7 things to avoid as a beginner photographer

[@TennehSillah]

Honestly everytime I find a KZbinr this good it makes me want to unfollow all the mediocre channels I subscribe to! You're so inspiring and unique and honest. ❤

[@Photobuffeddy1314]

great 👍 job , I understand that most People use ideas and photo stories that isn’t theirs ‘ I saw your !’. Plagiarism And Story . I never had it happen to mE But i understand whats the value of of the craft ‘ Gear ⚙️ Plus the values if the time of what ‘ you choose to photograph .. I totally understand.. 😅

[@-grey]

I find the viewfinder is the best way to start and the LCD is the best way to grow to intermediate. The viewfinder is great for taking your perspective as is, but the LCD pushes you to find others. The way I use it is with a little bit of a wider lens. That way I can make small changes in position for more dramatic perspective changes. I think anything 35mm and tighter is great for a viewfinder. You are already snapping what you see with those focal lengths. Once you hit 28mm and wider now you're organising an optimum composition, working a scene, getting low/high angle, and experimenting. A viewfinder would be too limiting for that. Which is why I'd love a flip up selfie screen on the Ricoh GRIII. ✨

[@ninodjuras]

I'm using LCD only for 4 years, I don't need viewfinder at all. But I agree you need to start with it. 💪🏻

[@JohnSmith47534]

I love your work and your advice! Thank you for sharing your experience with us :) we appreciate your efforts

[@angelufae]

i've always wanted to learn photography ever since i was young. watching your videos have been such a great help for me ever since i got a camera. thank you so much!

[@guillaumebouqueau]

For the editing, when your taste is formed, you rely less and less on it. But, I would let people mess around with this kind of software. The more you use it, the more you learn what breaks an image. You can learn by your mistakes too.

[@lmauro]

I love that I made every mistake you mentioned hahaha and I couldn’t agree more with your point. Excellent video!!

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Oh I've made all these mistakes myself on the way- which is why I wanted to make this vid!

[@owo2528]

I guess I started off well, I started with a Fuji XT10, coupled with a 7Artisans 35mm f1.4 MF. learned how to compose, exposure and framing in my photos faster than my friend did with his Sony A6000 with kit zoom lens. He's now fully gassed that he thinks he needs everything to improve his skills.

[@_parkphoto]

Imma be sharing this one to my friends just starting in photography. Exactly the points I would recommend I totally agree

[@mariaceciliaoliveiraalves8318]

What cameras do you thinks is better for beginners? My dream is have a Ricoh, but I live in Brazil so I cant find it easily.

[@photomorti]

A new ulysses aoki video HELL YEAH!!!!! Allways love your content

[@AlexisBracke]

Interesting video with great advice, thanks for sharing!

[@AndrewWertheimer]

I agree about using a prime. Better and cheaper lenses too

[@lesley90]

Keep it simple and light. Great advice. Save money for travel and coffee :) Thank you Ulysses. I have been "trying" to learn photography for many years. Not easy Looking forward to your newsletter.

[@adrianaleonmeseguer1267]

You go, Aoki! You can sell us on anything haha will check out the newsletter

[@meos]

Great video Ulysses! Hate tripods. Especially when traveling. Interesting that you recommend the Ricoh GR. I get it, since it’s easy to always have with you + a fixed focal length, but having a viewfinder is really useful for a beginner. I think using the viewfinder can really improve your skills, as you mentioned. Subscribed to the newsletter. It’s really inspirational - hope to see more soon! Nice (new???) camera btw 👀 P.S. Please don’t stress too much about these video’s - they’re great! Appreciate all the effort you put into making them :)

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Thanks man! Yeah the GR is great to have. As you said, only LCD is very convenient, but not recommended in the beginning- just imo :)

[@streets28mm]

@@UlyssesAokiPhoto Right on, there will be plenty of time to use only LCD, you get old and the eyes get old, you can't use anything but LCD!🙂🍻

[@meos]

@@UlyssesAokiPhoto Agree 100%. My pictures really improved as a beginner from composing using the viewfinder instead of the LCD.

