Years ago Eric Kim wrote his 100 photo tips with his last being: ‘write your own list’. So here is my list of 50 photo tips (unlike him, I ran out at 50):
- Not everyone will love all your photos.
- Always shoot in RAW
- Always shoot in manual. Except when you can’t.
- Don’t be afraid to bump up your ISO. Modern digital cameras are amazing.
- Prime lenses will help you learn to become a better photographer
- 35mm (on a full frame camera) is the ultimate walk around lens
- An 85mm lens is the ultimate portrait lens
- An 85mm lens is an amazing street lens for the less confident shooter
- Wide lenses are ‘easier’ to start with for street photography than zoom lenses
- Using ‘crop’ mode on a full frame gets an extra lens length for a loss in quality. 35mm = 52mm, 85mm = 128mm. Nice.
- Thinktank’s grippy neck-straps are amazing when paired with peak design anchors and anchor links.
- Only show your best photos
- Neck straps have their purpose, hand straps are essential.
- Use the histogram feature of your camera
- Street photography sharpens your skills
- A great photo makes real life look just slightly better than it looks through your eyes
- Filters on your photos are ok. In fact they can help make a photo great.
- UV filters are a must. Saves the glass on your lens.
- Don’t explain your photos. You can title them.
- Be happy to take 100 photos to get 1 good one.
- Change the angle you take pictures from: crouch, find an elevated position etc.
- Candid beats posed pictures
- Use (and if necessary abuse) your camera equipment. Don’t wrap it in cotton wool.
- There is no perfect equipment. Just take pictures with whatever you have.
- Don’t take your ‘big camera’ to parties or other places you it would make you look like a berk
- Taking pictures of strangers is exhilarating
- Make photographs, don’t take photographs
- Travel and photography go together brilliantly
- Try walking part of your commute to/from work but with a camera in your hand
- Countryside landscape shots get boring quickly, architectural or city landscapes don’t
- Prime lenses rule
- Keep as many digital copies of your photos as possible. Three is good!
- Your phone camera is an amazing camera. Use it more.
- Black gaffer tape is your friend. Easy to hide your camera/lens logos - especially when travelling.
- Underexposed generally beats over-exposed.
- Grain is good.
- Straight pictures are great.
- Noisy photos beat blurry photos
- No level of amazing equipment will make up for practice, skill and luck!
- Natural light is so much better than studio lighting.
- Better lenses don’t make for better pictures.
- Have confidence when you are interacting with photo subjects
- Don’t be afraid to explain the exact pose you want when shooting a portrait
- Find your own style
- Keep taking photos
- Zoom lenses are versatile but make you lazy compared to prime lenses
- So your lens can manage f/1. That doesn’t mean you have to shoot wide open all the time.
- Spend more time shooting and less time organising your photos
- Make sure you have a good photo organising workflow or you won’t enjoy your processing your photos.
- Find a way to look at your best photos regularly: photo-books, digital album on your TV, share libraries on your phone, websites etc.
- Be part of an online forum or social platoform that cares about the photography. fotoapp.co works for me and reminds it’s users that a photographer is any person that takes photos.
- Critique your own and others’ photos and be kind when doing so
- Get hold of some photo-books by famous photographers
- Don’t spend more time with your photo-books than taking photos!
- Thanks to phones, everyone is a photographer so expect amaxing photos everywhere you look
- Write and/or update your own list