How to bring photography skills to the next level?

[ch130176]

I thought I've been shooting (on-and-off) for 2 decades but when I looked at the photos I took over the time I didn't see that much of an improvement. At the same time someone who claimed having picked up photography for less than half a decade was chose by Nikon to promote their new Z series.

So what is the secret juice to bring such skills to the next level? What was your experience?

I am fairly familiar with the technicality of operating a camera/lens, basic composition, shooting angle and what not; however, I am not saying I've mastered all these aspects.

I am mostly shooting my children, my favourite subjects, and that's my motivation to improve. I love candid shots and would rather not ask them to pose for a shot. I'd be satisfied with out-of-camera JPEGs as I'd choose not spend time on post-processing because otherwise I may miss something since they are growing so fast !I know these photos would not wow any if the colours should be made better that way but since I started with film so I don't think post-processing is needed.

I'd love to read every comment that all of you have. Thank you in advance!

 

[kei1309]

spend more time looking at photo shoots on google, flickr, IG etc.

then check youtube to see how you can achieve the same result through tutorial videos.

 

[one eye jack]

I thought I've been shooting (on-and-off) for 2 decades but when I looked at the photos I took over the time I didn't see that much of an improvement. At the same time someone who claimed having picked up photography for less than half a decade was chose by Nikon to promote their new Z series.

So what is the secret juice to bring such skills to the next level? What was your experience?

I am fairly familiar with the technicality of operating a camera/lens, basic composition, shooting angle and what not; however, I am not saying I've mastered all these aspects.

I am mostly shooting my children, my favourite subjects, and that's my motivation to improve. I love candid shots and would rather not ask them to pose for a shot. I'd be satisfied with out-of-camera JPEGs as I'd choose not spend time on post-processing because otherwise I may miss something since they are growing so fast !I know these photos would not wow any if the colours should be made better that way but since I started with film so I don't think post-processing is needed.

I'd love to read every comment that all of you have. Thank you in advance!

Hi, It's interesting you have such thoughts as I'm sure most people do, even myself.
Be honest with yourself and ask, what is the difference in the photos shot by you and those shot by a professional
...have you really studied and learn how the professional photographer do it?
As the saying goes " It takes a thief to catch a thief".

I use the term professional loosely,although you are not earning a living as a pro but you are applying the techniques
or methods of a pro which also include the attitude. In other words you behave and act like a pro photography wise.

My analysis has been that a pro shoots consistently by that I mean he/she gets the exposure right most of the time
or at least close to the correct one. From here it is processed to correct or enhance color balance or more correctly white balance.
Then adjust contrast, brightness and sharpening to finalise the output. This is the reality when you say you don't want to bother
about post processing and prefer out of the camera jpegs. Some times what the camera outputs may not have the look you envisioned.
Of course if you can do all this in camera so much the better.

Now comes to the most important point which is your area of photographic interest, portrait photography and in your case..
child photography. It's no different from adult portrait photography. You try to capture the essence of the person's or child's
intrinsic character and tell his/her story. Look at your photos..it's from your perspective as an adult .Always looking down at them,
from above, a higher angle. How does that look? Is it intimate, do you know what's going on in your children's minds?

Child photography pros will tell you that to make good photos of children you have to come down TO their level..that is shoot
at a lower height. More specifically shoot at the child's eye level and when you do that you will discover something magical.
The child talks or speaks to you photographically. This is the secret of child photography!
Now be honest you would have known this if you had studied about the subject.

 

[Edwin Francis]

None of us is as good as we would like to be But my 2 cents: figure out what you really like to shoot, and be very specific (not just with the technical stuff). If you like to do portraits, narrow it down further. Do you like those 'deep' character portraits eg. those "old Nepalese man smoking his pipe, contemplating life" stuff, or maybe you really like urban landscapes at night.
Whatever it is you like, PUT yourself in a position to shoot THOSE kinds of shots - it could be a group photo outing, a workshop, a solo trip. Read about other people who do that type of photography, and how they work. Listen to other photogs in the groups and outings -- you don't have to accept everything they say, but sometimes you learn something eye-opening.
COPY. It will never be exactly the same, but you'll learn as you go. Eventually, if you get good enough, you'll develop your own style, without realising it.
PLAN. Work with the end in mind. Most of us just go out and shoot, looking for something interesting. That's fine, but if you want to improve, MAKE something interesting, Plan your shoot beforehand, have some goals in mind, and work towards them. It's okay if those change on the shoot (they often do), and it's ok if you don't quite make it -- it's still a learning experience.
KEEP you shots. Sometimes we get frustrated and want to throw them all away, if a shoot didn't go quite right. Ok, if they're blurry or horribly exposed, junk them. But sometimes, the shot that didn't look quite that good when you shot it, looks better after some time. Avoid over-analysing.
And if you get stuck in a rut, explore other areas. Not necessarily just photography either, but anything art-related.

 

[ch130176]

spend more time looking at photo shoots on google, flickr, IG etc.

then check youtube to see how you can achieve the same result through tutorial videos.

