More Good Advice

Autumn Lockwood over at Picture Correct has some very useful advice for photographers. It is pretty basic stuff, but also very important. A couple of her pointers hit home with me, particularly "Working in-camera" and "Learn your craft."

I often fall prey to the idea that any mistake I make in the field can be corrected in the computer later. When I get home and begin to sort my photos I then wish that I had taken better care when composing and capturing. You can only sharpen so much afterwards and often I end up cropping or cloning when there was no need for me to do so had I been more attentive in the field. Getting a good capture from the start will make the output that much better.

As for learning the craft, that is something I am always planning on doing, but never getting around to really. I need to be better about consciously thinking about photography and photographs instead of mindlessly thumbing through books and surfing websites. One thing I have tried is copying low res images from various photographers websites and uploading them to my iPad. Then I import them into Brushes or another drawing app and use a stylus to identify elements of the photo I like. For instance, I will color or draw lines in a grid to show that the photographer used the Rule of Thirds or something like that. My hope is that by identifying elements of photos that I enjoy, I will better be able to recognize these elements when I am composing in the field.

Anyway, Ms. Lockwood's advice is good and if followed will undoubtedly lead to better photos.