When you first start out in photography, there is SO much to learn, so much information being thrown at you, and so much to discover that you can feel like you’re being pulled in twenty different directions at the same time!

And even after you have been shooting for a while, there can still be a question about what the following steps should be, and how to get your photos onto the NEXT level.

Photographers never truly stop learning or trying something new, so in some ways you are always on a learning pathway (there isn’t a finish line as such!) but what areas need your attention after you have mastered the basics?

Over the years, I’ve considered this a LOT, and have a learning pathway that I want to share with you.

How to learn photography with this complete guide to your photography learning path , from beginner to advanced photographer.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t prescriptive, and you definitely don’t have to follow this exactly, but the following can serve as a guide as to what to focus on first if you’re a beginner, or where to go next if you’re more experienced.

It can also give you a clue about why you’re not making much progress - for example, if you haven’t yet marked most of the items off on Stage 1 and are looking at learning things in Stage 3, then you can see there’s a bit of a disconnect 😉

Everything in photography connects, which is why I think it’s REALLY important to have structure to your learning path, so you’re layering on the knowledge in a logical progression, rather than randomly learning things from here and there!

One final point - you also might never want to move along the stages, because you are happy at one and don’t feel the need to progress. Just as not everyone needs to be black belt at karate, not everyone needs to be a complete master of photography! You may decide to stop after Stage One or Stage Two, and that’s totally and utterly fine - you should only ever do what makes you happy :)

OK, with that little caveat out of the way, let’s get on down to the nitty gritty: our learning path from beginner to masterful pro!

THE FOUR AREAS TO LEARN…

You can broadly say there are FOUR main areas to learn in photography:

Camera / Technical Aspects
Editing / Post Production
Light
Composition.

These four do tend to overlap - you can’t learn about camera exposure without learning a little bit about light for example, and you can’t capture light effectively without knowing your camera. But for most part, we can divide them up that way, and use that as our learning pathway.

However, there is ONE more element over and above that four - at that is your SUBJECT.

For the purposes of this guide, I’m leaving that out, because I want it to be more general.

But for example, in newborn photography, in addition to the items below, you would have to learn swaddling / newborn wrapping, or for wedding photography, you’d want to learn poses. In other words, this is a GENERAL learning path, and you’ll need to supplement this with bits and bobs if you want to become a master in one specialist area.

Ready? Let’s dive in!

STAGE ONE: THE CAMERA & TECHNICAL BASICS

The first part of photography is all about learning your tools, as without knowing how to control and operate your camera, you simply won’t be able to capture a scene the way you want to.

This is the foundation on which every single thing you learn from here on out is built, so it is absolutely fundamental in becoming a photographer.

In this stage, you want to gradually stop using all the AUTO functions of your camera (and here’s why if you want to learn more!) so that you are taking control of each element yourself.

Here are some of the important elements you should be learning here, in roughly the order you should learn them:

Key Skills for Stage One

Focal Length & Basic Camera Terms
Where all the buttons and dials are located on your camera
The Exposure Triangle
ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed
Metering
Shooting in Manual Mode
Focusing Modes & Focusing Techniques
White Balance & Correct Colour
Shooting in RAW or JPEG
Simple Lighting Situations
Simple Composition Guides

You’ll see that I’ve included some lighting and composition here, because you’ll want to learn about light so you can learn how your camera captures it (it’s all connected!!) and you’ll want a few composition tricks up your sleeve here too, just so you can start getting good images by the end of stage one!

If you want to download a blueprint that will help you understand all you need to learn here in stage one, and in what order, be sure to download our FREE 90 Day Photography Learning Blueprint.

It’s a complete roadmap for you to follow that shows you exactly what you need learn to get great photos, and has links to further reading in each one. This little PDF is worth its weight in gold, so go grab it now (you’ll kick yourself in about a week if you don’t!)

By the end of this stage you should be reasonably confident shooting in manual mode, have a solid understanding of all the key elements of exposure and what affects them, getting sharp images most of the time, and be able to take really good in camera pictures using decent light and composition.

