I have an old but good Canon Powershot G16 with various modes up to full manual mode. Most of the time is used when out hill-walking or on holiday sightseeing
I use it in P mode but sometimes play with Tv and Av modes and the exposure compensation if it's very bright. I want to learn to how to take better photos in terms of composition and also understanding f2.2, ISO twelvtyhundred etc. etc.
Can anyone recommend any good online resources to use at my own pace? Or YT videos?
thanks
The bit they don't tell you is that the overwhelming reason why my photos look they way they do is because of the editing. My conspiracy theory is that this is because there isnt much money to be made here as adobe's practually got it all sown up with Lightroom and Photoshop. Whereas you can make a bunch of money selling lenses and cameras. So, get good with lightroom and photoshop for a start - YT is a great source for tutorials here.
Settings etc depends alot on what you want to shoot. Baseline settings and approach to tweaking them will vary alot from landscape to wildlife to street
I don't do any editing, I just want to improve the photos I take.
When I started taking wildlife photos I book a day with a wildlife photographer and got him to teach me the rudiments.
Could you do something similar with someone who specialised in landscape photography?
The first thing you need to understand about is composition – there will be a million guides out there, but here's one I found that does a good job at (mostly) simplifying the process. Essentially, when you look through the viewfinder/at the screen, take time to look at what you have framed – is it in the centre? Straight away, that is often (but not always) considered a poor choice – move the camera around, get a different viewpoint, add foreground detail, simplify the shot.
Look at lots of other peoples work, read all the advice, then just go out and do exactly what pleases you and ignore everyone. I quite like casual photos, usually with a family member of mine doing something fun or odd, and invariably they will be facing away from me. They will not be horizontal, prob not in focus, or exposed correctly. Indeed it may even be hard to spot them at all. But as a record of a fun moment, they work for me.
The bit they don't tell you is that the overwhelming reason why my photos look they way they do is because of the editing
This is so true. The joy to me is being out there taking pics and being in the moment, of spotting something and capturing it, or being outside. And the frustration is that to get what others (yes, I know I shouldn't listen or compare with others...) perceive as "good" pictures you then need to spend time in front of screen editing it.
I used to work as a photographer many years ago and there are a couple of things that I think are useful. The first is that most people look just at the centre of the image they are composing, look in the corners. The second thing is something that's completely reversed with camera phones. TURN THE BLOODY THING THE OTHER WAY NOT EVERYTHING IS LANDCAPE - you are using a camera TURN THE BLOODY THING THE OTHER WAY NOT EVERYTHING IS PORTRAIT - phone.
In some ways digital photography has made it easier to learn but because the auto features have come on so much it's very easy to let the camera do everything. Shooting in manual could be useful and don't take too many repeat shots, imagine it's expensive film and when you view the results look at at what settings you used for each shot and how a change to any of those settings might have improved it. A lot easier now with all the detail captured with the image, certainly better than the notebook method I was using 40 plus years ago.
One other thing is does your camera have a viewfinder? Personally I find composition so much easier tan on a rear screen but that might just be because I'm old and learnt when it was the only way
Read/learn some basics, then just pick a subject and get shooting. You'll be more inclined to do it if you're interested in it rather than trying to copy some YT tutorial for how to create a certain portrait style with an apple if you've no interest in portraiture, and the skill will have no transferability to any other subjects.
Shoot the same landscape, corner at a bike race, traffic on a road, building, still life, whatever it is, keep shooting until you've explored every variable (or just the one you've chosen to focus on). e.g. shoot a big stately home, but spend some time considering the exposure and sensitivity to get the sky, shadows, trees etc how you like them. Then go shoot a statue and play with DoF. Then motion blur with your kids on a swing/roundabout/meri-go-round.
In some ways digital photography has made it easier to learn but because the auto features have come on so much it's very easy to let the camera do everything. Shooting in manual could be useful and don't take too many repeat shots, imagine it's expensive film and when you view the results look at at what settings you used for each shot and how a change to any of those settings might have improved it. A lot easier now with all the detail captured with the image, certainly better than the notebook method I was using 40 plus years ago.
