The Photo Gospel
according to John Shaw:

1. Use a tripod. Always. "If you want quality in your photographs," buy a sturdy, heavy-duty tripod. There is no such thing as a lightweight sturdy tripod. Buy one that goes up to your level without extending the center post, because the minute you extend the center post you no longer have a tripod, you have a monopod with legs."
2. Avoid mid-day light. "It's the worst."
3. Go hungry. "More good photos are lost because people refuse to miss meals. They don't stay out for the gorgeous light because it's dinnertime. Rearrange your schedule, eat out of the cooler or stop for snacks before you get to the location."
4. Slower is better when it comes to film. Use the slowest film (hence the finest grain) you can possibly get away with.
5. Get closer to your subject. This holds true for everything, except wild animals.
6. The greater the glass, the better the photo. "Buy the best lens you can. If you have to skimp, skimp on the camera body, but not the lens—that's what takes the picture."
7. Line up your horizons. "Tilting horizons result in photographs where all the water in the lake should be running out the left side of the frame." Here's how to prevent that from happening: "Whichever eye you use to look through the camera, once you've set up and composed, use the other eye. It'll correct a lot of lean. Even better, take two steps back and look at the camera to make sure it's square with the world." (Skip this if your back is to a cliff edge.)
8. Always expect the next one to be the best one. "The way to think about photography is that the next frame you shoot will be the definitive one. Everybody takes one picture and says, 'Well, I've got it.' Take another one, and always believe that the one you haven't taken will be even better."

John Shaw's photo gospel, at left, applies to both film and digital photography, and should be closely followed. The only point I would differ with slightly is number two. Mid-day lighting is the worst, the harshest type of naturl light, but there are times it shouldn't be avoided. Most often, this would be when it's overcast. The overcast sky will diffuse mid-day light and make it acceptible for good photography. The other primary time when mid-day light is good, and even desired, is when taking photos in narrow slot canyons, where mid-day light streams through and brings out the color of the canyon's walls.

Okay, The Workshop

The first step, of course, is getting to know your camera and equipment, and how they work. Don't toss aside that instruction manual. Go through it page by page and lern how your camera or other piece of equipment operates.

Second is to learn the basics of photography. This applies to every type of photographic format, and to digital as well as film. Even with modern cameras, which might have a variety of automatic shooting modes, one needs to know and understand the basics to be a better photographer.

By the basics I mean exposure, composition, and personal vision. We'll take these one at a time.

Exposure:
Exposure is the amount of light coming through your lens and camera to expose film or record on a digital sensor the subject you are photographing. So, what's to learn, you might ask.

One can have proper exposure, that is exposure which records a subject as you look at it naturally, in most cases; underexposure, which darkens the subject by not having enough light for proper exposure; or one can have over exposure, which lightens the subject by having too much light for proper exposure.

Most times, one will want proper exposure, which is what your in-camera exposure meter gives you. However, there will be times under or over exposure can be helpful or desired. There will also be times you'll want to have proper expose rendered in different ways. An understanding of exposure is required to make these choices and to do so in a pleasing way.

On the next page we'll go into all this, as well providing some assignments you can conduct yourself that will illustrate what we're talking about.

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