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New Year’s Resolutions To Improve Your Photography

Posted by rolandogomez in Photo Tips | 0 comments

It’s About Setting Goals To Get There

Well it’s that time period again were we say goodbye to one year and welcome in another year, usually with a customary resolution, or a goal(s) to live by for the next 12 months. Many people also like to look back or recap the highlights of the previous 12 months, though many leave out the lowlights too—me personally, I believe in the one minute managerphilosophy, past is past, move forward toward your goals.

Model, Wine Glass, Lingerie, Hair Lighting,

Tiffany helps wish everyone a Happy New Year with this photo. Cheers!

So I won’t bore you with recaps of the highs and lows, instead I’m going to provide goal setting suggestions for potential New Year’s resolutions for digital photographers—this is a photography blog—so here you have my photographer resolution recommendations to help improve your digital photography:

1. Understand Camera Exposure—Promise yourself to tape your LCD screen with gaffer’s tape and relive the film days so you can better understand proper photographic exposure and not rely on chimping. Though you can view the histogram during your postproduction—after the photo is taken!

2. Understand Composition—Promise to practice the Rule of Thirds for at least one of every three frames you shoot with your digital camera.

3. Understand Communication—Promise yourself to choose your words carefully when you speak to your subject and understand, the photograph is about them, not you the photographer.

4. Understand Posing—Promise to practice the “if it’s meant to be bent, bend it” philosophy when it comes to posing your subject for implied diagonal lines, S-curves and triangular geometric shapes that are more flattering to your subject than straight lines. Nobody really likes stiff poses.

5. Understand Your Camera—Understand that the most important camera to a photographer, you, is the one in your hands; however, you promise to always use the right tool for the right purpose, the right way.

Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough in Santa hat.

Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough poses in her Santa hat.

6. Understand White Balance—Promise yourself to take the digital camera settings off AWB, or automatic white balance, and manually set your white balance to help you better understand color temperature and how your white balance camera settings can also act like filtration.

7. Understand Lens Perspective—Promise yourself to use the best zoom lens in the world, your two feet, by shooting with a prime lens more than with your zoom lens; however, you promise to always use the right lens for the right result.

8. Understand Quality vs. Quantity—Promise yourself to make every shot count and not to use the spray and pray shooting style. It’s about quality photographs, not massive picture snapping sessions.

9. Understand Shutter Speed and Aperture Correlation—Promise yourself not to shoot in any automatic exposure camera mode. You promise to set your digital camera on manual shooting mode and to gain a better grasp on how shutter speeds correlate with aperture settings for proper exposure with a given ISO camera setting.

10. Understand Light—Promise yourself to learn to see the light first, then to learn how to feel the light—beyond the big picture.

So there you have it, some potential photographer New Year’s resolutions or goals to help you improve your digital photography. If you take one, some, or all of these resolutions, they are guaranteed to gain you praise amongst your photography peers. If you fail to meet your goals, pray you work for a one minute manager type, as they will get you refocused for the future because you can do it. Anyone can do it if they are committed to their photographic passions!

With that I close and ask you to please don’t forget the men and women that proudly serve to protect your freedoms for many of them were not able to spend their holidays with their family and friends. God Bless them all! Happy New Year! Rolando.