10 SIMPLE WAYS ON HOW TO INSTANTLY IMPROVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

TWO YEARS BACK, I started my photography journey and certainly, I feel proud to be able to make some improvements during this time. I went through ups and down but being persistent and keep trying helped me grow.

Photography is my passion and it’s helping me deal with stressful life. I feel like, I can go out and find peace in nature.

I like to share few things which helped me improve.  

READ MY STORY HOW I WENT FROM MAKING $100 PER MONTH TO BECOME MILLIONAIRE

1. FIND AND FOLLOW MENTOR

YouTube has made it easy for everyone to learn and teach. Find a mentor who creates YouTube video and someone you can easily relate to at a personal level. Your hard work starts when you must put away watching movies on Netflix and start spending hours watching photography tips on YouTube.

@pertermackinnon

I have been following @pertermackinnon for some time and his video and tips are so amazing. I can just watch his videos on YouTube for hours without getting bored. Start with taking 1-2 tips at a time, write them down and try to apply them next time you go for the shot. 

Results

You may not remember all the settings or camera features and sometimes it can be discouraging. We want to see results after watching a couple of videos, you must remember that every skill takes time, it takes a different amount of time for everyone, but persistence is the key here. You will see the progress over time. 

Time-frame

It’s a good idea to set up a Goal with a certain period in mind, I strongly suggest giving yourself at least 6-12 months to really see good improvements.

2. LIGHTROOM (free version for cell phone)

Do yourself big favor, don’t ever post any pictures on Instagram or other social media without doing editing and adding filters, every good and professional photographer use tool to edit their pictures.

People with some extra cash pay for high-end and very sophisticated software like Adobe Photoshop but we can easily start with the free version of LIGHTROOM which does the job perfectly.

Tips

• Start with AUTO option to have base ready to make further changes
• Learn to play with colors.
• Use Clarity option under Effects and Sharpening under Detail section to improve picture quality.

3. PHOTOGRAPHER BUDDY

I strongly recommend having a photographer buddy or someone enjoys going out to take pictures with you can take you a long way. It’s similar concept to GYM buddy and you keep each other motivating.

How it helps

• Suggestions – He\She will give you different prospective and angles ideas.
• Comparing Results – You both take different shots at same place and its good learning experience to compare the results and improve together.
• Behind the scene video – He\She can take shots or video of you while you are doing shoot to create behind the scene pictures or video.
• Fun – It’s fun to be with other people.  It’s great to have multiple people to do drone shots.

4. PRIME LENS – FOR BLUR BACKGROUND PICTURES

I was stuck with iPhone photography for long time because I was never happy with pictures which I used to take with standard lens came with my Nikon D5300. I was surprised how people on Instagram can take amazing pictures with Bokeh effects (Blur Background) and It never worked for me with standard lens.

YouTube helped me to find out that Prime lens what I need and it’s not very expense (In the range of $250).

AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G

Why wait then, right? I bought AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G and I never used iPhone to take any pictures since then.

Are you looking to make drastic to change to your photography, then all you need is to buy PRIME LENS. If you really want to take one recommendation from this blog, then it must be PRIME LENS.

5. FIND YOUR NICHE  

I started photography around 2 years back and that time, I just wanted to take pictures of Street art around Montreal, then I just started taking pictures of random things like bicycles, people walking. I was trying all the different things all over.

Eventually, I realized that I really like NATURE photography. You can check out on Instagram and you will see that lot of people are into very specific photography like Sunrise, Sunset, Birds, Trees, Mountains, Flowers, Portraits.

It’s important to find your Niche and try to stick with that to get specific people to follow you and connect with you and you will find more people will be interest in your work.

Follow your niche photographers on Instagram

Once you know your Niche, you should find at least 5 Influencers on Instagram from your Niche to understand –

• What other people are doing?
• Where they are going to take their pictures?
• How they are taking different shots and What is working for them?

6. POST ON INSTAGRAM DAILY

Your Instagram followers gives you instant response for what’s good or bad.

