it to make changes – we’ve grown very close over the years, my Canon 6D and me.

I’m going to stop there because I sound a little bit of a sad loner.

One more thing

Another point is don’t worry about other accessories too much too soon. You can spend a lot of time (this is my experience speaking now again) looking at accessories and buying accessories, not using them, filling up your (my) bag with stuff that I just didn’t need and didn’t know how to use all the while I still didn’t really know how to use my camera.

So we’re back to the original point, learn how to use your camera with minimal stuff.

Essential gear

Get a tripod and use it and it will make your photos better – well it makes mine better anyway, maybe that’s just because I’m rubbish.

Apart from that, just go easy on accessories, and practice taking photos. Let me tell you a top tip. What is the single best way to improve your photography?

The single best way to improve your photography is to practice and learn from your practice. Keep on doing it, take photos, take different angles. Use the features your camera has. But look at the stuff that you’ve taken.

Practice, practice, practice, it really does make all the difference. I did lots of practice in the beginning, but there was no structure to it. Learn to use your camera, practice with the camera. Check the results. And be honest with yourself if you’ve taken a rubbish photo – it’s not a crime, we’re all learning. I can still take rubbish on any given day really.

Okay, we’re done for now.

So what’s next on the Photography Explained Podcast? Well, I have nearly got to episode 10 – never thought I’d get there. So I’m going to do an episode 10 recap of what I have talked about and what we’ve learned so far, which I hope will be interesting.

Thank you

So um, thank you very much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please leave a nice review and rating wherever you get your podcast from (it says here). And please subscribe on your podcast provider of choice so you don’t miss an episode. If you could tell one person about my podcast, I’d be grateful.

What’s next? In the next Photography Explained Podcast episode 10 – Recap – What Have We Learned So Far?

Check out my website, Rick McEvoy Photography and we’ll see you on the next episode. I’ve been Rick. Thanks for listening. See you in the next episode. And I’ve just reached 100 downloads.

Yay bye for now.

OK – that was the podcast episode.

Want to know more?

Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.

And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.

Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.

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And finally a little bit about me

Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.

Thank you

Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).

Cheers from me Rick