One of the learning methods that I have always recommended to beginner photographers who want to learn how to shoot manually is the 7×7 method. The other day I realized that I had never mentioned this method publicly here on the blog.
By now everyone knows that, in photography, you don’t have to just read tips and accumulate theory without further ado. True learning only begins the moment you put your hand on the camera. The problem is that the concept of practicing is very vague, very abstract. The beginning photographer knows that he must practice, but how much ..? What..? up to what point…?
I present to you the 7×7 Method
I decided to call it that for simplicity, I think it’s easier to remember with a number than by calling it any other way.
This method is mainly conceived for people who are starting out in SLR photography for the first time, and above all, for those who want to enter the fascinating world of photography in manual mode.
The manual mode has its theory and its rules that you should know, but from there, how do you transform that theory and those steps into photos? How do you get to that level of learning where you can take photos in manual mode almost unconsciously, practically without giving much thought to each setting and each element of the configuration?
That’s where the 7×7 method comes in. What does it consist of?
The idea of this method is that you take your newly released SLR camera, place the mode dial on M (in «Manual» mode), and dedicate yourself to practicing 7 photographs, daily, for 7 uninterrupted days.
It is not about taking 7 shots, but about practicing 7 photographic themes. Perhaps you will spend a while photographing your pet as the first photograph, and there you will be taking several photos, experimenting with the manual mode settings and trying various shots. Later you go to a second photographic theme, and so on until you have 7 different photographic themes.
The next day again manual mode, and 7 photographic themes. And yes, you can repeat any of the themes from previous days if necessary.
Why does the 7×7 Method work?
As you can see, the main premise of the method is practice. The human being has always been able to improve his abilities with practice. In all areas of life (work, sports, art, etc.) those who have gone the furthest are the ones who have dedicated the most time to practicing their passion. With photography it was not going to be different.
But as I said at the beginning, the idea of practicing can sound somewhat “abstract”. The 7×7 Method gives it body and shape. When you follow this method, you know what you have to do, how many times you have to do it, and for how long. It is much easier to move forward when you have something concrete to walk towards.
Other benefits of the 7×7 Method
In addition to giving you a specific direction in which to move forward, this method allows you to work on other facets such as persistence. It is common for a person to buy a reflex equipment with the intention of starting in photography, and two days later they leave their camera abandoned because they feel overwhelmed or lost. With the 7×7 Method you take a run and before you know it, you are already taking flight. It is evident that, after the initial 7 days, you can still end up leaving the photograph if you want, but at least it will not be a hasty decision generated by the initial stress.
Another advantage of this method is that it forces you in some way to vary your photographic theme. A common mistake that I find in beginner photographers is that they go out, with the camera just unpacked, they walk down the street, camera in hand, looking around to see if they can think of something to photograph. Complete improvisation. No sir, that’s not how it should be.
Naturally there is nothing wrong with doing improvised photography, but at the beginning you need to learn and for that it is essential to have a previously defined thematic variety. You can’t subordinate everything to a “I’ll see what comes to my mind when I go out on the street», because in that case you shoot a couple of photos of a flower and a portrait stolen from a passer-by, and from there you begin to run out of ideas. With the 7×7 Method, you sit down beforehand to write down the 7 photographs with which you would like to return home. So you have no loss.
More advantages? Yes. The 7×7 Method gives you visibility on your progress. Thanks to this method you can have a history with your photographs corresponding to each of your first 7 days with the camera. After a few days, you will be able to look back and review your results, to see in a tangible way the progress you are making.
Other considerations
The 7×7 Method is not a magic pill. His philosophy is to “learn by doing”, but for it to work you need to know a minimum amount of “theory”. You need to have heard, even from afar, about the basic principles of photography in manual mode (which we explain in countless articles here on the blog, or in the book The Magic of Photographing in Manual Mode). You need to know the three main settings that all DSLR photography revolves around (if you’re new, trust me, you only need to know those 3 settings, the rest is cake). Here is a simple explanation of one of these 3 settings:
In other words, if you’ve ever picked up a SLR camera, if you know nothing but nothing, absolutely nothing about photography in manual mode, you shouldn’t get up one day, grab the camera and start practicing the 7×7 Method. You need that minimum dose of previous knowledge that I mentioned. Believe me, it is a hyper-small dose, two or three concepts that you must take into account and you would be ready to start practicing with the 7 × 7 Method.
Note: If you still lack that dose, perhaps our book Your First Steps in SLR Photography is a good starting point. If you are already a VIP Reader, you will be interested in taking a look at the book The Magic of Photographing in Manual Mode.
After the initial 7 days, you will always have the contents of the Photographer’s Blog to continue advancing and growing as a photographer. So I hope to see you with us around here for a long time.
Happy photography.