Want a step by step guide that walks you through ALL of this (and more!) Then check out my Auto to Awesome program!

STAGE TWO: EDITING

The OTHER side of a great image is in the post processing (also called editing or post production)

This has always been the case, even back in the days of film, when photographers would dodge and burn their images, or use different toners to get different effects. The tools they used then were more limited to be sure, but make no mistake, there has ALWAYS been post production, and there always will be.

Now, of course, with digital photography, we have waaaaay more tools at our disposal, which is not only incredibly fun, but it allows us to be even more creative and artistic.

How much or how little editing you do here depends on you, but there is no way around editing your images - ALL cameras shoot in RAW, so they need to be “processed” in some way - the only question is whether you do it, or you leave the camera to do it. It really is that simple. (If you want to learn why you need to edit your photos, be sure to give this a read!)

So don’t go thinking to yourself you can skip this part because you want your photos to look “natural” - you can keep it to a minimum for sure, but there still needs to be some done on RAW files.

Again, most pro photographers will want control of this process, because it is just as important as what you do in camera.

In fact, once you get a bit more advanced, you will be thinking about how you can edit a particular scene when you take it, so in time, it also becomes part of you shooting process, and you have this beautiful symbiotic relationship.

Key Skills for Stage Two:

Getting a system in place for transferring your images from your memory card for long term storage
Creating a photo management workflow for culling, rating and managing your images
Carrying out a “Clean” Edit (What I like to call the Perfect Negative)
Enhancing the mood of your images with colour toning or black and white conversions
Making targeting adjustments such as dodge and burn, or applying a vignette
Portrait enhancements (only if you are a portrait photographer naturally!)
Saving your images for output so they good on the web or in print
Pixel Adjustments such as removing items from the frame, swapping heads, extending the canvas, liquifying…
Creative adjustments such as replacing the sky, advanced colour toning….and so on and so on.

Please note these skills can be learnt on ANY editing software.

The software matters, but more importantly, so does the intent behind the edit.

In order to edit your photos effectively, you need to learn both the SKILL of editing (in other words, how to look at your image and assess which edits to make) and then HOW to use the tools in your chosen software to apply that skill.

If that seems confusing, this of it this way - when you learn about how aperture works and affects the look of your photo, it doesn’t matter whether you shoot Nikon, Canon or Sony, the SKILL is the same. But you do also need to learn how to control Aperture on your chosen camera model. It’s kinda the same with editing!

Now, although you can use any software you choose, it makes sense to get one that can do everything you need it to do, now and in the future, and best to get one that you can “grow” into so you don’t waste time learning one program, just to have to learn a whole other program 12 months down the line.

My personal preference and strong recommendation is to get the Photography Plan from Adobe, where you’ll use Lightroom Classic as your main image organisation tool and RAW file editor, and then Photoshop for when you are ready to do the more advanced stuff. At $10 a month, it’s really cost effective as well, as you never have to buy upgrades etc, and the cost is nicely spread out. You can use Lightroom CC if you want to edit on the go too, so you have everything you need in one nice little package :)

(If you’re wondering about the differences between the Photography programs, give this a read!)

Again, we have a number of courses that helps with this - my Get Organized Like A Pro in Lightroom Classic, Edit Like A Pro in Lightroom Classic and the Magic of Photoshop program. Check them both if you need help with managing and editing your photos!

STAGE THREE: LIGHT

At this point, you should be in complete control of your camera, and be able to edit them effectively in the RAW editor of your choice, such as Lightroom, and ideally, be able to do some advanced editing in Photoshop. (You can keep learning more advanced editing as you go through the next stages!)

In fact, overall, you should be pretty darn happy with your images! For some of you, you might just want to stay here, and that’s perfectly fine.

Buuuuuut maybe right now you’re getting the feeling that you want to go further, learn more, and take your images to that magical next level. You’re getting images that a year ago you would have killed for, but now, they just don’t seem as special as some of the photos from your fave photographers.