I have pictures which I thought were not even worth sharing on Instagram has done much better than the one I personally thought were good. Sometimes, we get stuck in our own head and go with our personal choices which may not be right all the time.

Two good things happen while sharing Daily on Instagram (Apart from adding more followers)

• We receive feedback right away and we want to improve.
• It motivates to get better pictures next time.

Tips

• I had habit of keeping my best pictures for the last which of course is not the right thing to do. You must share your best pictures first.
• I keep all the pictures which I am planning to share under Favorite category and I randomly picks one each day to share and I remove that picture from Favorite category right away after sharing.
• I keep around 50 pictures stock under Favorites from which I can choose to share on Instagram.

7. CREATE MULTIPLE EDITS OF THE SAME PICTURE AND ASK PEOPLE TO COMMENT ON INSTAGRAM TO CHOOSE BEST ONE

How you would know which color scheme works best? You just ask people.

I have tried and tested this method on Instagram, and it works like wonders. This is also one of the methods can be used to increase your engagement on Instagram. I never thought people will respond to this, but I get over 100 comments on single post compare to average of 15-20 comments. I don’t try to do this too much though, just occasionally.

Normal I just caption it like – “WHICH ONE DO YOU LIKE – 1 or 2?”

Two main reason to create multiple Edits

• You improve your editing skills by knowing how you can edit same picture in many ways.
• You can learn from response to figure out what works better.

8. TAKE LOT OF PICTURES

I used to take one shot of every subject and expected it to be perfect. But we don’t get to go back to shooting site again and again. I had lot of disappointments when something I thought to be perfect, but it was missing something. It’s better to take as many as shots possible considering data storage is not expensive anymore.

Tips

• Distance – Take shot of subject from different distance, find at least 3 different distance level.
• Angle – Take shot of subject from different angle – straight, side and below.
• 500 – Take at least 500 pictures during every shot.
• Through another object – Shot the subject by including other objects in your shot, like a tree, through a tree, through bush.
• Water Reflection – Look for reflections when ever you see water near your subject.

9. SHOT AT RIGHT TIME AND PAY ATTENTION TO LIGHT

LIGHT, LIGHT and LIGHT, it’s as simple as that.

It takes some efforts; you may have to get up early or stay later to get that perfect lighting. Photography is art and you are an artist; you must find that perfect moments during day which gives you perfect lighting to shot.

We see perfect sunset, sun light hitting the trees, early morning fog through sun light. It’s that right time and perfect light you are looking for.

Tips

• Making sure no shadows on Subject, especially your own shadows.
• Some of the Sunrise or Sunset pictures comes at the beginning or completely at the end. You want to be there 30 mins before and 30 mins after the Sunset and Sunrise.
• Avoid shot at late evening when there is no sun.
• Nature shots after rain are just amazing, be ready to go out after rainfall.
• You want to get early to hit the parks or forest to get that fog and sun light hitting the trees.
• Avoid shot during very cloudy day or very sunny day.
• City is empty during early morning hours, which is really the best time to shot. You want to be there around 5-6 am.
• I take lot of pictures during morning time (before noon). It’s the best light.

10. RULE OF THIRD

I had a habit of shooting everything in the middle and I am still trying to improve on this. Rule of third, idea here is to divide the image evenly into thirds, both horizontally and vertically and place the subject at the intersection of divided lines.

Cropping

Most of the Editing tools including smart phones shows horizontal and Vertical lines to make cropping easier. So, it has become so easier to learn it using the cropping while you are editing your pictures.

Auto Pilot

You will start making compositions eventually after editing so many pictures. It’s all about practicing and putting your mind on autopilot to start taking shots using Rule of third. It’s like driving the car, we don’t have to think about many decisions we make, things happen automatically as our mind is trained to do that. You can achieve same for your photography as well.

AT THE END, I like to talk little bit about TRIPOD, you want to start using Tripod as early as possible to get used carrying it around. I find it bit inconvenient to carry around my Tripod with me. I am still not used to having to go through so many setting before taking each shot. In coming few months, I am setting GOAL for me to start working with Tripod.

Good Luck!

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