Today's photographers need a wide variety of skills.
Photographers work in a number of different industries, so the skills they need can vary somewhat. This is also a field that is changing due to advancement in computer technology, so photographers can benefit from staying abreast of the latest technology. And there are some basic skills that all photographers need.
Eye for Color and Composition
Anyone can take a photograph, but it takes someone with talent and a sense of what makes a pleasing picture to be a photographer. This is both a learned skill and an innate sense; some of it can be learned, but it helps if the photographer has some natural talent in this area.
Darkroom Skills
While many photographers today use digital cameras, it is useful to have experience taking photos using film and developing that film. When developing film and making prints in the darkroom, the photographer has many options to improve or change the look of a photo that are not open to him with digital photography or when another develops the film.
Technology Skills
A photographer needs an understanding of cameras, both still and video, and a knowledge of various types of film and lenses. Because so much photography these days is digital, a photographer also needs computer skills, especially image editing and graphic arts skills.
Attention to Detail
A photographer may take many photos of a single subject with very little difference between them. She needs to be able to differentiate between them and pick the best one. She needs an eye for picking just the right flower to focus on out of the dozens in the field of view. There are many ways an attention to detail can serve a photographer.
Other Skills
There are many types of photographers, and each type needs some skills that suit that sub-category of the overall career of photography. A self-employed photographer running his own business needs business skills. A portrait photographer would benefit from people skills, allowing him to put people at ease so they photograph well. A news photographer should have some writing and reporting skills. A photographer that specializes in a specific industry such as fashion needs an eye for photographs that will work well for marketing purposes and should also have a knowledge of the industry in which he works.
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