So what is the most important element you need to learn now?

LIGHT.

Light is, without doubt, THE most important element in photography. Photographers are literally "writers of light", so there is NOTHING as critical to creating compelling images as being able to use light and shadow effectively.

So to get more advanced, you need to fine tune your understanding of light so you can get more creative images, be able to affect the mood with light, get better portraits, and shoot in any lighting conditions.

Key Skills for Stage Three:

A solid understanding of the key characteristics of light, so you can identify and assess the light, anywhere.
The “science” of light, such as the Inverse Square Law & the laws of reflection
How to use additive and subtractive light
Lighting situations such as low and high angle light, uplight, downlight, colour casts, dappled light etc
Manipulating the light such as changing light quality, funneling, or using different patterns and styles
Get more advanced with backlight, by manipulating lens flare, haze, using rim light, light pockets, atmospheric elements and advanced silhouettes
Using unconventional light sources
Match the light to the mood your want to convey
Using unconventional light sources or flash light.

Once you learn how to truly “see” light, I promise you will never look at the world in the same way again!

And why, yes, we have a course that helps with this stage called Mastering Natural Light and you can find it here.

STAGE FOUR: COMPOSITION

Now you’re cooking! You’re in control of your camera, you can beautifully edit your images, and you feel inspired to try out the different types of light you see all around you.

This is when you can start to experiment with more advanced composition tools and guides. You already have some basics down (probably back in Stage One) where you learnt things like the Rule of Thirds, Framing & Leading Lines. Now you can build on those skills and learn new guides, but also consider other elements of the image, such as the effect of colour.

Key Skills for Stage Four:

Consider the impact of lens choices (beyond how near or how far your subject is!)
Advanced composition guides such as the Fibonacci Spiral, Golden Ratio or Golden Triangle
Repetition, balance and rhythm
Layering elements for depth
Employ Chromatic Contrast or Chromatic Association
Consider the psychological effects of color
Incorporate and emphasise texture
Aaaaand so on.

At this point, you’ll feel more creative, and be inspired to keep trying new things, because you’ve reached the fun part of photography where you can focus just on being creative :)

Let’s make this actionable!

WOW! Did that seem like a lot? That’s because it is :)

But that’s what makes photography such a fascinating hobby, because you there is always more to learn, and even when you have learnt it all, there are untold combinations of light and composition to try, as well as untold subjects and genres!

As you know, a goal without a plan is just a wish, so I would recommend identifying roughly where you are in this guide - Stage 1, 2, 3 or 4 - and then decide how you are going to navigate to the next step (assuming you want to go to that next stage)

If you want help with it, then I have programs that correspond to the learning path laid out above - there’s Auto to Awesome for learning your camera and the must-know technical aspects, along with how to use simple lighting and composition, my Get Organized Like A Pro in Lightroom Classic and Edit Like A Pro in Lightroom Classic will teach you how to manage and edit your photos, then the Magic of Photoshop will teach you that more advanced editing.

Then, when you are ready to take your photos to the next level again (and assuming you want to!) then we have the Mastering Natural Light course which goes deeper into using and manipulating light to take your photos to the next level!

Over to you!

Please, please, please remember that even if this all seems a bit overwhelming right now, just take it one step at a time.

Walt Disney said “You don’t have the see the whole staircase, you just need to see the next step” and that is what I would encourage you to do. Focus only on the next step, then the one after that, and the one after that, and before you know it, you’ll be dangling your legs off the banister at the top :)

If you are still on Stage One, then don’t forget to download my 90 Day Photography Learning Blueprint, and get everything mapped out for you, plus links to further resources and tutorials. Go grab it here! (I did mention it’s free, right?!)

I promise, if you make a commitment to keep growing and learning and surrounding yourself with people who lift you up, there’s nothing you can’t achieve!

Got questions? Let me know below and I’ll be along to help you out :)

KEEP ON READIN'