Tina hosts this week challenge (here’s a link to Tina’s original post) with this brief – ‘Show me some of the things you’ve learned about photography or any subject you choose.’ That throws me straight in to this image which I took last week….
It’s Ladybirds (Ladybugs) feeding on Aphids on a Cotoneaster bush. I only came home with this image because I’d taken my camera out with me, on a local dog walk, where we were going to forage some Blackberries. I thought I’d put the macro lens on the XT-5 and perhaps take some images of the blackberries or bugs on them. It was simply a case of having the camera with me, even for short local walks, and it’s paid off for me so many times.
I don’t always carry a Fujifilm camera as they can be heavy and cumbersome with larger lenses, like the 80mm macro I used here. Quite often I carry my Sony RX100 which I can easily put in a pocket. Since I’ve started blogging I use my iphone camera more then I ever did but with stock images in mind, I need the larger files of the Fujifilm or Sony. Here’s a few more examples of images taken close to home.
I’ve attended several different photography courses over the years including portrait photography courses, wedding photography courses and a stock image photography course. Here’s a blog on my day with Damien Lovegrove and his portrait photography course. I also started out down the digital route by undertaking an Open University introduction to digital photography course.
All the courses were good but I didn’t leave any of them thinking I was now accomplished in any of the genres. I took away a few nuggets of information or advice from my learning days and all of them were an enjoyable experience. The Open Uni course was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed that. All my photography now stems from that course back in 2007.
One other tip I would pass on is I’m always looking at others images. When I started out I could flick through images in Flickr Explore for hours. I still do that to a certain extent in Instagram, within genres I’m interested in. It’s no bad thing to get inspiration from other photographers.
I study a lot of food images for different lighting and shot angles for my shots. Before any holiday I check out stock image sites to search out photo locations for where we’re visiting. That’s not just for photography though. I think one of the best things about my photography hobby is the places it’s taken me and the people I’ve met.
On the subject of inspiration from others, I’ve just finished reading John Robbs book about the band Oasis – Live Forever. It’s interesting that most of the photography for their album covers and singles were inspired by other photographs, other album artwork or works of art. The few covers that started out as original ideas often incorporated other works of art.
Thank you to Tina for hosting the challenge this week. I’m looking forward to reading and learning from everyone else’s advice and tips.
All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.
Steve Hyde 
Loved your post Stephen, beautiful images and lots of interest information. Especially drawn to the puffin image (of course!) and also the little robot 😉. The ladybugs are fantastic. Funny story of an opposite nature. I was out biking this morning and when I got home my husband told me a huge bird (based on his description either a hawk or an eagle, we have both) flew smack into our window and then flew to our back deck railing . It was being harassed by some small birds (probably stole one of their eggs). Had I been home I’d definitely have captured it with my ever-present iPhone, alas I have only his description instead.
Thank you Tina. Those Puffins are tiny but very tame, you can get really close to them. There were people on the island with camera long lenses worth thousands of pounds but I could have coped easily with a 100mm lens. If your bird story had happened here I’d have been running around the house like crazy trying to get a camera up and ready before the bird flew away. That highlights another quandary, I sometimes worry so much about getting a picture that I miss the moment and just enjoy that.
Great post. Looking through images of other photographers is a very useful tool for learning. 😊
Thank you Pepper 🙂
Are you still active on Flickr. I tried it years ago but gave up on it. I still use it to follow some people I know. I also spend a lot of time browing the work of others.
Hi Randy. I still have a free Flickr account but never use it. I keep it because I like browsing through my collection of favourites I have on there.
This is really a terrific post, Steve. I also find that looking at other photographer’s work can be very helpful.
Thank you Egidio 🙂
Great post Steve, you seem to have worked out a lot of stuff and done cornes when you needed too. Learning is great.
Thank you Leanne. I still find it easy to cock things up !!
Don’t we all.
Hi Steve
We really like the busker and the Tesco and Waitrose trucks.
Thanks for sharingThe Fab Four of Cley:-) 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you Klausbernd 🙂
My backup camera is also a Sony RX100-V. Which version do you have? I use it for those times when I want to be less conspicuous, though truth be told, using a cellphone camera is the most inconspicuous. They are everywhere. >grin<
Hi john. I have the MKVI. I bought it second hand for about half the retail price new. It’s brilliant for those times you want to be less conspicuous. I used it a lot in Marrakech where they can be very iffy about cameras. I didn’t have any problems with the RX100 there but as soon as I had my Fujifilm camera on me I kept having ladies holding handbags in front of their faces and people waving their fingers to say no to photographing a scene with them in.
Cool post, Steve. Other photographer’s work is indeed a great way to learn, and I’ve been thinking of stock photography because of your work 🙂
I would definately look into it if I were you. You work would sell. I saw some Turkey Tail Fungi on your front page. I’ve sold shots of that and I saw, in the Alamy forum, that another contirbutor had sold similar images of the same fungi to a national newspaper last week. Here’s a link to a blog I wrote in relation to my stock image story – Here It can be a long slow process and the rewards are not as great as they used to be but it gives me a good reason to take images I wouldn’t otherwise take and suppports my hobby financially (a little bit). Contact me if you want to know more. I’d be more than happy to pass on any advice I can 🙂
Thank you so much, Steve. I just read your post and found it very enlightening. It’s research time for me, I think.
loved that first shot Steve. multiple subjects, beautiful colors, you can’t ask for anything more! Mike
Thank you Michael 🙂
Beautiful images! The puffin is so adorable!!! I love using Flickr to look at images and settings, that is how I taught myself photography years ago, and by switching to manual focus!
Absolutely love the Piano photo, an ingenuous way to move the Piano. I play a little but maybe if I level up a bit I can do some busking too 😂
Great post, Steve, as always interesting and enlightening!