While you never stop learning as a photographer, there are some habits you should be engaging with in order to become better at your craft. Photography is an art form, and as with any art, practice makes perfect. Here are seven habits you should be implementing in order to strengthen your foundational skills:
- Practice, practice and practice some more. The only way to get better at photography is to be constantly shooting, so set aside one to three hours a week in your schedule that allows you to do just that.
- Get closer to your subject. This is especially true for street and portrait photography, but it’s a good challenge for every photographer to try. When you are shooting at a distance and zoom in to capture your subject, the scene often looks flat. By physically getting closer instead of relying on a zoom lens, the composition gets more interesting and has more depth. Go out and try this now to see for yourself!
- Get familiar with post-processing. Whether you use Photoshop on your laptop or Snapseed or VSCO on your phone, almost every photo needs some adjustments to it. Get to know the app you’re using and push the envelope with your edits.
- Don’t stop learning new things. Use YouTube or CreativeLive to watch a class on photography. They have so many tutorials on photography, from mastering your compositions to learning studio lighting. Take advantage of these resources.
- Find local photography groups on Facebook or other photography forums and join them. Oftentimes, they provide valuable tips and you can get inspiration from them for your next shoot. Some even have meet-ups where you all go out and shoot together!
- Challenge yourself. Try a new genre of photography the next time you’re out shooting! It helps to experiment with a form you’ve never tried before and then take what you learned and apply it to what you do shoot regularly. Curious about all the types of photography you can get involved in? Take a look at some of them here.
- Network, network, network. Sign up for local portfolio days, reach out to established photographers to pick their mind and get advice, etc. The more people you know, the more you know.