[@meos]

@@streets28mm That makes a lot of sense! I guess old eyes often have had quite a bit of practice composing too, so a viewfinder isn't as important for them as for a beginner.

[@shutter_ethan]

I really appreciate these tips, I've been a photographer for about 2 years now so I have some experience under my belt but it's always nice to learn more about something I'm passionate about!

[@paxpaxman4423]

At some point with photography you learn that less is more.

[@lensman5762]

I have been a photographer for over 45 years. I guess you could say that I am old school. I still use film in all formats including 5X7, and digital. Every point you made is valid and welcome. TBH, I can't understand why new photographers do not use the view finder. That is exactly what it is there for, to look at the subject. Good of you to bring up these basic but fundamental points. I keep seeing ' photographers ' whose contribution to the photograph is just to look at the LCD screen , shout " thats beautiful " to the model and rely on the computers inside the camera to do the rest of the work. That is not photography, I regert to say. Thank you.

[@ermice]

You use industrially processed film to capture the beauty of this world? That is not a real picture, you should use canvas, paint and a brush.

[@lensman5762]

@@ermice You are in the wrong place with your words of wisdom. I spent a good few years doing deep sky imaging using cooled monochrome CCDs and narrow band filters. That is how I learnt about the how little we have input in a digital photo . From the moment that the analogue signal from the sensor is passed through the ADC, and becomes a procession of zeros and ones, our input almost ceases to exist. It is all done using highly sophisticated algorythms to debayer the data and then to reassemble, and fill out the gaps between the photosites with clever interpolations. I can assuer you that I do not need lessons on what is real photography and what is computer imagery. Thank you.

[@ermice]

I’m not sure why are on youtube - go watch some 8mm tapes

[@john.vanzijl]

Looking forward to the newsletter. Can't wait to see what you put out

[@nikko2434]

That outfit in the thumbnail tho! So cute.

[@SweetZombiJesus]

I can't stand optical viewfinders, and I'm glad I've been avoiding them. They get you into a mode of shooting everything from the same height, make it way more obvious you're taking a photo, and feels awkward as hell. Plus, I feel like you don't get an edge to edge view in the OVF. Framing can be learned with the EVF, you just have to be a bit more mindful, but I think without the OVF you open yourself to taking better photos.

[@Jakechams]

Just found your channel, instant follow. Great work. Keep it up!

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Thanks Jake! Welcome ;)

[@SuchanBajracharya]

Great tips! Keeping it simple is the KEY 🔑

[@patrickmorgan5210]

Wonderful video and tips. My first serious camera was the Fuji X-pro 1 and two lenses (18mm f2 and 35 f1.4). I found that this was the perfect learning tool for many of the reasons you mention - always using the EVF / OVF, only using primes to learn to compose, using manual features that were a joy with the XPro1’s tactile buttons, good jpegs, and getting a wrist strap so the camera is always in my hand and ready to shoot. The other thing that I enjoyed is the terrible autofocus that encouraged me to manual focus. Wonderful stuff Ulysses and thanks for the newsletter.

[@gewglesux]

Wondering where you've been... I think i missed the last few of your videos. Glad to see you back here again!! congrats on the new adventure!! Very good information in this one, I went back to shooting Film for a while. Thanks!!

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Welcome back!

[@gewglesux]

Thank you!!@@UlyssesAokiPhoto

[@ordinary.american.beauty]

Really good tips!! I thought the argument for the use of the screen as a way to frame better was a great hidden reason in addition to not looking silly.. 🤣🫣🤣 love the idea of no tripod but more because photography is best when it’s a hands on experience and not static.

[@streets28mm]

Good video, agreed! I am in your flock up to the straps, I say use whatever you like, neck or wrist, just don't let it dangle, have it in your grip all the time!🍻

[@hmuz8388]

Some shooting at Senso-ji before the crowds came in, followed by Ulysses’s video…now that’s a good morning 👌🏻

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Oh dang you were there? Great place to shoot but I bet it was chaos with the festival.

