1.Shooting in the Same Orientation
It's very easy with a DSLR to shoot landscape and a mobile to shoot portrait but try and change this. Take a shot of a scene in both orientations to give you greater variety when it comes to editing.
2. Not Understanding Focus Properly
Well, this is going to sound very stupid [so please forgive me] but when I first started photography I thought manual focus was the only option to get photos that had depth of field with the foreground in sharp focus and the background blurry. It wasn’t until months later that the word aperture sprung up and relieved me of all past humiliation.
Aside from this, there were times when the area of focus was slightly off and the camera was juggling between the focus on the background and foreground. To stop this from happening I used focus points to tell the camera where the subject of my photo was.
To clear things up there are three main focus modes that you need to know, for now, there is more, but these are the essentials:
One-Shot Auto- Focus
Probably the most used focus mode for relatively still subjects. By simply half-pressing the shutter you can focus recompose which is perfect for model shoots when you need to get their eyes in precise focus.
Continuous Focus
Does what it says on the tin. This method continually tracks focus from your initial point of focus. Obviously, this is used when the subject is moving at speed such as sports, animals and transport.
Manual Focus
This is the method that I now know to stay away from for the most part. This method involves manually turning the focus ring until your subject is in sharp focus. The problem is both the subject and the camera have to be incredibly still as any slight movement will mean focus is lost. Its predominantly used for still life and landscape photography.
3. Believing the Screen
What I mean by this is that the saturation and clarity of your photos on the screen of your camera isn’t necessarily what the image will look like when you transfer it onto a computer. What you should instead be considering is the light meter, to see if your image is properly exposed and your histogram to ensure there isn’t any clipping [overexposed highlights or shadows].
For an essential glossary of more photography terms like clipping, check out my previous blog post.
4. Buying loads of Different Filters that I don’t use
When I started photography I thought the equipment was everything. So I bought a lighting setup, a flash, a glass ball, filters, lenses without ever truly finding a genre of photography that I like. Currently, apart from one other lens, I don't use any other equipment other than my Sony A6000. My best advice would be don't rush into buying anything and everything, consider what photos you want to take and don't spend big instantly see if you actually enjoy photography first.
5. Overediting
It's easy to jump into Photoshop or Lightroom see all the toggles and menus and move them vigorously right or left, see a drastic change and stick with it. The consequence of this is that it looks obvious and it looks super amateurish. Whilst I do sometimes still go overboard with editing I've learned to refrain and instead capture as close to the final image as I can in-camera. When it does come to editing I simply edit my photos in Photoshop using the dodge and burn, levels and curves features only.
I will always recommend two things if you are unsure about whether you have over-edited:
Firstly, compare the edited and the original image and see how the image looks. Have you gone overboard? Maybe nudge that slider down a little.
Secondly, take a break. Come back to the image in an hour with a fresh pair of eyes and see if there are ways to tone down your editing. Sometimes little is more.
6. Why did my Images Always Have a Yellow Colour Cast?
I first got my camera for a GCSE media project and whilst taking a bunch of pictures I noticed that they all had this yellow colour cast to them. It wasn't until months later I actually knew that this was something that I could control quite simply via white balance.
Colour temperature is one of the ways our camera's see the world which is why photos end up coming out yellow. The colour temperature of your light bulbs in your home can either be very yellow or very blue which produces something referred to as a colour cast.
Whilst you have an automatic white balance setting on your camera I would always advise setting this yourself using the pre-determined white balance settings on your camera such as tungsten or incandescent to eliminate these colour casts.
7.Believing I had to Shoot Manual to get Professional Photos
Some situations actually suit assisted modes such as Aperture and Shutter Priority and they're modes that a lot of photographers use. Its there for a reason, so use it. Shooting manual doesn't make you a better or more respected photographer, the images you take do.
8.Leaving my SD Card at home
Possibly the most annoying of the lot. I kept coming home from a day shooting putting my memory card in my computer and leaving it there. It would come to the next time I would shoot, I would go out, find a composition, click the shutter button, only to see the dreaded orange flashing sign in the corner saying No SD Card. No SD Card no photos.
Now before I leave the house I turn my camera on to check the battery as well as take a quick photo to see if the SD card has been inserted.
Clever me aye!
9. Reading too Much and not Shooting Enough
This is a huge change that I have tried to adopt. Instead of reading endless articles about cameras and techniques I'm actually going out and shooting now. By making mistakes this is how you learn. There is plenty of photos on my Instagram that I'm not happy with but I learn each time how they could be better. I do the reading after I've been unsuccessful not before.
10. Holding Camera Properly
This sounds really silly but this is a great little tip I learned whilst at my first photography class. If you have a camera with a strap, hold your camera tight away from your chest to create tension that will help keep your camera super steady.
Sometimes the simple tips are the best.
Hope you enjoyed this weeks post and I hope there are some useful tips in there that you guys can learn from.
Happy Shooting!