I am going to share 5 ways to improve your photography. Improving your photography will always be a goal shoot after shoot. Over time you will see your skills develop and improve over a course of several months. Below are ways to jumpstart your journey on improving your skills.
1. Know your camera in and out
Have you explored all the settings of your camera? If not stop right here and get acquainted with your camera. Knowing how to properly set your camera for different scenarios will help with improving your photography. Take time out to shoot in manual mode and master it. This is where you have full control of your camera settings. Play around with different shutter speeds and aperture to see what you get.
When I first received my DSLR camera, I was shooting in auto. This led to inconsistent images and the desirable results I was looking for were not achieved. I did some research and studied the ins and out of my camera. I came across an article about shooting in manual mode. I took what I have learned and kept shooting in manual mode. Fast forward to now, I mainly shoot in manual mode.
2. Pay attention to light
Go out and try shooting in different light conditions such as sunrise, during broad daylight, overcast, and sunset. Some photographers like to mainly shoot during sunrise and sunset. Those conditions are most favorable due to even lighting and the glow it often produces. But sometimes, there are situations where you will shoot in harsh light such as broad daylight. Paying attention to the light and knowing the best way to shoot in any light condition through practice will put you ahead of the game.
3. Take a photography workshop
Never stop learning. Are there local photography workshops in your area or is there a photographer hosting a workshop near you? There is always something new to learn in the field of photography. I have talked to professional photographers with over 10 years in the field and they have mentioned recently new things they have learned. If there are no in person workshop, I suggest taking one online. There are numerous online materials to sign up for and some are actually FREE. A learning site that I use is Udemy. Udemy is full of online learning material at a low cost. Want to join or check it out? Click here.
4. Start a personal project
Challenge yourself to take a picture every day for a consistent number of days. There are many challenges you can find such as 30-day photo challenges or just make up one that interests you. My first photo challenge was nature/landscapes. Doing this challenge showed me what I could approve on and also showed my progress from day 1 to day 30.
5. Try different compositions
Compositions are framing your scene to draw a viewer to the subject of the image. Shoot low, shoot from an angle, or try shooting through objects. Composing great compositions makes the image strong and visually pleasing. Start by using leading lines that draw your attention to the subject. Also, utilizing interest foreground in your images. Make sure to avoid or remove distractions when composing.
Thank you for reading this blog post and I hope you find some of these tips useful. Feel free to share and pin this to your pinterest board. If you know anyone that would benefit from these tips, share this with them.