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Technical Skills versus Composition
Now that I've spent the past several weeks discussing exposure, I thought it was an appropriate time to put things into context. In a recent discussion, the question came up as to whether exposure and other technical skills or composition were more important for an aspiring beginner to concentrate on learning.
The bottom line answer of course is that both are important to get good images.
If I had to pick one or the other for a beginner to focus on though, it would have to be composition. Modern cameras can "sort of" do the exposure thing for you, at least up to a certain level but nothing can "auto compose" for you. It is very important that a beginner be able to see progress and experience a degree of satisfaction from their efforts. Otherwise, if photography is made too "academic" and structured they may well give up on photography. Developing composition skills can motivate an aspiring photographer to learn about exposure, but it is less likely that the reverse would be true.
So, if the past few weeks' tips made only partial sense to you, come back and read them later, but for the time being, take pictures that you enjoy taking. It is only by doing so that you can find that most essential of ingredients to being successful at photography: your own drive to do the best you can.
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