A few minutes with ...

I’m going to go all Andy Rooney on you here for a minute and talk about something that bugs me regarding the photo advice I see on the interwebs. People who really should know better use the phrase, “Practice, practice, practice.” I find the phrase wrong, wrong, wrong.

Why? Because the phrase doesn’t tell you what or how to practice. If all you know is how to take pictures that are poorly composed, badly exposed (and that should be disposed), then practicing only cements your bad habits into place, and compounds your frustration. Been there, done that.

Try this instead. Work on just one thing at a time, then practice the heck out of it. For instance, early on in my photography I made up my mind that I was going to master exposure. But not just any exposure, I wanted to own exposure of early morning landscape shots. So I got up early. A lot. I went out and took photos of sunrises and the stuff the sunrise shone on until I could get a good exposure with good details in the highlights and shadows nearly every time (this was in the days of film, so it was a long process. Digital photography allows instant feedback so you can adjust in real time, not days and weeks, as I had to endure).

Then I moved to late afternoon/evening shots and practiced the heck out of those. Then nighttime shots. Then indoor shots. Get the idea? Get good at one thing, then add to it as you go. It makes practice meaningful and you see incremental progress faster.

Want a place to start practicing? Then either click on Basics, Composition or Exposure in the blog tags below to see all posts on Ready, Aim, Click that pertain to those subjects.

Then get practicing.

Photographing water on the move

Take your shots of creeks, waterfalls and surf to a higher level by slowing down your exposure time. Digicamhelp, a web site for digital photography beginners (and beyond) is featuring an article I wrote that gives tips on how to get that misty, dreamy quality in your water shots. Check it out.