How Difficult is it to Learn Photography?

Are you curious about learning photography but worried it might be too hard? Of course, the difficulty that comes with learning a new skill is somewhat subjective. The challenges of learning photography depend on factors like how comfortable you are with physical technology, your level of experience with visual art, and your ability to slow down and notice the unique possibilities in what you’re seeing around you. Today, the student’s experiences with complex software also affect the difficulty of learning photography, since editing programs are a vital element of the modern photographic process.

No matter your current schedule or comfort level with photography, there are plenty of tools available to help make learning easier than you might think.

What is Photography?

Photography is the art of producing an image by recording light with a camera. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took the first photograph in 1826. Photography was a revolutionary technology because it made it easier for images to be reproduced and widely distributed. The first cameras were large and awkward to handle, and the lengthy exposure times necessary to capture an image required photographic subjects to hold still for uncomfortable intervals. However, as the technology evolved, cameras became easier to use and more affordable.

For over 100 years, all photographs were captured on film and developed using chemicals. In 1975, Steven Sasson invented the digital camera, which dramatically increased the ease of capturing and distributing photographic images. Most photography today is digital: the device taking the photo saves the recorded image as a digital file. Smartphones capture 92.5% of those digital photos, but there’s still nothing like a dedicated camera for getting a sharp, high-quality image. 

Digital photography classes will teach you how to make the most of your digital camera. You can learn how to use all of your camera’s settings to the best advantage, how to work with studio or outdoor lighting, and how to adapt the choices you make as a photographer to the environment and goals you are working with. You’ll also explore the powerful, industry-standard software that allows Digital Photographers to edit and retouch the photos they take. 

Read more about what photography is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Photography?

Since the first photograph was taken in 1826, creators have been using this skill to capture images of the world around them. Photography allows people to document events, moments in time, and things they have seen. It can also help human beings gain a better understanding of the world, in the case of scientific photography or photojournalism. Photography is also an artistic medium—the Photographer presents their interpretation of the human experience through what they choose to document and the perspective their photos show.

Another important aspect of photography is that photographic images can be reproduced, allowing them to be circulated and distributed worldwide. Even before digital photography, a film photograph was easier to reproduce than the paintings and drawings that had previously been the best way to convey an image. One early example of how the new technology of photography rapidly came to shape the world is the work of Matthew Brady. His photos documenting the American Civil War showed the brutality of the war’s impact, powerfully influencing public opinion about the conflict.

Now, with digital cameras, the distribution of photographs can be nearly instantaneous, and reproducing one only requires uploading a file. Also, the powerful editing software available to modern Photographers makes remarkable transformations possible. Social media has shown some of what one can do with the opportunities provided by digital photography, with photos of dramatic events witnessed by private citizens being rapidly distributed all over the world. However, the full potential of digital cameras and photo editing software may have yet to reveal itself.

What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning Photography?

The fundamental challenge of photography is how to translate a three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional medium. For budding Photographers, learning how to show depth in a photo can take some time and effort. Experts recommend getting plenty of practice, as there’s no replacement for trial and error when figuring out how to do something. You can also benefit from studying the works of other Photographers to see how they solve these problems, as well as from the mentorship of someone more experienced with photography.

Another aspect of photography that can be a challenge is focusing attention on the subject while obscuring foreground and/or background elements that can distract from it. Photographers use a principle called “depth of field” to make the right aspects of a photo sharp. As with translating three dimensions into two, the most important way of addressing this challenge is to experiment frequently and review your results with a critical eye.

How Does Learning Photography Compare to Other Skills?

If you’re contemplating studying photography, you may be wondering what other skills you could study instead of or alongside it. Some comparable skills include video editing and graphic design.

As with editing photos, video editing comes after someone–whether the Video Editor or a separate Videographer–uses a piece of complex hardware to record the world around them. But while cameras record a single image, videos add the element of movement over time. This aspect can make video editing more time-consuming, and potentially more difficult, because editors must both adjust individual frames and stitch clips together. In many cases, they also need to synch a sound recording with the video, another element that is absent from photo editing. However, Photo Editors generally spend significantly more time on single images than Video Editors, so the time spent and level of difficulty can vary greatly. Like Photographers, Videographers and Video Editors must make an initial investment in equipment and software before they can begin their work, which can be fairly expensive.

While photo editing and video editing both start with someone using hardware to record something as a digital file, graphic design generally begins with software. Graphic Designers certainly incorporate images into their creations. However, graphic design's main work uses software to combine elements like images, text, shapes, and colors to create a specific visual effect. Graphic Designers may or may not need to buy a dedicated computer or tablet for their work, but they need an image editing program. Depending on the elements they use in their designs, they may also have to pay for the right to use images or other items created by someone else.

How To Overcome Photography’s Challenges

In addition to addressing these specific types of challenges through the techniques outlined above, there are broader ways you can make the process of learning photography a bit easier on yourself.

• Learn the basic principles: The first step to becoming a highly skilled Photographer is understanding your camera’s potential and your choices when using it. For this purpose, you’ll want to learn important principles like depth of field, and how they relate to different options you have with your camera, like which shutter speed to use or how to choose an f-stop.
• Master your camera’s settings: The wealth of settings on a high-quality camera is a critical part of what makes it an effective tool. Not understanding the settings or how to use them will hamper your learning significantly. But you’ll need to learn the basic principles first, or you won’t understand the point of the settings.
• Find a mentor: No matter what skill you’re learning, it always helps to have access to someone more advanced who can answer your questions and give you feedback. The advantage of live instruction is that it comes with a built-in expert, but even if you choose on-demand materials or free tutorials, you’ll still want to find someone you can consult with as you learn. 

What Makes It Worthwhile To Persist

While these challenges may seem daunting, the rewards of learning photography will make navigating them worth the effort. Once you’ve become a skilled Photographer, you’ll have the power to capture the world around you as you see it, and, if you want to, distribute the images nearly instantaneously to share your perspective with people all over. Professional Photographers can have a lucrative career that allows them to operate independently. Photography includes many specialties, so you can make your work engaging by selecting a specialty related to your other interests. If you like to meet new people or enjoy travel, photography can provide you with the opportunity to do that, whether as part of your professional photography work or by connecting with other Photographers. And even if you don’t want to become a professional, photography is useful in several other careers, including Print Journalist and Social Media Manager. 

Learn Photography with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop’s small class sizes and expert instructors make it an excellent environment for learning photography and related skills. Students can choose between in-person and live online courses, depending on which is better for their particular situation. Students can also retake Noble classes for free, which can help expand their knowledge of the topic.

Noble offers a certificate in photo retouching specifically, delving more deeply into critical skills that Photographers should have. Another option is Noble’s popular Graphic Design Certificate, which covers Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and graphic design principles. If you don’t yet want to commit to earning a certificate, you could take an individual Photoshop course to start with. You can also do a Photoshop bootcamp for beginners with Noble.

When you do a digital photography certificate at Noble, you’ll acquire foundational skills for photography and photo editing. Students learn to use manual settings to help them make the most of what a high-quality camera offers. They also discover how to work with different types of lighting, both inside a studio and out in the world. In terms of digital photo manipulation, students explore how to manage their photographs with Adobe Lightroom and edit them using Adobe Photoshop.