The 7 Photography Mistakes I See All Photographers do!

There are many mistakes to avoid as a photographer. In this video, I cover 7 and how to solve them!

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0:00 - Clean edges?
1:22 - Deliberate shutter speed
4:40 - Central compositions
5:32 - Wrong lines
7:50 - Missing the moment
10:39 - Summarizing
12:21 - Creating the moment
12:39 - Proper lighting roll-off
16:20 - Not exploring the local neighbourhood
17:23 - Undefined foregrounds

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[MadsPeterIversen]

Sadly YouTube hasn't entirely succeeded in getting rid of bots and scammers! I will never ever contact you or ask you to contact me and I don't do give-aways. Any replies from me here on YouTube you can recognize by the grayed out name!

[mahgirbsti]

You are such an intelligent and patient photographer, thank you for making these videos!

[paulbonge]

Well done Mads! A few things really impressed me about your tutorial here. First and I'm sure to many it may seem a small thing, however composing is NOT just about center, foreground, mid-ground and background, leading lines, rule of thirds, juxtaposition, contra-weighting primary and secondary objects and I could go on and on, but as you so clearly began with Edge Patrol! Bravo!

When I began 50 years ago, after a morning when my father had been in his darkroom until mid-day and having left me spending those hours with Weston's "Day Books" and Minor White's (a family friend) Mirrors, Messages & Manifestations, he came in for lunch and I boldly said, you know "Uncle" Edward had two sons, Cole and Brett who were also fine photographers, and you're a photographer and I'm your son SO I'm going to be a photographer too! Well, not long after that my father gave me one of his 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 Graflex cameras which he put on a tripod saying this camera STAYS on this tripod! Of course, I said I want to use your Nikon and he said, "Not until you learn how to use the equipment!" He gave me one of his older Weston II light meters and basic instructions. The first and strongest was that he didn't want to see any junk in the frame, no candy wrappers, trash cans, coke bottles, garden water hoses, anything that was not intended to be there! I could have any or all of those things within the frame, but they HAD to be INTENTIONAL and meaningful to the overall composition. Then he explained that the tripod forces you to take your time and that means that you carefully consider what you're photographing, why, what you intend to show, and that you continue to evaluate all of those things all the way to every edge of the ground glass and the corners and that you have to tilt, pan, or move the tripod and camera one inch or several feet in some manner until you get your edges clean and corners set AND THEN you start taking light readings and deciding on f-stop and shutter speed and up to the very moment that you press the shutter release you continue to evaluate the entire frame! To me, that is where it all begins and ends, with the edges and corners!

One thing I say to myself, and I'd say to any beginner, is that the world out there is full of magical things to see, between close-up and wide expansive vistas BUT NOT ALL of it IS a photograph. The temptation is to become "Giddy" and "Excited" and to go about with the motivation of "Oh look at that, that's NICE I'll photograph that! AND THAT, AND THAT TOO!" With today's technology, the ease and facility to do that is limitless! That is a danger. When I shot film, I was always very conscious of things like I only have 10 sheets of film with me, OR 10 more shots on this roll and then there was processing, hours spent in the darkroom developing, washing and drying, then printing and every sheet of paper cost and you took time to choose a developer formula for what you wanted to achieve, so many things that forced ECONONY. Today, I waste more pixels on things I shouldn't have shot, only because each individual shot is for all practical purposes FREE with very little cost in time and effort. So, the DANGER is that all of us, beginner and seasoned photographer alike fall victim to some amount of point and shoot and the temptation to say "Oh that's nice, CLICK!" So, for me to say again, the second most important thing is being aware that there's a lot of wonderful things to see out there but NOT ALL of them are PHOTOGRAPHS!

