Getting Started in Photography

Washington is a photographer’s state. The light off Puget Sound, the mountains, the puffy clouds — I feel as though pictures take themselves. When I moved here, a funny thing happened, my phone camera started producing fantastic photos.

Three years later, people ask about the photos. What camera do you use? How do you get shots like that? This post is my answer.

I’ve been behind the camera since my days as an Instagram Husband in the early 2010’s — my wife the on-screen talent, me the art director. So I have opinions. If you want the full foundation, National Geographic Photo Basics by Joel Sartore is the book I’d hand you. What follows are my own notes — the gear I use, the habits that made the biggest difference, and what I actually wish I’d known earlier.

Know Yourself

Get to know yourself as a photographer. Take photos with whatever you’ve got. Take lots of photos, and more importantly, look at your photos. Then look at your photos again. What do you like? What don’t you like? What do you wish was in the frame? How do you wish the lighting were different?

Don’t Discount Your Smartphone

You might already have a great camera in your pocket. Modern smartphones are doing a remarkable amount of work the moment you press the shutter. A phone like the Samsung Galaxy S21 captures multiple frames at different exposures, stacks them for HDR, reduces noise, sharpens edges, boosts contrast and color, and even applies different edits to different regions of the image — richer blues in the sky, lifted shadows in dark areas. It’s essentially running a mini Lightroom edit automatically, optimized for immediate visual impact on a small screen. The tradeoff is that you lose editing flexibility and absolute realism, but for most shots it produces excellent results with zero effort.

One underappreciated reason phone photos look so good: the wide-angle lens and small aperture. Wide angle captures more of the scene and makes individual details less critical. The small aperture keeps everything in focus from front to back — great for landscapes and casual shots.

The limitation of a smartphone is that it is only wide angle. If you want to frame something specific — isolate a subject, reach across a distance, zoom in on mountains — you can crop the image and lose resolution, or you can get a systems camera.

Use a Selfie Stick

A selfie stick isn’t just for selfies. It’s a versatile tool for getting perspectives you couldn’t otherwise reach. Hold it up high to get an overhead shot that looks like a drone image. Use it as a makeshift tripod. Reach it out over water or a railing to put the camera somewhere your arm couldn’t go. It’s one of the simplest and cheapest tools that opens up creative options.

Taking the Picture

Photography books cover the triangle of aperture (how wide the lens opening is), ISO (how sensitive the sensor is to light), and shutter speed (how fast the shutter opens and closes). Understanding the tradeoffs is worth your time — but then just use the automatic modes.

The modes I use most:

• Auto — let the camera figure it all out
• Landscape — narrow aperture so everything from near to far is in focus
• Portrait / Child / Macro — wide aperture to blur the background and isolate the subject
• Action / Sports — fast shutter speed to freeze motion

One trick worth knowing: autofocus activates when you half-press the shutter button, and the photo is taken when you press it fully. This lets you point the camera at your subject to lock focus, then reframe the shot without losing that focus. Useful when your subject isn’t in the center of the frame.

Systems Cameras

When you’re ready to go beyond a smartphone, you want a “systems” camera — either a DSLR or a mirrorless. “Systems” refers to interchangeable lenses, though you don’t have to change them often. I own one of each, and here’s how they compare from my experience:

I mainly use my Nikon D3300. It’s older, which means I can find lenses cheaper on the secondhand market. My Canon mirrorless is lighter, which I appreciate, but I find I have to be more diligent about keeping the lens clean — otherwise I end up healing blemishes in Lightroom.

Systems cameras start around $500–$1,000 new. For good secondhand gear, I recommend KEH.com — you can call and actually talk to a camera enthusiast who can help you find the right gear.

Post-Processing

A smartphone handles post-processing automatically. A systems camera captures the scene more or less as it is — which usually means a flat, hazy image that doesn’t match how your brain perceived the moment. You’ll need to do your own editing. This sounds more intimidating than it is.

I use Adobe Lightroom ($12/month) on my Samsung Tab A8. It’s simpler than it looks — mostly sliders. My three go-to adjustments:

1. Auto — one tap that adjusts exposure, contrast, and color balance
2. Dehaze — removes atmospheric haze. Your camera picks up more of it than your eye does because of shutter speed
3. Vignette — darkens the edges slightly, drawing focus to the center. It just gives the image that extra punch

Storage

Once you’re shooting regularly, photos accumulate fast. You’ll need to figure out your storage strategy, and I won’t lie — keeping everything organized, searchable, and backed up is an ongoing challenge.

I have 350 GB on Amazon Photos. If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you already have unlimited photo storage included — it’s worth using. I also have 115 GB in Adobe Lightroom, which is where my last two years of edited work lives.

A few things worth knowing about getting your photos back out:

• Amazon Photos allows a full bulk download of everything you’ve stored there.
• Adobe Lightroom has a downloader for your original files, but exporting full-resolution rendered images requires working in batches through their apps — it’s manageable, just not instant.

You may also want a physical hard drive to download to. Cloud services are convenient, but having a local backup gives you peace of mind and doesn’t depend on a subscription.

There are other services that may work just as well for your needs. The important thing is to pick a system early and stick with it — the longer you wait, the more photos you’ll have to wrangle.

My Gear

• Samsung Galaxy S21 — everyday carry, surprisingly capable
• Nikon D3300 (DSLR) — my main camera
  • 18–55 mm lens (most shots)
  • 55–210 mm lens (great for zooming in on mountains)
  • 50 mm prime (wide aperture — I reach for this for long exposure, night scenes, and northern lights)
• Canon EOS R100 (Mirrorless) — light and portable
  • 18–45 mm lens (most shots)
  • 55–210 mm lens (zoom)

The Nikon gets the most use. The Canon is my “take it hiking” camera when weight matters. For secondhand gear, KEH.com is where I’d start — great selection and you can actually talk to someone who knows cameras. That said, the best camera is the one you have with you — don’t let gear research keep you from getting outside and shooting.