My New Year’s goal (remember I’m opposed to resolutions) was to take a picture each day for the entire year. It’s not easy. Some days I think, if I take a picture of that everyone will think I’m boring and nobody will like me and I’ll die alone (irrational thoughts strike again).
But I guess that’s kind of the point to the whole exercise – getting creative and taking pictures that push you out of your comfort zone.
I’ve also learned a quite a bit in the past 12 days. I like lists so here’s one about what I’ve learned so far:
1. The “M” setting (M is for manual) is your friend. I’ve been taking pictures for my own enjoyment for a few years now, but I feel like I’m just now getting the hang of the different settings. I’ve been hanging out with the Tv and Av settings for a long time and letting my camera do the rest of the heavy lifting. You can control a lot more when you use the M setting.
When you use the manual setting, you can change both your shutter speed and aperture. See how on this picture you can kinda make out what's in the background...
...while on this one you can't. Note - please don't judge the focus in either of these. I'm just trying to make a point. Not a stellar picture.
2. If you’re not shooting in RAW, you should. For a lot of reasons I don’t fully understand, and also for the fact that when you throw your picture in PhotoShop you can edit more stuff. See:
Edit all of the things.
3. Lighting is king. This one I already knew, but a flash can make a HIUGE (read: huge) difference in the way your pictures looks. Also, you may want to buy a good flash diffuser to coincide with lesson 3. Or buy them together and save money.
4. Get creative with your angles. More on this one later.
5. Take your camera everywhere with you. You may look like a dork with that giant camera bag, but having it around all the time can help keep you accountable for at least 12 days (I would say all year, but that is yet to be seen).
So there ya have it. I’m not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I figure I’d share a few nuggets ‘o knowledge. Take them for what they’re worth.
