The key to creating good photographs

I know what you are thinking ever photographer has the key to photography, that few tips that make everything work. There is no simple formula but a few mistakes that a lot of newer photographers make that I have seen it over and over again.

The most important thing is preparation and knowing you limits, using there you will be able to create good images and have a base to build upon.

Limits

If you a fully experienced photographer or a just starting out, we have limits from knowledge to equipment. As a photographer I always self-reflect and part of that is to look at my limits to see where I can expand them.

You must be careful not to confuse limits and comfort zone as staying well within the comfort zone you will never progress as a photographer. For a personal project, I like to work between my comfort zone and limits so that I am creating new work and learning. When doing a job or having someone else that is expecting images them, I do a mix inside and outside the comfort zone.

Preparation

I know that it is an old adage but ‘Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance’ but it is smoothing that we all seem to forget when photographing. I am sure that you heard of photographers making huge money for only a few hours work but that is because they do a lot of preparation so they can photograph efficiently.

There are lots of ways that we can prepare for taking photos and also need to take into account your limits. There is no point trying to do some fancy lighting setup without a good selection of lights and modifiers.

Plan for as much as you can and make sure that you know what you’re going to do or even better have it ready. When I am checking and packing my cameras I will set them up for what I am going to do, if you did not already know your camera will remember exactly how it was set up when you next turn it on.

For best results you want to layer plans over plans as nothing ever goes fully to plan and having back up ideas is always good. Quite often I will have similar backup plans for most situations but will always build in some specific plans for the shot.

The only problem with good preparation is that it can limit your ability to react to want is happening around you. The real key to preparation is to only follow it when you have to during the shoot, let things roll if it is going for you if not pull into your preparation.

The Real Key

Preparation and working within your limits is not what I would call the real key but create the path to the real key to good photography. That is it to relax and enjoy taking photo’s, this is something that you cannot do when you worrying about other parts of photography.

Think about your best shots and how you were feeling when you took them.