This is too wide a net to cast because it is hard to tell if a video is of good quality until you view it through... Any recommendations?

 

[ch130176]

Thanks @Edwin Francis @one eye jack for your sharing. Your replies reminded me of a saying that goes a great artist copies ideas, a genius steals ideas.

On the PLAN aspect, I never thought of that! And it seems to be a consistent principle to succeed in any fields. Perhaps one way I can apply this is to make a plan to bring the kids out to a place and think beforehand what kind of shots I want to get, the kind of lighting/position of the sun, etc.

Okay I lied about not bothering to do post-processing. I might crop and adjust overall contrast before I share or print some; I just can't afford to use a lot of time to fine tune so many photos (and to pay $156/year on Adobe tax!).

 

[thoongeng]

On the PLAN aspect, I never thought of that! And it seems to be a consistent principle to succeed in any fields. Perhaps one way I can apply this is to make a plan to bring the kids out to a place and think beforehand what kind of shots I want to get, the kind of lighting/position of the sun, etc.

You're on the right track. Like any skill in life, you need to put in effort.

Okay I lied about not bothering to do post-processing. I might crop and adjust overall contrast before I share or print some; I just can't afford to use a lot of time to fine tune so many photos (and to pay $156/year on Adobe tax!).

Same as the above. It takes time to know the end in mind, then take the photograph that is closer to the end product so you save time on post-processing.

There are many other software that can do post-processing, some still have a one-time payment, some even free. I'm exploring darktable (https://www.darktable.org/), it has more options than Lightroom, though not as fast nor user-friendly, and reviews saying it's catalogue has problems coping with big collections. However you can't beat free

 

[kei1309]

This is too wide a net to cast because it is hard to tell if a video is of good quality until you view it through... Any recommendations?

I don't have any recommendations. you should just google, and find one that you like.

or, you could read up more on photography, first, to understand what it is that you're looking for.

 

[ziggy]

Like most crafts, one needs to spend time and effort to progress.

Shoot lots of pics, look at famous art pieces to learn composition, balance, colours.

Learn basic editing skills with photo editing software and shoot raw. This is part of the total process in the making of a good photo. You'd be surprised how much better a processed print can look vs straight out of camera. Be very selective - I usually get 1 out of 10-15 shots that I would keep. When I started out years ago, with film, my hit rate was perhaps 1 out of 50-100, if I was not too particular.

Print - at least A4 as a start for your favourite pix once in a while. You will learn what to do and what not to do. You will also realise that noise is usually much less noticeable. Good photos is the reward for all the time and effort.

 

[pinholecam]

I thought I've been shooting (on-and-off) for 2 decades but when I looked at the photos I took over the time I didn't see that much of an improvement. At the same time someone who claimed having picked up photography for less than half a decade was chose by Nikon to promote their new Z series.

So what is the secret juice to bring such skills to the next level? What was your experience?

I am fairly familiar with the technicality of operating a camera/lens, basic composition, shooting angle and what not; however, I am not saying I've mastered all these aspects.

I am mostly shooting my children, my favourite subjects, and that's my motivation to improve. I love candid shots and would rather not ask them to pose for a shot. I'd be satisfied with out-of-camera JPEGs as I'd choose not spend time on post-processing because otherwise I may miss something since they are growing so fast !I know these photos would not wow any if the colours should be made better that way but since I started with film so I don't think post-processing is needed.

I'd love to read every comment that all of you have. Thank you in advance!

You are already motivated to get better shots of your children and photograph them often, so it means you have lots of practice and chance to practice which is good.

It will be good to copy some styles you like and google up how to do them (videos or readup).
The key to all this is conscious practice, and it should be fine.

Some amount of post processing is a must as the DSLR/MILC is usually tweaked to give a bland "average" image that can be processed to utilize the potential of all the information captured by the sensor.
So usually the parameters that need some adjustments will be exposure, contrast, saturation, tone curves, sharpening, color correction.

If you are using a decent RAW processing software, you should be able to copy+paste the processing over a few photos if they were shot at the same scene, saving some of your time.

 

[v0857]

Okay I lied about not bothering to do post-processing. I might crop and adjust overall contrast before I share or print some; I just can't afford to use a lot of time to fine tune so many photos (and to pay $156/year on Adobe tax!).

There are a lot of free editing software available. If it's just simple adjustments, I recommend PhotoScape. I'm using this and am quite satisfied with it.
Or, if you're using Windows 10, Photoshop Express is free and it has a "one click wonder" button. But whether the output is wonderous or makes you wonder ........ well anyway you can give that a try.

 

[ziggy]

Get Photoshop Elements latest. It's still available as a one-time purchase at about $140. If you really want to improve your photography.

It took me 5 years to convince myself that shooting raw will improve my photos, so I know.

 

[donmammoser]

Go to the websites of some well known photographers, see the level of Photography they are using images, ask yourself questions like; why is this image appealing to me? Why does this or that sits to the right upper corner and not lower corner etc.

 

[ch130176]

Wow, thanks for all your feedbacks and suggestions. I will keep trying until the kids said it is enough of their photos! Haha
Happy shooting