I'd partially agree with that, do teach yourself to be cautious in pressing the shutter, if you're only 90% happy when you press it, then that only goes down looking at the image afterwards. The closer to happy you are when you press the shutter the better it'll look later.
On the other hand, take lots of photos, look at them on a big screen ASAP, get them in lightroom/ACDSee and look at the shadows/highlights to see how the details been preserved (or not) and learn how your camera is interpreting what you see.
I don't do any editing, I just want to improve the photos I take.
The difference between editing and post processing. Post processing is closing the feedback loop on your camera work. It's tweaking the settings, cropping the image, adjusting the histograms, and then you'll learn to be closer to the optimal next time you use the camera.
I just want to improve the photos I take.
this is literally what editing does 😀
And its worth pointing out it has always been this way. The photo is made in the darkroom (or lightrrom)
Try film or even glass plates... Then marvel in not only the lack of talent but the empty bank accound.
I made an edit that didn't save.
Try shooting in black and white. That will learn you about highlights and shade and contrast.
Read about composition, read about exposure.
Go out. Slow down take your time, walk around, think about leading lines, foreground, back ground, edges, what to include, what to exclude.
Then edit it. Shoot in raw so you get more editing potential, I watched a good video on f stoppers about editing landscapes so they're darker in the front lighter at the back.
Then realise that 2 kids and limited time means back garden safari and macro is where you want to go.
I want to learn to how to take better photos in terms of composition
Generally the rule of thirds isn't a bad starting point. And look for leading lines that draw the eye to something interesting
I don't do any editing, I just want to improve the photos I take.
If you take photos as JPGs rather than RAW then your photos are already edited - you are just not the one in control! The #nofilterrequired hashtag on smartphone photos makes me chuckle - anything out of the smartphone (unless you turn the RAW/pro mode on) is filtered to ****!
Some swift thoughts
- Shoot in RAW and edit. I know you don't, but you need to. If you are trying to compare what you are doing and using stuff you have seen others take as a benchmark and you are not playing with them in lightroom of similar you are on a hiding to nothing. It has always been part of the process.
- Shoot loads and discard most when you get home. like 95% of them. Find something you like and think has possibilities and take 20,30,40 photos....and keep one...and then only if you like it. Mess around with settings, tiny changes of composition, wait for some cloud, wait for some sun - you get the picture.
- Do it on your own. I HATE trying to do some photography with other people in tow. You'll feel under pressure to get on with it and they'll think you are ruining a good walk/ride. It's a solo activity imo.
- It might well **** up your day. You wanted to go out in the middle of the day - think again. Golden hour is your friend. The middle of the day with a cloudless sky, like just how you like it for your ride/walk, will make the suckiest photos - basically wasting your time.
- The best shot will never (hardly ever) be from the path you were on at human eyeball height. Be prepared to look like a mentalist walking in anything other than a straight line and bending down or spinning around like a loon. Only you are not a mentalist or a loon - you are not randomly running around- you've learnt to think and anticipate what it might look like from over there...."If I go to the other side of this field that tree will now be in frame but on the right and I'll be able to see the hill top.
- Rule of Thirds. Like all rules it's there to be broken but you could do a lot worse than use it as your default starting point.
- Foreground, middle ground, background. Just keep on saying it. A shot of a mountain taken across a loch will look immeasurably better if you compose it with a stone or two sticking out of the water in the foreground. etc etc.
- Subject separation - your main focal point will (normally) look waaaay better if it's not muddled up with what's behind it. Move around so the background is clear or at least uniform. Or try to arrange everything so there is a significant distance between it and the next object behind. Top tip....sometimes stepping right back away from a thing/person and then zooming back in will reduce your field of view and cut out distraction background objects.
