7 SIMPLE photography TIPS I wish I knew EARLIER

I was looking through some old photos and realised how far I have come in the last few years. So I tried to understand why and came up with these 7 photography tips that help me improve my landscape photos. I really think they made a big difference and helped me take great shots. From understanding your camera better to light and composition.

MY PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR

NIKON GEAR

FUJI GEAR

OTHER PHOTO GEAR

VLOGGING GEAR

[Paul_Weedon]

My photography became instantly better when i took the Lens cap off.

[StevenLeemusic]

1:56 - Use aperture priority mode
4:02 - Understand your histogram
5:34 - Focus efficiency
9:18 - Simplify your image
11:37 - Use different lenses
13:29 - Where are you standing?
15:06 - Light Light Light

[Illuminatethedark_]

My light bulb moment was when I realized that its ok to be bad in the beginning. The most important thing is to just keep shooting. Eventually you will improve.

[aarontharris]

All great tips. I'd like to offer a suggestion. I spent the first 10 years of my photography life focused on technical aspects of squeezing every last drop of detail out of my camera because it was something I could do and see results, though that effort quickly begins to reach diminishing returns, especially with modern cameras. I suggest to anyone wanting to improve their photography to take an art class, learn about composition and color and how to communicate abstract ideas through visual elements. I guarantee you'll see more improvement from this than improving sharpness or even getting slightly more accurate exposure than what full-auto yields. My $0.02

[iwyosfc]

*Notes*
1. Use aperture priority, since full manual mode isn't always helpful. You care about depth of field. The light changes quickly.
2. Use histogram for exposure, understand how it works. Non exposed to RHS, low light photography will be having noise after photoshop.
3. Focus! Learn how to manage your camera and lenses
4. Simplify your images. Be minimalistic, choose wisely what you put into your scene, make it an art painting (eg street photographer, Sean Tuck). Zoom in elements to simplify
5. Keep your DSLR, get some fresh lenses. He likes 10mil on his xd2 or 60mil on Nikon. Don't only use zoom lenses but also prime lenses. Get creative.
6. Think about where you stand. Change your position, you are not a corpse. Find the best angle.
7. Lighting (duh!). Natural lighting is the best, take advantage of it. Experiment on taking pictures at different hours of the day, when the natural lighting is different and find what suits your liking.

[MarkWick]

I have been a professional photographer since 1974. I don't remember how far into my career that it really hit me what I was doing, but you got to it with our last point. For years I asked people, including many pro photographers, what subject they photograph the most. I got all kinds of answers, but never the correct one - light. Light is our subject, usually reflected light, sometimes projected light, and sometimes both. Once I understood that, I had made the biggest improvement on my photos that I could make.

[Coreykoon]

I love how you refer to good images as "powerful."
It's not just about technical rules, but about how your image truly captures and communicates something.
You see photography as art.
I find that is becoming increasingly rare.

[stevenmarvinranger]

If I had to say one thing that improved my photography over the years it is knowing exactly what was moving me to take the picture. The exact reasons both emotionally and technically that had me go for my camera. Then shoot to enhance my response to what was happening. Lets say I see the mist coming off a pond and feel the calm and isolation that the moment evokes, i might not include the duck and may get to a location that gives me an angle that enhances the mist.
I enjoyed this video and was reminded of a number of elements I have not been thinking of when I have the time. :)

[philipculbertson]

My tip is to keep a notebook. Record places to return to at a different time or season, things that you learned, things that went well and things that didn't, and how I felt when I was there. I keep a small "write in the rain" notebook with me and a space pen and capture quick notes at the scene. When I get home, I always do a "hot wash" on the shoot. I have found doing so makes me a much better photographer.

[dirtywater]

My photography aha moment was realizing that if I slowwwwed down and took my time, I walked away with much better quality photos. When I started photography, I, like many people just starting out, became a photo sniper. I took hundreds of photos in one session, many of them of the same subject. This placed unnecessary wear and tear on my camera and then when I got them onto my computer, I had to painstakingly look through them all and choose the best one, adding unnecessary time to the process. This became something I always just accepted as part of what photographers. But when I started shooting film, I was forced to slow down and really look at my settings, double check my focus, and most importantly, nail the composition the first time because I only had 36 exposures to work with, not 32gb of space on a memory card. Shooting film taught me to be more selective and that I don't need to take ten pictures of the same subject in order to get a good photo. I was just too much in a rush before and didn't stop and put all the necessary elements together. That habit of slowing down has carried over into my digital photography and now I walk away with just a handful of images at the end of the day. So my tip would simply be to slow down and take your time.

[timmat]

I don't understand, who are the 811 people, who disliked this video?... Truly amazing input! Great job!

[JeffBeck]

After years of loving photography as a hobby, I am attempting to make a go of it as a real side job. In order to do this I need to acquire a professional skill set and mindset and there has not been a channel on YouTube that I have learned more from than yours. Thank you so much for taking the time to create these, you are a very gifted teacher.

[gordonmelrose]

Another great video Nigel. When I first started in photography someone told me that you only need two things to become a landscaper photographer: a good alarm clock and the ability to get out of bed when it rings!!! Looking forward to next weeks vid.

[Tinfoilnation]

My best tip, especially for us n00bs: Take the shot using the settings you think will produce the image you want, then immediately change those settings and shoot it again. And change+shoot again. And again. Change your focus object and shoot it again. With modern cameras and gobs of storage there's really no reason not to shoot *lots* of "versions" of each shot. What you think will be optimal for the shot you want to produce makes for a good photo - but the other shots using different settings will often times surprise you with their results.

[moondawn]

Nice one Nigel, some good advice there. My lightbulb moment was to stop worrying about other peoples opinions of my pictures, and shoot how I liked and not how I thought everyone else wants to see it.

[AsaSpades]

Love the point about "simplification" lol. I knew something was missing from my photos and this instantly clicked with me.

[darkelement]

My aha moment. Enjoy the moment/location, ignore always trying to get photo every time, no matter what happens you will have learnt something about your location for your next visit.

[audentish]

This is such a great video, thanks so much! My tip? The light is never bad, overcast gives you advantages, but so does direct sunlight with high contrasts and dramatic effects. Any type of weather will create its own atmosphere that you can use to your advantage as a photographer. If the light is different than you'd expect, get creative and take the challenge. Maybe you're better than you think :)

[nicktroehler]

Best advice I received: spend a few weeks not editing anything. Get it as good as you can at the camera.

[aaronjenkin]

It's lovely that your kids recognise light, you have taught them to appreciate the beauty of nature and that is really special.