Ways to Improve the Way You Do Photography

There are many resources out there to learn and improve the way you do photography.  Websites, books, courses, guidelines, rules, tips, tutorials, your name it, there out there and they are a good source of information.  All this information is useless if you do not apply it and know what to do with it.  In this article I want to share with you what has helped me improve and become a better photographer.

First of all get to know your camera.  Your camera is your most important photography tool and if you do not know how and where to find the different settings that all those resources talk about then you will not learn how to use it.  Learn where everything is, how to change the settings, and what the numbers in your camera mean, what to press and when to press it.  The camera will not do the job for you if you do not manage it.  So make the camera work for you, become its best friend, treat it right and take care of it.  When you know your camera you will be on your way to improving the way you do photography.

You cannot take shot after shot in auto mode and expect great results.  Learn new things.  Try new things.  Experiment with new settings and new guidelines that you read about in all the resources mentioned above.  As you progress and try new things you will be learning and improving the way you do photography.  In photography there is always something new to learn, when you do – try it out.  Trying new things will take you to the next step and will also make you curious about learning more photography techniques.

One other step in your learning process is to shoot, shoot and shoot more.  The more you shoot the more proficient you get at it.  The more you shoot the more you learn about your camera, its settings and different techniques.  Reading a book will make you learn something new, but if you do not practice it and experiment with it, soon you will forget it.  Spend time capturing images of the same object over and over again from different angles and with different settings.  After every photo shoot, go over your photos, see what you like, what causes an impression on you or others.  Review what you did to get to those results and then practice even more with those same settings.

In any activity you do in life, before getting better at it your need to work hard on it.  Why would photography be different?  Figure out what you need to improve at, do some research and work on it.  It is very good if you write a list of things that you do not feel confident about.  When you have your list, concentrate on one item at a time.  Spend time practicing, go over your results, doing research and learning from it so that you can improve your photography.  When you think you have reach the results you wanted, scratch it out and go to the next item on your list.  Practice makes perfect.

In the digital age of photography it is very easy to take many pictures of the same subject, review them and delete the ones you do not like.  Hold on and do not do that immediately.  Take a good look at the images that you do not like, analyze them and figure out what it is that you do not like about them.  If you find things that repeat themselves over and over again then it is time to add them to your list.

Another great way to improve your photography is to give yourself homework.  Challenge yourself, set deadlines and go out and make sure you practice more and work only on the topic that you assigned yourself.  Define what you need to work on, set a topic and work only on it.

Another important point is to learn to receive feedback and positive criticism of your work.  Let other photographers tell you what they think about your art.  Either find photographers that are willing to tell you what they like or dislike about your images or simply post your images on the Internet and let people tell you what they think.  There are some specialized websites that will criticize your photography and will give you tips to improve the work you are showcasing.  Photographers are also doing the same thing as you so do not get feedback only from them, ask around, friends, family, co-workers, and others, ask what they think you will be surprise about their answers, but it will certainly help you improve.

Photography takes time and dedication.  If you really want to improve, and not necessarily to become a professional photographer, do not give up, practice and learn.  You will improve the way to capture images.

Rule of Thirds

Photography is an art, its goal is to capture, produce and preserve images that paint a picture, tell a story or record an event.  Photography creates emotions and the first impression depends on the composition balance of the image.  There are several composition rules that are important in the process of creating images with out them the photograph will be left without expression. 

Photographers have to learn to apply these rules.  They also have to learn how to take advantage of them to enhance the images being captured.  Last but not least they also have to know and understand when to break them, rules are meant to be broken, specially, in photography.

The ‘Rule of Thirds’ is probably the most spoken rule in photography and the first one taught in any photography course or school.  The rule of thirds is a very effective technique in photography but it can also produce very interesting shots when it is broken.  Following the rule of thirds will keep your image in balance and help the focal points to capture the attention of the viewer.

The rule of thirds can simply be explained as the act of dividing your viewfinder into thirds, both horizontally and vertically.  The grid will end up with two vertical lines and two horizontal lines, spaced 1/3 of each other, that will give you 9 equal boxes and four crossing points, a tic-tac-toe matrix. 

When composing your image you should consider placing your points of interest in the crossing points of the lines and using the four lines as guides to position other elements in your photograph.  By placing your points of interest in the crossing points and along the lines your image will be balanced.  A viewer will tend to look at a photograph in those intersection points more than the middle of the image. 

