Setting goals will improve your photography



It is usually customary for many of us to set new goals when the years turn over. One of the best things that one can do with improving their skills as a photographer would be to set specific experience goals for themselves. For myself, that will be in the form of another 52-week project which I hope to continually share on this site. A photo a week for a year? I think I can do that. Either way, there are lots of ideas out there. Here are a few for you to perhaps try out:

1. Black and white project: photograph things only in black and white. Your camera should have a monochrome setting in the menu that would allow you to shoot the shot and preview the photos in black and white. This will both challenge you and allow your eye to notice more basic compositional elements.

2. Themed project: Pick a them. Whether it be a color, a shape, a location, etc. Then photograph that theme as much as you can. Look for it wherever you are. Go exploring and try to focus on just that theme. Give yourself a time limit of some sort and then change it up. Soon you will have a great group of shots for which to evaluate your progress and learning as you go.

3. Photo-a-day/Photo-a-week: These can be very challenging. I've attempted both the daily and weekly challenges but have never been successful at completing them. They take lots of dedication and sometimes you end up with really poor photos. On the upside, you will learn to master your camera, and that by itself is worth the challenge. Here's a link to the 52-week challenge that I'll be attempting this year: https://dogwood.photography/52weekchallenge2019

4. Try limiting yourself: try to not zoom your camera at all. Set it to wide angle and photograph everything that way. Then, on another day, zoom your lens all the way out and photograph everything that way. Try to do a series using only the manual focus on your lens. These limitations will force you to think differently and more intentionally to how you shoot. A very good practice to accelerating your skills.


Popular posts from this blog

What Camera Should I Buy?

Image
Photographer: Al Jurina  Reader Q&A "What camera should I buy?" This is like asking what car one should buy. Sadly, there is no simple answer. Because we are all different in our needs, our camera choice might not be meeting those needs. In the end, it is about compromise. Some cameras simply cannot give you the features you want without spending the money for them. This post will give you two recommendations, but they do not come cheap. They are cameras that can do pretty much everything in their respective category, so they can cover a broad range of options for the photographer who wants to learn and/or does. Here goes: Point-and-shoot : These are cameras that do not have interchangeable lenses. They are smaller than SLR cameras, but sometimes suffer from shutter lag or other poorer low-light performance. They typically shoot decent video as well as stills and some of them have zoom ranges that would cost you thousands of dollars in lenses on an SLR. H...
Read more

Control How Your Camera Views Light

Image
Cameras don't see light the way we do. In fact, they see significantly less of a range of light and darks than we do. Because of this, they can sometimes be fooled. However, despite their limitations, understanding the different ways in which they measure light can help any photographer improve upon the results. But to do this, we need to understand something called "metering". Metering is the way that your camera evaluates the scene and responds with the appropriate settings. For instance, if you point the camera at a bright sky, it's going to give you different settings or tell you the light is different, than if you point it at a dark grove of trees. Because not all scenes are created equal, camera manufacturers have invented things called "Metering Modes". Thankfully, these are pretty common among all cameras. Let's look at 3 of the most popular modes. 1. Matrix or Evaluative metering: this kind of metering is the default setting on most ca...
Read more

Inspirational Portrait and Wedding Photographer: Jeff Newsom

Image
I don't quite remember how I stumbled upon this guy's work, but Jeff Newsom is one of my favorite wedding and lifestyle photographers out there today. Maybe it's because he stands out as someone who is constantly creating something original and inspiring. If you follow his blog enough, you will notice that he likes to drop in humorous comments and thoughts here and there. In any case, he's blessed with amazing talent and vision for creating original images and ideas. Check out his portfolio here: http://www.jeffnewsom.com/  
Read more