How to get better in Photography

I vividly remember when I first got my "serious" camera, a DSLR. I always had a knack for image-making and even when all I had was a Kodak P&S, I used to shoot many pictures. Thats how I realized that I am being limited by my camera. So, when I ultimately made the jump to a DSLR, it didn't take long for me to understand how it works and within a day or two, I was shooting away like crazy, subject or composition be damned. Naturally as all of you may have experienced, getting honest feedback is a tough job. If you show your photos to your immediate friends and relatives, they all will praise them just to make you feel better. And if you post your pictures in dedicated photography forums or Facebook pages, very very few will take the pain of telling where are you going wrong, because you are new there and the experienced photogs don't want to hurt you by giving negative feedback. So, long story short, after a month or two, I almost shot close to a thousand photo, but all of them were crap, literally.

This is not only my story, but I reckon, anyone starting out in the field of photography is bound to have the same experience. We shoot anything and everything but don't realize where we are going wrong or why our photos suck while some of our experienced friends can take the same picture and their ones look much better. In this post, I am trying to decode this mystery of how to get better in photography. This may be a long(ish) post, so please bear with me. Lets get started-

1. You are not going to be a pro overnight

First lets get this thing out of our way. There is no shortcut to success and that too in something like photography. What most of the general public and some of the beginners don't understand is that a better camera does not magically make your pictures better. Period.  It just doesn't happen. Yes a better camera gives you clearer pictures and more control over the image-making process but unless you know how to take advantage of that, your photos will continue to suck. So, the first key to success would be, HAVE PATIENCE.   Your first few thousand images are bound to be crappy. Don't lose hope or patience over that. Just keep shooting. Thats the first mantra.

2. Read and understand about composition

This is perhaps the most common mistake a beginner does. Thanks to the internet we now have access to practically anything we want to learn. So, the moment most of us start taking our photography seriously, we go to YouTube or other sites and begin to learn about the post processing part. While Post Processing is an undeniably important part of photography, what is far more important is the composition. You can't make a badly composed photograph good just by editing it. You may have heard some people say that they don't care about composition and just shoot whatever they like. If someone says that, he is either lying or his photos are plain bad. You can't get better in photography without learning about composition. So immediately after learning how to operate the camera, start learning about composition. There are many good sources in the internet to learn about them. Go through them and try to use the techniques in your photographs. At first it may seem difficult, but trust me, if you keep on doing this very soon, it will be your second nature. So, this is the single most important thing you have to keep in mind to get better.

3. Don't ignore or over-do the Post-Processing(PP)

This is another most common beginner mistake that most of us are invariably guilty of. Either ignoring the PP or over-doing the PP. Thanks to the advent of digital imaging technology, now it is possible for every one to try their hand in Photoshop or Lightroom or any such powerful photo editing software. While there is indeed a steep learning curve involved, thanks to some generous folks like Aaron Nace  and Serge Ramelli, we can learn  both relatively easily. As already stated, these are extremely powerful software and can really transform the images. So, in the beginning, it is very easy to get carried away and over process the images (Over sharpening, over saturating, making the images so contrasty that the shadow or highlights get clipped or Over dodging and burning). Such images look extremely amateurish and are a dead giveaway of the photographer being new. On the other hand, ignoring PP entirely is also not advisable as some of the images really blossom when PP is done in a proper way. 

4. Look at good images, analyze them and try to use the styles in your photography

This is one aspect that is often over-looked by beginners. In order to get better, it is absolutely crucial for every beginner to look at good images, try to understand what makes them look good and apply that knowledge to your images. In fact, I believe that after we acquire some knowledge about photography, we should pause taking photos for a while and enjoy beautiful images shot by others. Not only view but analyze what we like in a particular image, take a note of that and try to implement it in our images. There are many good sites for this purpose. You may visit 1x.com, Flickr Explore or 500px to enjoy a plethora of beautiful images. Enjoy them one by one, and try to learn from them.

5. Get honest feedback on your images

Now this one is difficult to get. As a basic human nature, we generally don't want to hurt others and thats why no one would like to give honest feedback on your images. What I did was, I posted my images in many photography pages in Facebook and many photo forums. In that way, your images are reaching a wider audience and thus, your chances to getting constructive criticism also increases. Take a note of the suggestions and try to correct them in future. However, there is another very important side of this. Don't take the suggestions too seriously or personally. In a virtual world, there are many kinds of people and almost everywhere there are trolls who try to disturb you in every way possible by posting negative comments, negative feedbacks, personal attacks etc. It is absolutely imperative that you ignore them and do not feed them. Also opinions are personal and it is absolutely normal that what one may like, may not be appreciated by others. So, feedback is important to know about the shortcomings but you should also know which advise to take and which one to ignore.

6. Join a community or group of people with similar interest

It is generally a good practice to become a part of the local community of fellow photographers where you live. I am not saying that if you live in a small place where there is no thriving community, you can't get better, but if it is possible, try to become a part of one. It helps a lot. You get to share images among one another, discuss about them, get honest feedback, plan photo-shoots together etc. In fact most of my personal images that I like were taken in photo walks arranged by the local community. It definitely helps 

7. Do not lose heart or get frustrated 

This is the last topic for today. It is very natural for us to crave for recognition and success. In the case of photography, success may be defined as a competition won, or a selection in a website like Nat Geo or Publishing of your images in a magazine etc. If you are part of a community or group, there are bound to be some members who are more experienced and accomplished then others and naturally they will be instances where all of you participate in a particular event and the others get some sort of recognition while you are neglected. Do not feel frustrated, jealous or dejected in such cases. It will only hurt you and no one else. Take that as challenge and try to do better next time. If you are sincere in your efforts, the results are bound to come. 

So, these are some of the points that every beginner should keep in their mind while starting out in photography. It is a very rewarding and addictive hobby and if you keep on trying with perseverance, you will get better. And if ever you feel dejected, lose hope or feel that your images are not good, remember what the legendary photographer  Henri Cartier-Bresson once said- “Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst". There's still a long way to go my friend.