- Humans are stupid. Give the viewer of your image a handrail - lining shit up. or a natural line leading the eye to the focal point can really help. A stone wall that leads the eye to the tree that's the star just makes the tree look better - couldn't tell you why.
- Consider the direction of the light source. You don't have to always have the light behind you but it's a really important part of the composition. It creates shadows (good and bad) and highlights (good and bad). In a studio you can move the light sources - in the wild you have to do the moving.
- Consider when the light source will where you need it. I live next to an amazing river in a deep gorge. to have sunset golden hour sunlight streaming down it only happens a couple of weeks year. That's extreme - but thinking about when the light might look best on that favourite tree on your ride and going back at the right time is when the magic happens.
- Consider a tripod. Or monopod. Yes, you can use it to take photos at much slower shutter speeds which is great in low light or dicking about with moving water. But it also slows you the **** down and makes you think. And that's good.
- No one in the history of photography has said "I just wish this composition was a bit more cluttered!". Consider a bit of discrete 'gardening' - moving the odd stone or fallen stick or traffic cone so your main subject is not fighting noise is not 'really' cheating.
- Consider sometimes giving yourself a challenge when you go out instead of just wombling about with a camera in your hand and hoping for inspiration. Below is something I just got Copilot to write as an example but I think I'm going to go out tomorrow and give it a go! It genuinely will make you more observational and that's a good long way to better at photography.
The prompt - "set me a photography challenge to take 3 photographs as I walk the country lane I live on."
1. The Invitation (Wide Shot)
Goal: Capture a photo that draws the viewer into the lane.
- Look for leading lines (the road, hedgerows, fences)
- Shoot from a slightly lower or higher perspective than eye level
- Include depth: foreground + midground + background
- Bonus: wait for a moment—light breaking through clouds, a figure in the distance, wind in trees
👉 Think: “Would this image make someone want to walk this lane?”
2. The Detail (Close-Up)
Goal: Show something most people would walk past.
- Zoom in on texture or small subjects: cracked tarmac, moss on a wall, wildflowers, rust
- Use a wide aperture (if possible) to blur the background
- Focus on light and shadow, not just the object itself
👉 Think: “What’s the hidden character of this place?”
3. The Story (Human Touch or Change)
Goal: Capture evidence of life or change.
- This could be:
- A gate left ajar
- Tyre tracks, footprints, or tools
- A house partially obscured by trees
- Someone, or even just something recently used
- Frame it so it raises questions rather than answers them
👉 Think: “What just happened here—or what’s about to?”
🎯 Optional Twist
Try to make all three images feel connected:
- Same colour palette
- Same direction of light
- Or a subtle narrative progression (wide → detail → story)
My two penne'orth:
Hey! That's a nice little camera, the G16. As I recall I took one of it's predecessors (the G10 I think) away with me when I did some rough and ready work in some highly inhospitable places - the camera survived and took some cracking shots, I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoyed mine!
A thought relevant to your post, you asked "I want to learn to how to take better photos in terms of composition and also understanding f2.2, ISO twelvtyhundred etc." - this is three different, but related items.
If you break the task down into the component parts (Understand composition, Understand f-stop, Understand ISO settings) you are likely to ease your journey to gaining the knowledge you seek. I would also suggest that you should add to wanting to learn about f-stop, wanting to learn about depth of field.
A useful place to start reading could be Adobe's introduction to photography here
Some really good entry level stuff on Mike Browne's Youtube channel - his older videos, in particular, from around 13 years ago - are best. Simple, unpretentious stuff, gets right into the basics, without fluff. These really helped get me started. He's a naturally good teacher.
My tuppence worth: Subject, lighting, composition - in that order - that's basically all photography boils down to.
Some examples from Mike's channel below:
What convert said.
Shoot in RAW, then practice manipulating the images yourself instead of relying on default settings. Learn about apertures, f-stops, and depth of field. Set your camera to manual mode and try different combinations of settings - bracket each photo with different aperture and shutter speed settings. Ideally, the RAW image will be very close to the final image that you intended to take.
