5 Ways To Hone Your Photography skills

What 5 things can you do to hone your photography skills? I’ve compiled some of my best tips that I’ll share with you. You’ll learn how to get great pictures with your mobile phone, point & shoot or advanced compact camera. Nothing I’ll be sharing with you is difficult or complicated. It’s not knowing about them, but instead, doing them that will make the difference. The 5 things are:

Learning
Preparation
Persistence
Patience
Practice

Learning

• From your mistakes
• From your successes
• “Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.”
• From others
• Never, ever, ever, ever stop learning … ever.

Preparation

• Have your batteries fully charged (both your camera and you)
• Have your memory cards completely empty
• Clean your lens
• Bring gear you’ll need for the shoot. (tripod, external flash, extra batteries, extra memory cards) Tip: you don’t have to carry it all with you if you can easily get to the trunk of your car. If not, carry it with you.
• Put it all in your “go” bag the night before so you don’t leave it at home. Better yet, put your go-bag in the trunk of your car so you don’t forget the whole thing.
• Have your camera out and ready to shoot. There are few things more frustrating than missing a one time photo opportunity when it presents itself because your camera was inside a case, inside your backpack, turned off. Instead, have your camera in your hand, turned on with your finger on the shutter button!
• Scout the location. Run reconnaissance if you can. Plan your positions. Where will you need to be to get the best shots? Where will the sunlight be coming from? What will be in the foreground? The background? Which way will they be facing? Scout it, think about it, then get there.

Persistence

• Take another shot.
• Change your composition. Change your angle. Take another shot.
• Get low. Get high. Take another shot.
• Get close. Watch your foregrounds. Back up. Watch your backgrounds. Pop the flash this time. Take another shot.
• Pixels are cheap. You can cull your photos down later at home. While you’re here, take another shot.

Patience

• Don’t take the shot. Wait for the defining moment. Is it “the” kiss, the laugh, the frisbee-in-dog’s-mouth? Wait for it … then shoot!
• Take a moment to think: what would really make this an A level image? Patiently recompose the scene. THEN take the shot.
• Don’t give up on the fidgety kid, hyperactive dog or windblown hair.
• Be patient and try again.

Practice

• Perhaps the most important of all. With practice you’ll know when to be persistent and when to be patient. Musicians do it. Actors do it. Athletes do it. They do it every day, not just the important days. They don’t go into a recital, performance or big game and hope that they’ll remember what they need to when the time comes. They practice so that they know they’ll be able to perform when the time comes. They practice relentlessly so that it becomes muscle memory.
• There’s nothing more frustrating than missing a shot and LATER knowing how to get it. You fumbled, because you hadn’t practiced enough to make it a subconscious reflex. You had to think too much when it mattered. You’re frustrated, you didn’t get the shot. Everybody loses.
• Practice your craft and when a situation and opportunity presents itself, your subconscious muscle memory takes over. You’re cool and collected, you get the shot and you’ve created a stunning image. Everybody wins.

One thing you should never do, is rely on equipment and gear alone to solve your problems. You could also get “GAS” (read about that below).

Your Assignment: Learn all you can, be prepared, be both persistent and patient accordingly, then practice, practice and practice some more.