Whilst reading around the blogs of web designers, programmers and webmasters I’ve noticed that quite a lot of them share a common interest in photography. I really enjoy photography too; I’ve snapped over 500 photos on my new camera since getting it about 2 months ago.
I suspect the reason that photography may be so popular with programmers and web designers is that compared to many other forms of art such as drawing and painting, it is in some ways a more "scientific art". It’s dead easy for beginners to start and for more advanced photographers, you can twiddle around with features such as different ISOs, exposure times and F-numbers to get desired effects.
I’ve managed to get some quite nice effects on my entry-level digital camera by using the Manual shooting mode and turning the exposure time up to 1 or 2 seconds – this gives quite a nice streak/motion blur effect with cars and other vehicles. When taking a photo of the moon, I used the manual shooting mode to decrease the exposure time in order to capture more detail on the moon.
I came across a set of photography lessons at morguefile.com which are kinda nice. It explains some things such as composition, aperture, shutter speeds and provides some tips on how to take beautiful photographs.
Anyone else into photography? Any particular reasons why you prefer it over other arts (if you do)?
I’ve also got an interest in photography… right now it’s mainly digital but I’m signed up for photo next semester. I prefer it because it’s fun, can produce some beautiful art, and it’s the only art that I’m good at. I think it’s interesting that photography is popular with programmers and web designers.
When you spend all day doing left-braincell things, it’s good to have something that crosses the line – but it’s not completely right-brain, it’s artistic with the potential for technical control.
(And of course I can run riot with *real film* too
I like photography because it’s an art which one can start out using fairly basic shots, but as we get more and more practice, we can catch "just that right moment" when the photo is simply extraordinary. That said, some things you can afford to fiddle about with your settings beforehand. I won a school photography competition with a photo of a snail.