7 PHOTOGRAPHY MISTAKES I see all the time

I have made and seen loads of mistakes in photography and these are my top 7. In this video I explain how easy it is to avoid making these same mistakes.

0:00 Introduction
1:53 Unbalanced Images
4:09 Weak Foreground
6:28 Foreground drop-off
7:48 No Compelling Element
10:15 Wrong Light
13:02 Too Complicated
15:37 Untidy Edges

NIKON GEAR (Main STILLS camera)

FUJI GEAR (Main FILM camera)

OTHER PHOTO GEAR

#photography #subscribe #like

[Highdepthfilms]

Great video Nigel, learned a lot on this one and for those interested the landscape master class, I cant say enough about it, It has been great. Sharing of photos with the others has been fantastic and I have received great feedback that has helped my photography.

I think this kind of discussion is much more useful than talking about cameras.

[TheAdrift]

A good trick for the fifth point: when you have harsh, bright midday light, go from shooting whole scenes to shooting smaller subject matter! I used to do a lot of bird photography, and midday light is the best light for capturing their interesting little faces. Whenever I would try to shoot landscapes during this time, they always looked a little boring—I would try to spice it up a little in post, but for me personally, they always just looked like they’d been white-balanced incorrectly. So I would do bird photos during midday, and then landscapes at sunset (because hell if I’m getting up early enough to see the sun rise haha)

[unemeoj]

Beauty (a good picture) is in the eye of the beholder.
Evoking emotion or wonder in the viewer, is where art begins...

[MudMaxMetalDetecting]

I agree about the diagonals but many of the images you thought could be improved really worked for me. The grass and the boat and the fence and the river etc, you said there was too much going on but for me it was the opposite, I loved all the different features that you can move your eyes to and get so much from the scene. I guess it's a personal thing.

[chrissekely]

While your advice isn't wrong, it does come from a particularly artistic sensibility that not everyone shares. Take, for example, the idea that a photo should have a single point of focus. That really does make for good images. However the opposite can also be true. Consider the paintings of Salvador Dali. Many of his works have multiple different things to focus on. Your seven rules are great. They work. But breaking the rules on purpose can also work if you maybe have a different purpose for your art, want to create a certain unsettled feeling, or just have a different aesthetic sense altogether. Art shouldn't always be about comforting, pleasant, balanced, single focus images.

Thoughts?

[serendigity]

Re the lighting point. A lot of the time people are on single day trip outings in the day time and do not have the luxury to hang around for better weather conditions and lighting. A lot of the truely best shots are in golden hours, sunsets and sunrises, and if you visit somewhere from 10am to 2pm your options are limited. Therefore the day trip becomes an overnight trip, or even a several day trip to be able to be there with the light better suited to photography...

[JulieCourtJacob]

This is a fantastic video! I'm a portrait photographer and have never really understood landscape photography. This video really lays out how to see a landscape, and the good/bad examples are super helpful. I love the critiques and edits to show how to make an image better. I'd love to see lots more like this! Hope I'll be able to take these lessons to heart and create some better landscapes myself.

[JakubMareda]

I think the boat-fence-river image actually did a great job telling a story of sorts. You start with the boat and then follow the fence's s-curve all the way to the river, which in turn brings you to the sky through the horizon.

[niajmorshed]

I have literally spent hundreds of hours watching this type of videos and maybe after about 3 years, I think I've learnt something new today <3

[tom]

This is such a great video to remind us (or teach newbies) that everything in the frame needs to work as one and when something (anything) becomes a distraction the image is less than it can be. And we all want what is the most of every given scene. Thanks for posting!

[shrivlet]

I'm a visual art students but sometimes i always thought learning photography might gives me an upper hand in understanding the balances or what makes a dramatic views. this video really taught me something and you have my gratitude.

[kensellar]

Great tips. Happy to say that I am familiar with all of them, having shot video for many years and being an amateur photographer for some 40 years. When I'm in the midst of a scene that feels like it has potential, I always move around and take pictures from perhaps a half dozen spots in the same location. Go left, go right, walk forward, walk back. Even something as simple as crouching down can change everything. As you mention, if you just walk 20 feet this way or that way, suddenly there is a new story to be told. As a fan of videography and photography, I feel that both need to tell a story. That has to a lot to do with your compelling subject comments. I always feel like I am telling a story with a photograph, and where your eye rests as you say, is the climax of that story. Your tips will be good reminders for when I'm out there! My wife and I plan to go to the Amalfi Coast in a year or two, and if I can't take amazing photographs there, I might as well put my camera away for good! Awesome work. You just got yourself a new subscriber!

[ValdiValdies]

It's so rare to see someone giving so constructive feedback. Love it

[Christopherphantom]

Articulating gut instincts and weaving that into a constructive criticism is quite tough. I felt this video encapsulates those aspects beautifully. Thank you. :) really appreciate this.

[makingitthrough]

Wow! Thanks to everyone who allowed their photos to be used in this video. It’s so easy to get attached to a photo emotionally when you are learning.

[ralphwatson]

Sometimes it's not "what" you explain, it's "how" you explain it. And these tips were interesting to watch with great examples, and easy to follow. Thanks for the very useful info.

[ColinCartwright]

Nigel, I’ve watched a few of your videos now and every one of them is full of valuable tips and information. It takes a lot of work and time to make a good professional video, so I appreciate the all the time and effort you put in to each one of them. Thanks for sharing your insight and experience along with another big thanks to your students for sharing their work for you illustrate your points. Keep up the great work, mate!

[gregpantelides]

Thank you so much, Nigel. One of the best things I did that helped me in my composition was moving from a wide angle to a normal lens. It helps you to discipline yourself from that urge to just "get everything in" and focus on what's really compelling. Thank you for an awesome channel and community.

[rhythmace]

Wow, I wasn't expecting this video to be quite so good, but it's one of the most useful videos I've watched on YT for a long time! Definitely one to save for rewatching. The re-cropping examples were especially impressive; I went from only vaguely agreeing that there was anything less than ideal about the original compositions to totally appreciating how much better the slightly modified compositions were. It's made me realise there are some huge gaps in the things I'm thinking about when making & editing pictures. It's also finally explained for me why the guides in the Lightroom crop tool are diagonals and not just standard parallel thirds lines, haha!