103 Things Every Photographer Should Know

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.”

I pondered that quote from Henry Ford as I put together this list. Over the past few weeks I’ve jotted down some general things that photographers should know. While there’s always room to nitpick over details with this sort of thing, I think this is a pretty broad representation that crosses most genres of photography and isn’t too gear-specific.

1. What is shutter speed, and how does it affect a photo?
2. What is an aperture, and how does it affect a photo?
3. What is ISO, and how does it affect a photo?
4. How do the above three things interact?
5. What’s the difference between a JPG and RAW capture?
6. Where will a viewer’s eye naturally go in a photograph?
7. What is dynamic range?
8. What is “noise” in a digital image?
9. What is a Creative Commons license?
10. What is the downside to using a flash on-camera?
11. How do you copyright a photograph?
12. What can you do if someone infringes on your copyright?
13. What is a gobo and why would you use one?
14. What are broad light and short light?
15. What is a ND filter and why would you use one?
16. What is EXIF data?
17. How does back button focus work?
18. How does the sync speed of a flash matter?
19. How can you trigger a camera remotely?
20. How can you trigger off-camera flash?
21. How do you read a histogram?
22. How can you create a double exposure?
23. Why would you want multiple memory cards in a digital camera?
24. Why would you use a diopter?
25. What’s the difference between optical and digital zoom?
26. What is a megapixel and why does it matter?
27. What does a diffuser do?
28. What are some technical factors that can affect the mood of an image?
29. How do you hold and move a camera for a “panning” photo?
30. Explain RGB vs. CMYK and why you’d care.
31. How does lens selection affect the appearance of a portrait?
32. What is lossy vs. lossless compression?
33. What are some considerations when making photographs at night?
34. What is HDR imagery?
35. How do you make a panoramic photo?
36. What must you consider when using a fisheye lens?
37. What is a prime lens?
38. Why might you consider a tripod vs. a monopod vs. hand-holding your camera for a given image?
39. What’s the difference between selling images royalty-free vs. rights managed?
40. How does the print media affect how one might prepare an image for printing?
41. What’s the difference between front curtain and rear curtain shutter?
42. What is a HEIF image?
43. What is negative space?
44. When making a portrait, what should be in focus?
45. How might you recover data from a memory card that isn’t being recognized by your computer?
46. How does sensor size impact a digital image capture?
47. What is the “golden ratio”?
48. What influences whether your camera should be above or below a portrait subject’s face?
49. How do you use focus points?
50. How does image stitching work?
51. How can you change the effective color temperature of a light source?
52. What is lens flare?
53. What’s the difference between black-and-white and monochrome photography?
54. What does “full frame” mean with respect to sensor size?
55. How do you choose the appropriate type of tripod head?
56. What is a “kicker” light used for?
57. How do you safely clean a lens?
58. Why would you use a tilt-shift lens?
59. How can you add geolocation data to your digital images?
60. Why would you use the different-colored surfaces of a collapsable reflector?
61. Just how do you collapse a collapsable reflector?
62. What does “work made for hire” mean in a photography contract?
63. What’s the difference between deleting images from a memory card and formatting the card?
64. What is “bounce flash”?
65. How do you safely clean a camera sensor?
66. How do you create a time lapse series of images?
67. How can you deal with multiple light sources with different color temperatures?
68. What is hyperfocal distance?
69. How do you avoid blown highlights?
70. What are some ways to make a light “softer”?
71. What is a model release and when do you need one?
72. What is burst mode?
73. What is focus stacking?
74. How can you guide a viewer’s eye through an image?
75. How does a quick release plate work?
76. What is mirror lockup on a DSLR used for?
77. What does it mean to “feather” the light in an image?
78. How can you reduce red-eye in photos?
79. What determines the shape of the bokeh?
80. How do you back up your photos?
81. How do you safely clean a camera sensor?
82. What are some common portrait lighting patterns?
83. What are leading lines?
84. Why would you want to update the firmware on your digital camera?
85. What does it mean if a photo contest is a “rights grab”?
86. What is a sensor “crop factor”?
87. How does a softbox work?
88. How does vignetting occur?
89. What is “soft proofing” and why would you do it?
90. What is fill flash?
91. What is a moiré pattern and what do you do about it?
92. How does a polarizer change a photo?
93. What is light painting?
94. What are compression “artifacts” and how do you avoid them?
95. How does color temperature affect an image?
96. Why might you want more (or less) depth of field?
97. How do you shoot with a custom white balance?
98. What is a light meter used for?
99. How might you stabilize your camera without a tripod?
100. Why might you intentionally move a camera during an image capture?
101. How does the time of day affect outdoor photos?
102. What is a “TFP” photo arrangement?
103. What are diptychs and triptychs?

I bet that almost anyone has a couple things on this list where they feel they might not be strong, and it’s always good to learn and grow (and of the things photographers should know, we also know that sometimes we need to practice and re-learn our past experiences).

A few of my favorite online photo learning resources¹:

• Various photo courses on demand from CreativeLive
• Subscriptions for ongoing video course access from KelbyOne

header image by Andrew Goodall, used under Creative Commons license

1. Some of these are affiliate partners and I’ll get a small commission if you sign up through these links. ↩