As far as I’m concerned, photography is a life skill like swimming or driving. You don’t have to be someone who makes a living from photography for it to benefit your life, everyone takes and keeps pictures throughout their lives and the sharper your skills, the better visual memories you will be able to capture! So, here are five of my best tips for becoming a better photographer no matter what your current skill level!
- Practice, Practice, Practice! Take as many photos as you can, whenever you can. Practice makes perfect!
- Review your own work frequently, and note which methods, times of day, setting on your camera, etc gave you the best images. This is truly the only way you will learn as your progress with photography.
- Study and critique the photography of others. Go on Flickr and search through images, figure out what elements stand out to you in great photographs and the style of photographs you like the most. This will help you develop your own person style and help you to create more compelling images.
- Learn to engage your subjects. A lot of times whenever you are meeting with a professional photographer, they often ask a lot of questions when they are photographing their subjects. This helps the subjects relax and get engaged with the photographer, which always makes for better photos. Obviously, you will do different things to engage different subjects, you wouldn’t treat an adult the same way you would treat a child or even a pet if you wanted to engage them.
- Continue to research and learn. Photography is such a wide subject and there are always new techniques and photographers out there for you to learn about, so if you get stuck or you don’t like a certain style of photography that you find yourself in, dive into the online community, find some new inspiration and get a fresh perspective on your craft!
A great way for your to hone your photography skills would also be for you to jump in and participate in my current Instagram Photo Challenge #CharmedGTD! Don’t worry if you missed the first few days, just pick up with today and get started working on your photography skills while also inspiring productivity in your own life!
xoxo,
Thanks. Your first tip applies to every photographer no matter what their skill level for sure.
I am from an era before DSLRs and camera phones. For me, as I try to hone my skills in the newer technologies, two things have remained the same: understanding lighting and depth of field. I am sure there are many YouTube videos out there to help explain those but I like your tips as you express the important points clearly and in non-technical jargon. 😉
Thank you so much Heather!
I’ve absolutely been loving the Instagram photo challenge! It’s probably the only photo challenge I’ve done that I’ve been interested in browsing everyone else’s submissions.
Connie | Sponsored by Coffee | Bloglovin’
That is so amazing to hear Connie! I love scrolling through the #CharmedGTD feed at the end of the day and seeing what everyone was up to, its amazing!
I have a DSLR that I have stopped lugging around because my cell phone take good pics. Is there a smaller pocket camera that you recommend? I feel like I would take more pictures and better pictures if I had a smaller camera. I also feel like it would be easier and less distracting to get my camera out than my phone.