Horizons should be placed on the top or bottom horizontal lines, depending on the focus you want to give to the sky or the ground.  An image with a horizon placed right in the center of the photo will normally produce dull photos without attraction.  Your main subjects should be placed in one of the intersections and other subjects should be placed in the other intersections.  Placing your main object in one of the intersections and placing it in one of the vertical lines will certainly produce interesting and balanced shots.

The rule of thirds has been used not only in photography as early as 1797 for landscape paintings.   The rule of thirds can be used as little or as much as you want, you decide when you want to use it or when you need to use it.

The most important thing about the rule of thirds is that it is a guideline to balance your images; instead of 1/3^rd you can use 1/4^th or 1/5^th, etc., as long as the image as a whole is in balance.  Remember to stay away from the center or in other words to not place your main subject in the middle of the photograph.

The Most Important Photography Tip

There are many composition tips recommended by photographers, books, courses, workshops, blogs, etc.  Everyone talks about them and they are certainly important and basic to create images that are not boring and that have a WOW factor.  We also mention them in our blog and in our Photo-Tip-of-the-Day simply because they are important and secondly because the more you hear about them you will eventually learn how to apply them.

Composition rules are basic guides that tell you how an image will go from dull to exciting.  Rules are also meant to be broken, but you have to learn why and when to do so.  Some of the composition rules are even difficult to understand, you need a scientific mind to do so and I will not go into those.  For me photography is an art so why complicate it even more. 

Photographers already have to deal with color, light, contrast, detail, depth-of-field, modes and many other technicalities.  At the end of the day you might be able to learn and apply all the tips and techniques but your images might still not be the ones that win photo contests, that get published, that get exhibit or that simply make you sigh.

The most important tip that hardly anyone talks about is ‘Train Your Eye’.  The eye of a photographer is his or her most important tool.  Train your eyes to see light and you are on your way to creating awesome images.  Train your eyes to differentiate 2D from 3D and your pictures will suddenly have volume.  Teach them what is contrast and they will identify detail.  You will create amazing images as long as your eyes make decisions on what to include in your photograph and what to eliminate, the choice of angles and light.

First tip to training your eyes – look at a scene, close your eyes and open them again.  Does the scene cause the same effect as when you first saw it, in other words, did you sigh after re-opening your eyes.  If you did maybe you have a great shot in hand.  Go for walks and practice framing in your mind different scenes, open and close your eyes.  When you are able to look at a scene and continue to be amazed you will have trained your eyes to actually see great shots.

Our eyes see the world in 3-D, photos are a piece of paper in 2-D.  What sometimes feels like an excellent shot when printed it turns out to be a photo without interest.  Train your eye, go for walks, frame your scene and then close one of your eyes.  If the composition looses spark and now looks chaotic, then you do not have a good image, if you still sigh, see detail and perspective then you have a great shot. 

Now squint with the open eye, suddenly contrast and detail will seem more obvious and things will pop out.  If they do, you still have a great shot if they don’t then you are missing shadows and details.  The more you exercise your eyes the more you will train them to see a great image.

Cameras have certain advantages and certain disadvantages compared to your eyes.  Use them.  Cameras can focus and see details that your naked eye will not see, so train your eyes by closing and squinting.  Your camera will frame your subject and block the rest, your eyes won’t, train them to do so.  Your camera only sees with one eye and your camera cannot read the balance between highlights and shadows.  Train your eyes to see changes and different light angles.  Walk again early morning and late afternoon and see how light goes through the leafs of the trees, how it reflects on water and on windows, move around, go up, go down and train your eye to see how light changes as you move around.

Train your eye to frame as your camera does.  Take another walk but know with a frame made out of carton and pick your scenes.  Soon your eye will be trained as your camera to see what the frame allows you too and block the rest.  Practice a lot using this simple and cheap tool.  Your frame can be a small 1” x 1/5” cut on a 5 x 7 photo paper or as large as a 4” x 6” on an 8 x 10 photo paper, as long as you can see your composition and block the rest.

Train your eyes to see color.  Walk around pick a color and focus on it.  Walk some more and you will see that color popping out.  Continue walking and focus on a different color, suddenly you will now see this other color.  Practice makes perfect.

Train your eye and capture amazing breathtaking images.