There are so many ways to get better pictures, we’ve all seen articles about which new camera to buy, which new laptop will improve your editing, which course to take. buy or where you can visit to get stunning pictures. But what about some really effective ways to improve your shooting without spending a dime?
The simple answer is that to get better at something, you need to spend time honing that skill. But what and how should you practice?
Practice makes perfect?
The phrase “practice makes perfect” is used a lot, and in my experience that’s not entirely true. Anyone with coaching experience can confirm that “practice makes for a long time” might be a more accurate statement. If you practice an ineffective or incorrect technique, In any field you run the risk of creating bad habits that can take more work to break.
10,000 hours to become an expert
Many of us have also heard of the “10,000 hour rule” that says, to become an expert in any field, you have to practice that skill for 10,000 hours. If this is true, and just doing something for hours on end makes you expertly proficient, surely all taxi drivers will compete in Formula One? Obviously, this is an oversimplification, but what does “practice” really mean?
The concept of 10,000 hours training can be traced back to a 1993 paper written by Anders Ericsson, Professor at the University of Colorado, entitled The Role of Deliberate Practice in Acquiring Professional Performance. family. It highlights the work of a group of psychologists in Berlin who have been studying students’ violin practice habits for many years.
Malcolm Gladwell’s hugely popular book, The Infidels, was largely responsible for introducing the 10,000 hour rule to a mass audience; it’s even the name of one of the chapters. Anders Ericsson later revealed the 10,000-hour “rule” in an article, where he stated that “Gladwell didn’t even mention the concept of deliberate practice”. Ericsson then pointed out that 10,000 was the average, and that many of the best musicians in his study accumulated “significantly less” hours of practice. He also emphasized that the quality of the training session is important.
What constitutes High Quality Practice in Photography?
Surely we should all go out and take more pictures, just take all the pictures and you’ll be the next Ansel Adams? Sadly, we know that’s not necessarily the case.
What about editing? Many of us, myself included, spend hours reading articles or watching YouTube while using Lightroom or Photoshop to learn and practice new techniques to achieve the desired results. I definitely know that the time it takes me to edit an image is now much faster than when I first used Lightroom because I’m more proficient in using the software now. But after years of use, I certainly wouldn’t call myself a master photo retoucher.
What more can we do?
To use an analogy in sports: if shooting and editing to create finished images is like playing a football game, how can we train ourselves to play better? Sure, playing multiple games at different levels is good for maintaining your skills and learning new things from time to time, but top athletes train for a multitude of situations in meaningful ways. meaning between games to fully prepare yourself.
Meaningful practice
A great starting point if you want to practice for the big game, anytime, is to get familiar with your equipment. Now you just have to go through the menu and learn the function of the dial, but really learn how to use your device so it becomes second nature. If you don’t have to think about how to change settings or you can make any changes without taking the camera off your eyes, you can focus your full attention on taking the picture rather than using it. camera use.
Whenever I get a new camera body, I try to learn how to use it as efficiently as possible. I sat on the couch and gave myself simple challenges like letting the light go by 2 stops or closing the aperture by 1 stop without changing the overall exposure of the image and without taking the camera out of my eyes. .
I also spent hours taking endless pictures of a cup of coffee on my desk to find out how much I was willing to increase the ISO before the image became unacceptable, or how I could get there. close to your subject with a variety of lenses and still rely on autofocus. None of these will result in any pictures you want to stick on your wall, but they will help you become more familiar with your camera; It’s the training that makes sense for the big game.
When you can use the camera as an extension of your body, change settings, know how your lenses work in many situations, then you can do the same with other devices. other than on-camera or off-camera. Using an action figure and a shotgun can show you what light at various distances and intensities can look like on the human form. Getting to know an old teddy bear or an action figure is a lot cheaper than hiring a model and shooting on location for an afternoon.
Challenging is a great way to learn. If you feel comfortable and familiar with your kit, go out and set yourself some challenges. You can try to copy an image you’ve seen online, or take an old one and edit it in a different way. Read articles, watch online tutorials, try new things. Remember that you don’t always have to play in a big game, sometimes it’s good to just practice a little before the next game.
What about hiring models, or studios to practice?
Traveling to a great location, hiring a studio, or hiring an experienced model are all great ways to create stunning photos. I do not mean to suggest that these things are not a good use of your time. Meaningful practice doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated to be effective.
How do you practice your skills? What do you do to improve your photography? Let me know in the comments section.
