If you are a photographer, you should work on improving your skills every day even if you have already achieved good results in this sphere. Reading photography books, communicating in photo forums and taking photography classes can be good practice, but these activities will not help you learn how to efficiently manage your photography equipment.
The same as sportsmen lose their physical strength and shape if they do not exercise enough, photographers lose their expertise if they use their camera only once a year on holidays. Such ‘photographers’ stop developing their photographic skills and the ability to see potential photos around themselves.
Pictures Around Us
Do exercise in photography regularly, as often as you watch TV, which means everyday. Forget long preparations. Do not prepare yourself for the whole week to take a camera on the weekend. You should constantly train your eye. Even if you might not have a camera with you, use your eyes as a lens focusing on potentially interesting shots. Just stop and think what mode you would choose in your cam, what aperture you’d set. It is a good exercise to develop your own photographic taste.
An experienced photographer knows that the best subjects to shoot and best photography situations can be found in our everyday life – at home, on the way to work, etc. You just need to stop and notice them. And of course have a camera with you.
Always have your camera with you. Many aspiring photographers do not take their cameras to work and miss lots of great opportunities to take a good photo. And in most cases we can’t come back, because the moment has gone and we will never see the same subject in the same situation. BUT if you always have a camera with you, you are ready any time to shoot.
Lunch time – photographer’s timeYou should understand one thing. You can always do photography, no matter where and how you work. Either you are a driver, a white collar, a builder or an engineer, it is possible to find time for one or two shots a day. Lunch is an ideal time for your photography exercises.
Lunch Photography Technique
- Take your camera and choose an interesting subject to shoot. Take a few photos with your ordinary lenses.
- The next day shoot the same subject with different lenses and settings and from different angles till you get everything from it.
- Be creative. Shoot a reflection in the puddle, mystique shadows, office stationary, things outside, geographical figures, lines, or people around you (in the latter case, pls, be careful not be too intrusive).
Do photography everyday for a few minutes (for a few photos at least), and your learning process will go 20 times faster. You will feel your camera and your eye will notice more and more outstanding in ordinary things. Do not wait for a weekend or a special event to take your camera.
