Ways To Improve Your Photography

10 Ways To Improve Your Photography

Last Updated on August 1, 2021 by PixelPluck

Photography is an art where you continuously learn by doing. The more you shoot the better you become. Here is a collection of tips you can go out and try today to improve your photography and develop your creative vision. Here are a collection of 10 ways to improve your Photography.

1. Learn the basics

Learn the basics, if you haven’t already. Basics of photography involve how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO work together. Learn the art of composition, which is essentially placing a subject within the frame of a photograph. Lighting is the most important aspect of photography. Experimenting with light will give you unique perspectives.

2. Simplify Things

Keep your photos as simple as possible. Spend a month shooting with just one lens. The usefulness of this should be apparent: you’ll be forced to be more creative and effective with your composition skills. This doesn’t mean you have to use just one lens forever. Forcing yourself to shoot with just one lens for variable situations will improve your creative ability. You will learn to adapt to various dynamic situations. You don’t have to complicate every photoshoot with multiple lenses and camera bodies. If it’s not a professional photo shoot then consider using just one or two lenses. Get creative with lighting.

3. Take Your Camera Everywhere

With a camera in your pocket or bag, you’ll find yourself looking for opportunities to use it, and when you start looking at the world in that way you’ll start to see it differently. Modern mirrorless cameras can easily fit in your pocket. Remember that your phone is not a substitute for your camera. A phone can never do what a dedicated camera is capable of. A mirrorless like Nikon Z6 or Sony Alpha a6600 can be easily carried in a small bag along with prime lenses. A DSLR is bulky and will need a dedicated DSLR camera bag to carry around.

4. Change Genres

All good photographers have their specialty, whether street, portrait, landscape, or wildlife photography. Each genre comes with its challenges, and conquering challenges represent an increase in skill and knowledge, both of which make for better photographers. Furthermore, you will find it easier to experiment, as the skills you acquire in one genre may influence another. A good wildlife photographer can also be a good sports and action photographer.

5. Refine Your Vision

Photography is all about the ability to see things creatively. Choose an everyday household object — it could be absolutely anything. Take at least 10 different photos of this item from different angles, under different lighting conditions, using different focal lengths. Pick a new item once a day or once a week, it doesn’t matter; the aim is to find the uniqueness in the ordinary. No longer will you be content to see things as they are on the surface, you will learn to recognize intriguing colors, shapes, patterns, movements, and shadows. It will change your perspective and the way you visualize. Read this article about developing creative vision.

Ways To Improve Your Photography
Improving Photography

6. Get up close

Get as close to your subject as you can. Use your feet, and use your zoom lens (if you have one) to fine-tune your composition. Get rid of anything that doesn’t give some important context to understand your photo fully.

7. Shoot RAW

If you want the best images, you need to ensure you are taking them at the highest quality. Compact digital cameras and smartphones tend to use the JPEG picture format to save space and optimize performance. If your camera has the option to use RAW or TIFF, then use it, as these formats, unlike JPEG, are lossless, so you won’t lose any picture information. Read more about JPEG vs RAW here.

8. Image editing

You only really need to learn a few basic tools, such as the Crop, Levels, curves, color balance tools to adjust the light balance in your picture. If you start using image editing more than shooting then you are doing it wrong. Photography should be more about the camera and your capability with it than using software to get desired results.

9. Study the art

Study the art of photography and the work of others, particularly the “masters.” Learn what it is about their work that makes it so good. It isn’t about copying them but incorporating their tried-and-true techniques into your style. Read inspirational photography books to understand the thought process of famous photographers.

10. Practice, Experiment, and Learn

There is no substitute to practice. The more you practice the more you discover and learn. Learning by doing is the best way to improve photography skills and vision. Every time you photograph you learn something new. It’s never the same moment. Capturing a moment in time is special power and use it creatively with utmost dedication. Be your own critique and ask yourself critical questions to improve photography.

Every tip here will help you improve your photography in some way or another. If you don’t have a DSLR or mirrorless camera then don’t wait for one and start shooting using your phone camera. Just the act of starting to shoot photographs will open up new creative horizons and overcome limitations.

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