If you know me a little, or if you have seen my Bluesky or my photo album, then you would know that I am a photographer. Not necessarily a great one, but still a photographer. And as a 13 year old, how do I take photos, and what tools do I use to take them?
My gear
The most important question that any photographer gets is what gear they use. Until about last week, I used to take photos only with my phone, which is an S24. After that, I started using my dad’s old camera, which is a Nikon D90. Yes, it is extremely old. It is even older than me.
However, it is not one of those cameras that is kept only for nostalgia. It is actually still very good. It is also one of the best beginner cameras I could ask for, even though it is a little heavy to carry around.
The lenses I use are a Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 and a Nikon NIKKOR AF-S 50mm f/1.8. Both lenses are good in their own ways. The 50mm lens works well for portraits, while the 18-105mm lens is what I usually use for nature photography.
Overall, this is a good setup for a beginner. I might know some photography techniques, but when it comes to handling and properly using a DSLR, I am still a complete beginner. That makes this camera perfect for learning, and maybe upgrading later.
The most important part of all this is that your gear does not matter. I used my phone to take photos for almost a year before I even got this camera. And even now, the camera I use is very old. Instead of complaining, it is better to think about how you can take good photos with what you already have.
How I usually take photos
A lot of people plan the type of photos they will take days before actually taking them. That is a great approach if you are a professional photographer and need to do shoots for clients. Planning helps a lot in that situation.
But since I am just a hobby photographer, I do things differently. I usually walk around with my camera or my phone and simply look around. If something catches my eye and feels worth taking a photo of, I take it.
There are many different photography styles. I prefer taking photos of nature, and my favourite thing to photograph is sunrises and sunsets. If you look at my phone, you will find over a hundred photos of just the sun. That alone shows how much I enjoy taking photos of it.
Post photography
What do I do after I finish taking photos? Usually, I connect the camera using a USB cable and transfer the photos to my phone or my PC, depending on where I am at the time. Once the photos are transferred, I move on to editing.
For editing, I use the app that almost all photographers use these days, Adobe Lightroom. I am currently using the free plan, so I cannot use masking. Even so, I still edit my photos to improve the lighting and colours.
I try not to push the edits too far. If I change things too much, the photo starts to look unnatural and loses its original feel. Keeping edits simple usually works best.
After that, the photography process is mostly done. I usually post my photos on Bluesky. You can follow me at https://bsky.app/profile/jerryg.xyz.
Techniques I use for photography
These are some of the basic techniques I use when taking photos. The main one is composition, especially the rule of thirds. This is the technique I use most often.
In many of my photos, I try to apply the rule of thirds so the subject is not always placed in the center. This helps a lot, especially when taking photos of people. It also improves the overall look of other types of photos.
As you can see here, I have used the rule of thirds.
Mistakes I made
As mentioned earlier, I use Lightroom to edit my photos. One of the most common mistakes I made, especially when I was starting out, was over editing. Most photos do not need heavy editing to look good.
Usually, small adjustments to lighting and colours are enough. Sometimes a black and white filter can work well too, but not much more than that.
When I first started editing, I changed my photos too much. This included overexposing images and drastically changing the colours. If a photo looked warm, I would turn it cool. While that can work occasionally, most of the time it just ruins the photo.
If you want to see my photo album you can see it here: https://jerryg.xyz/album
Anyway, that’s it for this post, see you all next time!
