In recent years, creative philosophers have commented on the act of creative work being about removing the bad to find the good. Every iteration of your work removes one more poor performance and puts you closer to the good ones.
This shift in perspective has been necessary as more leisure time has allowed more people to pursue creative ventures as a hobby. The differences between hobbyists and professionals are now about practice. Skillset wins out over talent or early success.
For those looking to increase their photography skills, these words have added to their dedication. Especially for those looking to be part of the $11 billion that passes through the photography industry each year.
The following tips provide a three-pronged approach to improvement. Improving a skill doesn't start or stop with just taking photos. Read on to fast track results and understand the how as much as the what.
Developing Photography Skills
Building a skill set requires a practitioner to see their current work at its current value. As Ambros Bierce would point out, a critic is simply a person unwilling to see for tomorrow what their work is today.
To develop skills in photography you need to look at the world and your work through a lens. The first lens is the philosophy of your craft. Then you take a hard look at the equipment you sue.
Finally, you get into practicing the tricks that separate the newbie from the veteran. A critical eye and a background in practice are critical skills for using photography in places such as influencer marketing.
Philosophy
Why do you do what you do? What do other photographers see that you don't? What are the basic theories and how do you leverage them for your own purposes?
All of these questions relate to the philosophy of photography and in some ways the ideas of human perception. Starting with a strong engagement to answer these questions gives you a vector that will drive you in developing your skills.
Consider the eventual outlet and audience for your shots as well. Need some ideas on those options? Check out some of our ideas here.
Perspective
The perspective a photographer takes changes what they see. This can be metaphorical and literal. We'll talk about the literal first.
Start by checking out galleries and portfolios from other photographers. Ask yourself questions about what they chose to frame and what they left out. Also, ask yourself where you think they were in relation to the subject.
This is the mixing of the literal and metaphorical. Taking a shot from below a subject or above it can provide a new looking. Understanding the emotive effects of a lower shot, an off-angle shot, or a high angle shot will do the rest.
Color
Speaking of emotive work, color also brings the literal and metaphorical together. Take a lot of shots of the same color. Learn what you feel about the resulting photos.
Check out some articles on color theory and the reasons why we like some colors in some things and hate them in other places. Know what colors go together and which ones don't work and why.
This way you can choose an emotion to go with the subjects as much as the perspective. This kind of background thought gives depth and meaning to your work.
Framing
The final aspect of theory meets reality is found in framing. What draws the eye in a photo? How does the brain scan for information and where do you place your subjects to capitalize on these tendencies?
What you choose to frame in conjunction with a subject is sometimes a matter what is in the background but it is still part of your choice.
Mentally cropping and framing the world is part of the process before you look through the viewfinder. Considering what you will frame opens the door for all of the tips you will see in the Techniques section.
You need to know what you want before you can decide the best way to capture it.
Golden Ratio
Finally, learn the golden ratio. This is an important concept in art, science, and human perception.
You have probably heard it mentioned before and seen drawings of a nautilus shell or a human ear. The purpose of the ratio that Fibonacci describes is about simplicity of form.
Simple photography relies on conveying the most information efficiently. Too much artifice and too many details obscure intent.
Equipment
Now that you have built up your intentions behind your photography, it is time to find the equipment that assists you in bringing your vision to life. While a good photographer can produce amazing shots on their philosophy and vision alone, the gear makes doing so worlds easier.
Camera
The right camera impacts the shots you take. You might be thinking, buying a new camera is how to get better at photography? Not exactly.
Plenty of professional photographers started out with stories about an old camera found in a box that they played with endlessly. Some build their careers on using old technology to produce astounding works.
In both of these cases, it is not about a new camera, it is about the right camera.
Find the camera that works for you and unlocks your potential. Now you have developed a philosophy of what shots you want to take and why. So, ask yourself, "Will my current camera get me there?"
If so, move on. If not, get what you need and don't handicap yourself.
One underlooked element in the modern day is the type of film. While chemical photography is fading away and digital photography offers more options, there is still a nostalgia for the older ways.
A chemical photographer can benefit from having a digital camera around to take test shots and do proof-of-concept work.
Likewise, working with a chemical setup can teach a digital photographer things about making adjustments for light and tone.
Tripod
Using a tripod changes shots for the better. Not all shots need to be done with a tripod, but some advanced techniques find them essential.
