Secrets to Being a Better Photographer That They Don't Want You to Know About

But who are “They”?

“They” are me!

Wow! What a plot twist!

So what are these secrets that I am keeping from you? Let’s find out.

• You don’t need “better” gear, you need the right gear. Don’t determine the right gear based on the photographs others are making. Determine the right gear based on the photographs you want to make. See my post about getting chased by a bear for more info on that. It’s the the third part of the post, you have my permission to skip the rest.

• Editing is 50% of photography, and I don’t mean toning, I mean picking the good photos out from the not good photos. You are going to take a lot more bad photos than good photos. What you decide to show the world is just as important as what you don’t. As my professor Marcy Nighswander used to say, “Your photo is your baby. You have an ugly baby.” Sometimes it helps to get a trusted friend or mentor to give your work a once over. They don’t have the same emotional attachment to the photos as you, a more pure opinion if you will. And if you don’t have one of those your mom can help, and if you don’t have one of those DO NOT ask reddit no matter what! You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Instead find an email of a photographer you like and ask them. (sorry reddit is OK sometimes, just take it with a bowling ball sized grain of salt.)

• Editing is 50% of photography, and I don’t mean picking the good photos from the not good photos, I mean adjusting sliders so your photos match the energy of the subject matter. Sorry, I know it’s taboo, but you’ll get over it. And when you do you’ll be happy you did. The myth of raw unedited purity must come to end. It never existed and it never will. Every single photographer you look up to edits their photos, and if they say they don’t, They. Are. Lying. Editing is hard and takes just as much effort and education as the photo making part. Heck, there’s an entire industry that exists just for retouching. It takes practice and good taste, examine the photos you like critically, ignore the content and focus on the light and color.

• Photography is mostly walking and looking. Which is to say if you’re not walking and looking, you’re not going to get better. That goes for reading this instead of walking right now. An annoying paradox I know, but one you’ll have to live with so I can get my clicks. “But what do I look at” I hear you screaming violently into your screen. Well, that’s easy, everything. “Well that’s stupid” I hear you mum…sorry ill stop. When I say everything I don’t really mean everything. I mean everything has potential and you need to accept that. Photograph, as Eggleston said, “Democratically” nothing more important or less than anything else. see my post for more about this.

• The subject matter is always going to be more important than your creative talent in regards to getting a “good” photo. You can only get so far creatively if your subject matter sucks. But subject matter has infinite potential! Find the good stuff first and then do the creative stuff. A person walking down the street doesn’t make a good photo on it’s own. I don’t care how crooked you made it, how much clarity you added, I don’t even care if you made it b/w. This is an example of where your creativity is hitting the Great Wall of Subject Matter. I can’t help much in matters of the infinite, all I can say is that there are far more non-interesting things than interesting things, so If you’re in doubt its probably not it.

• The Rule of Thirds is dumb and should never be taught or used, it instills bad habits and is creatively suppressing at a period when you should be exploring, not learning “rules”. It forces uniformity, it ignores context, and it teaches that there are “rules”. There are no rules (gulp). (sorry for this digression, I just really needed to get that off of my chest.) Ok it’s not stupid, it’s just always taught wrong or misunderstood, because the student isn’t ready to process it critically. I’ll make a whole post on it someday, and I don’t care what you think about it, so keep your comment to yourself redditor.

• If you’re hungry your photos will be bad/won’t exist. Always pack-a-snack. I can’t stress this enough. Before I go out, I go through my checklist. Full belly and tasty snack for later, check. Comfy shoes and clean socks, check. Clean underwear, check. Camera and charged batteries, check. Wallet/keys/pepper spray/brass knuckles, check check check check.

So none of these are really secrets, and “they” isn’t really me and “advice” doesn’t have the same urgency and click-ability. But I wanted you to read it so… here we are :)

Until next time.