[@hmuz8388]

@@UlyssesAokiPhoto yesterday was definitely chaos…went this morning at around 7h(don’t ask me why xD) and it was pretty chill!

[@mipan4334]

I definitely think you should start a podcast Aoki-san.

[@sarasameh4868]

i want to start street photography but i haven’t bought a camera yet, what can you recommend??

[@minayano1892]

new subscriber here, i really enjoy your videos and learn a lot ! thank god i found your channel !

[@derekcruickshank]

💋 Promo*SM

[@karinjohnstone6690]

These were brilliant tips. Always love your videos. Thanks

[@rosechoso]

your reflective photos are so cool and such an interesting concept to get inspiration from. thanks for this video its really helpful. also, your voice is soo calming and nice 🤍

[@patrickguyum]

I honestly dislike a handful of things you claim are mistakes or inappropriate for beginners. I think the chief focus of beginner photographers should be 1) Understanding how your main camera settings and lens work (ss, f-stop, iso), and 2) an exploration into all possibilities rather than restriction and oversimplification. Those should follow only after one becomes familiar with how photography works. To that end, 1. Sticking with primes over a zoom lens sacrifices the exploration of how focal lengths affect an image, only for the benefit of slightly sharper images and shallower DOF. If you want a beginner to understand things like background compression and how focal length affects an image, having them stick with only a 50mm will not teach them that. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly really crap zoom lenses that sacrifice significant aperature or sharpness such that the prime is better value, but that's a matter of the value of specific gear rather than a blanket statement about what makes effective learning. 2. Not having *a* tripod means you can't effectively explore anything slower than handheld-rule shutter speeds and get a quality image. There's inexpensive options, people should just have one. Any shot you want to take that needs a tripod, you definitely cannot take without one. 3. You cannot learn editing software without completely nuking some images. Instead of discouraging people from tinkering because they "don't know what is good," we can instead encourage them to find images in disciplines they like (or that people better than them deem as "good) and have them emulate that in editing as a reference/guide. The same goes for discovering composition and the individual photographic voice. I think the lightweight "all you need is a camera and a lens" stance is valuable for people who want to get started but feel overwhelmed by choices and product videos and expenses. But at the same time, saying "you don't need" is much different from "you shouldn't"; this dissuades people who want to go off the deep end from using valuable tools that can be attained without unreasonable expense. Lastly, it's valuable in these types of videos for you to state clearly early on the primary genre in which you work (which, given your b-roll and setting, clearly seems to be street photography). Everything you say here is entirely justifiable on the front of the street photography focus, because the demands are simply different. You say "just my style" a lot at the end, but there's a much clearer and specific way to say that.

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

Sounds like a boring video

[@daikishinomiya]

A Ulysses upload is always a good day

[@osohista]

good video

[@rogalaphotography]

I 100% disagree with not using as zoom lens as a beginner!!! A 24-70mm is the IDEAL lens for a beginner (I’ll have a video coming out soon about this!). It allows a beginner to see how each focal length reacts to an environment, light, etc. A beginner wouldn’t know WHICH prime lens to buy because they don’t know what they need yet! A 24-70 has pretty much all the main focal lengths built in…24, 35, 50…only really missing an 85mm. A zoom lens is a MUST FOR BEGINNERS!!!

[@adeguntoro]

i think zoom lens is great for "beginner" with low budget.

[@bulboes]

A prime & a pair of comfy sneakers too ...

[@NoahBalja]

So good content. Keep going

[@mikefasho8492]

thanks for posting again, you are a huge inspiration!

[@mekhigreene]

great video !

[@josephlai1078]

Good to see you posting videos!

[@yomama9188]

Are some of the footage shot in singapore?

[@UlyssesAokiPhoto]

No! I wish I was there though :)

[@bertversluys2057]

👍