Working with a tripod enables you to take control of the exposure. Changes to the depth of field and saturation become more difficult without a tripod. Any long exposure can become muddled by small movements.
A tripod is also a way to adjust your perspective for shots without forcing you to control to get them. Again, the physicality of holding the camera at just the right position can distort your end product.
Another advantage of using a tripod is in the formulation and choosing of a shot. When carrying a camera at the ready (which you should do) you can catch sudden and extemporaneous moments. A tripod requires a planned shot with a given area.
This consideration of what you want produces a different type of shot. Consider going back and forth between these types of shots in the same area to see how your impulse brain and planning brain work differently.
Lenses
Invest in a variety of lenses to maximize your work. When you look to improve photography, letting the equipment do a portion of the job gives you more mental energy to plan your shots. Lenses offer a variety of ways to change the depth of field and focal length.
You can compensate in some ways for a lack of lenses with technique or after-shot digital editing. Like everything else in the equipment section, the idea is to have the right tool for the job.
Techniques
With the right equipment and the proper mindset in place, you now need the raw ability to get your vision onto the film.
Techniques take practice to master and you should expect to repeat and repeat your work with these. That is how you improve photography, by doing it until you do it well without losing the moment.
Saturation
Few things frustrate a photographer quite like planning out an amazing shot, carefully snapping the shutter, and then seeing the end result is a washed out mess.
If you have ever wondered why we seem to be so attracted to black and white photography, it is because of the saturation. The clear contrast between elements in black and white photos provide the viewer with a definite sense of what is there.
Even outside of the mood and emotive nature of colors, improper saturation causes us to see too little by seeing too much.
Improve your photography by adjusting the hue-saturation and finding ways to make the image crips.
This helps you to highlight the important elements and downplay the rest. The control of saturation also helps in smoothing out intense depth of field and creating a pleasant contrast.
If you work with blur and motion photography, you need to adjust the hue/saturation. This prevents the subject you want to highlight from seeming grainy or pasted in. Especially in a world where the emotional difference between a photo that looks doctored can cause the viewer to disconnect.
Exposure
Photographers know that exposure is the single most difficult technique to master. It helps that controlling exposure is a combination of 3 different skills that get lumped together: shutter, aperture, and ISO.
Even veterans find it handy to keep around an exposure triangle card for reference. Memorizing all the values isn't necessary. Many photographers play a bit by feel, which is fine, but knowing the interplay between the elements is key.
Controlling the amount of light, the shutter speed, and the light sensitivity all change the image.
High apertures give sharper foreground focus. Meanwhile, low apertures give good distance and background.
A fast shutter speed captures a moment in time. A slow shutter speed can show a range of motion and add blur.
Low light sensitivity works well in bright light and controlled conditions. For night photography a high sensitivity allows images to be captured that otherwise need a flash. The trade-off comes from the grain of the image with high sensitive images becoming gritty.
Choosing the composition of an image relies heavily on what you know how to do. Swinging for the fence, as it were, is likely to result in an image where nothing can be seen in the fashion you wanted.
By mastering these elements, you can make changes quickly to take multiple shots of a subject that may benefit from a range of tones and effects.
Filters
Get comfortable working with filters to change an image. Much like hue/saturation, a filter can adjust what is seen. Some easy to use filters allow better contrast or adjust the grain appearance without adjusting the grain quality.
If you strive to change the sharpness of one image in relation to others, a filter can get you there faster than changes to the exposure. Filters bring in a lot of subtle tools, so knowing what they do to a final image is important.
This is a place where you need to focus on what has changed about an image and not what you think about an image.
Flash
Working without a flash can be a big hurdle for a photographer. The flash provides an easy-to-use source of light for taking shots in different light conditions and knowing what to expect from the result. The problem is, this creates only one type of image.
Even worse, that kind of image tends to be static with washed out colors and imprecise depth of field. Working without a flash gives you more control over every element of the shot.
Lighting is important and needs to be judged and controlled. There is nothing wrong with using a flash or outside light source when needed. It is more about knowing the reason and making the choice.
Do What You Love
Practice, practice, practice but practice with intent. Hopefully, you have gained some insight into how to apply your time wisely.
The difference between a talent professional and a hard-working photographer is how quickly they were able to improve. The plateau is the same regardless of the journey.
Speaking of journeys, you should learn more about us and why we want to help you. We have a passion for fashion and travel. Two things that always need photography skills to share with the world.