Thirdly, what you say about your own neighborhood is such a good point! In the early 1950's my father was living in Mexico City and one day he said to himself, I've been going all over Mexico photographing but today I'm walking out onto the street and I'm only photographing within the city block where I am now! It's a fine exercise in "seeing" as in the environment where we spend the most time we take everything we see for granted and we cease to "Really" SEE it! Limiting yourself to only photograph in a very small area that's familiar to you, helps to refocus your eye and when I've been out photographing landscapes, and then find myself in a city or home, I often do that exercise of limiting my field and it helps me adjust my seeing from the wide-open spaces to the more intimate ones of my city or home surroundings.

[PhotoJojo]

So cool to see a fellow Dane being this good and this awesome at teaching!

[puusajore]

Interesting, as a photojournalist ( retired) I don´t see any mistakes, just different pictures. We PROs think those people we shoot for. It is the first thought. So, if some client group needs a picture that has three dimensional visuals and foreground to see the bushes for some reason, then it is a mistake to compose so that the bushes are gone. We pros never shoot for ourselves, we shoot for other people ( those who pay for our breakfast). We think first what they need and shoot that way.

[blakesaupe]

I personally hate post production. I may crop a bit and add certain effects, but nothing as dramatic as what you are doing. And not touching up certain things aren’t “mistakes”. That’s what YOU thing looks good. The way I look at photograph is “Why am I taking a photo of this?”. When I take a picture of mountains, I’m doing it because it looks beautiful. And by touching up parts of it, I’m getting rid of that natural beauty. Like that one you showed in the beginning with the snow. The imperfections to me, make the photo 10x better. But that’s my opinion.

[peterallen]

The first frame of this video is showing the difference between a beginner and a pro. The difference between an amateur and a professional is that the pro earns his living carrying out his art. I have been a photographer for manny decades and have worked with film and digital. With film the work has to be done choosing the moment the shutter is pressed (and taking into account of position, angle light etc.) and work in the darkroom. The latter not being able to be done with transparency. What you see is what you get. So many new photographers these days think they can take a not very photograph and the improve it in post processing. I used to teach photography and saw it all the time. A good photographer can create a better image with a smart phone than a bad photographer with a top of the range Canon, Nikon, Sony or the like.

[JaypeaFoto]

IT’S A SAD DAY WHEN. 4 months ago I discovered your videos and just finished watching all 377 videos. It’s interesting to see how you have grown from then to now. So so many great photos, videos and tips along the way. Thank you for your dedication, teaching of which you are astounding at. I look forward to the next 6 years of your work. JP Gallant, Canada

[L.Spencer]

That was really interesting about the light roll-off. You used a mask for the burnt highlights to introduce negative clarity, instead of lowering the highlights all the way, like I tend to do.

[scotty]

Your point about getting out locally was well made Mads as you certainly have shown the beauty of Denmark through your lens. Look forward to seeing what you create from your trip to Svalbard with Nigel and James

[mogbaba]

What has made you a good photographer and a good teacher is, your amazing power of critique!

[SubZero]

Great vid, really learning a lot from you!

Oh, and... 1:05 I actually like this photo, even with those "edge elements" :)

[koenpijpersphotography]

Mads I like your storm cloud picture with the rose in the grassfield a lot, it has that special something. Nice tips as well!

[delyrium_]

But then again, even the "mistakes" make remarkable artistic photos. Some of those that you mentioned as "mistakes" are down right beautiful. At the end of the day "the beauty is in the eye of the beholder" ☺️😉

[gustough]

Thank you, Mads. Small things which make big differences. I will keep your recommendations in mind.

[BryanSwifty]

You are my favorite landscape photographer, without question! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[Professor_Internet_PhD]

nice tip on the negative clarity on dealing with clipped clouds👍

[rensbeukema]

Dank je wel mads👍🏻 ik heb eigenlijk nooit zo naar de randen gekeken, ik ga er toch eens wat mee doen, dank voor je tip

[cruzado]

loved it. Thank you so much for showing us your own experience, with your evolution as a photographer. Awesome

[charlesnewsholme]

Very interesting and informative Mads. Fantastic photos a joy to watch, many thanks.