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How to Improve My Photography

Photography, of the art forms, appeals to me the most. While I enjoy paintings and other forms or art, photography for me is rooted in reality. And from that reality we can show what we see, how we see something, or just how we wish to see something. But it is linked back to the simple fact that something, no matter how small, in the photograph exists. So simply put, I like photography. Glad I cleared that up. Since I like photography, I want to be better at it. While looking at and thinking about my past experiences and images, I tried to find what I felt were my strengths and my shortcomings. The next step is deciding how to improve upon those. From this I identified 3 things I need to do to get better. This article isn’t a general list of things to do to take a great picture. It may not even apply to another person. This is my list, for me. Writing down this list is personal but hopefully can help others recognize areas that they can improve on. 

1.Gear

Ah yes, gear time! I love gear as much as the next guy or gal but acquiring more is not where I identified that I can get better. Yes, I have a Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 on my wedding registry. I am looking to upgrade my editing workstation soon. Yet I realized that in order to get better results with my gear, I need to understand how to get the best results with my gear. In essence, learning. My images will benefit from finding the apertures that work best for my lenses. Leveling my tripod should become muscle memory. Committing to memory the strengths and weaknesses of each piece of kit I own will allow me to use the right gear in order to achieve my end goal. On a beautiful October day, I spent an afternoon hiking and exploring a Tennessee state park. The forest had yet to fully embrace the colors of fall, so I was looking for the one tree that had color. Across the lake I noticed a small tree, isolated by color and sunlight. I knew it was a composition I had visualized in my mind, but I also knew it was very far and required the use of a telephoto lens. Well one thing I have learned is that my kit  telephoto lens is not sharp at full zoom. With this in mind, I set up my tripod and took the shot. The result was a beautiful scene, slightly out of focus and not worth the mb on my hard drive. Had I thought about the limitations of my gear, I could have put in the effort to get closer to my subject and use my best glass to capture a beautiful scene.

A beautiful but not sharp tree.

2.Post Processing

My quest to get better has led to studying my past photos and the works of photographers I admire. This led me to some realizations. One fact I found was that the images I really enjoyed came from folks who spend hours working on their images in post. Ansel Adams was known for his mastery in the darkroom. This doesn’t mean he was exceptionally skilled at pouring developer in the tank  (which he probably was) but for his work on the print, the editing if you will. Perfecting an image to convey the intent is an area that I need to practice. Too often I find myself making some adjustments in Lightroom and not having a clear result in mind. Rather than taking the philosophy of making an image look good and calling it done, I need to make an image look how I desire. Give the image a purpose and be intentional with my editing. Taking this mindset into the field will help me to improve all facets of my work. 
Car Trails at Dusk in Austin, TX

3.Learn

“If you learn one thing a day for the rest of your life, imagine how smart you will be when you die”- Norman Brown


The most obvious way to improve in any given area is to learn more about it. This simple concept can be lost at times. In order for me to improve my photography, I need to learn. So what do I need to learn? Am I comfortable using full manual mode and adjusting my settings to achieve my desired result? Yes. What is my desired result? Hmm. This is an area (but not the only area) I need to learn about. I enjoy landscapes for a variety of reasons but my main motivation to capture them on film or sensor is to produce an image that captures the beauty of God's creation. Using this as my motivation will lead to discovering and producing my desired result. Studying my own images and those of others will help me to learn what appeals to me. Once I know what I like, I can go about learning how to implement techniques and tools to achieve my desired image. Learning is my overarching theme in improving. The first step is recognizing that I don’t know, and doing something about it.

This list is not comprehensive. I’m certain there are countless other ways for me to improve. Getting better will not happen by creating a checklist, checking the boxes and boom! I am better. The beauty of life is we can always improve, we can always learn something new and we can always take another photo. 

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