One way to improve your photography...

In my role as a critique team member on Ephotozine, many people ask me how to improve their shots. I think there are many many answers to that question, loads related to technique, technical issues, getting the right light and being in the right place at the right time.

But in a lot of ways, you need to work out what you're saying with a shot, and maybe why you're saying it too. What I've advised before, on a few sites, is that you should think what you'd write in the "About" or "description" box of a photo sharing website, or in a letter to an editor, before you take the shot.

Say it in your head.

Be honest to yourself

If you really can't think of anything interesting to say, you will have an un-interesting shot. So do something about it, don't take the shot.

You can:-

* move on somewhere else
* zoom in
* get higher up
* get lower down
* do a long shutter speed to create movement
* do a fast shutter speed to freeze everything
* Try a bit of fill flash…

Then after you've done that, again mentally read what you'd put in the about box. Explain what you've done technically and why.

* why did you use a wide aperture?
* Why did you go for a 2 second exposure,
* what were you trying to achieve?
* What was the bloke in the shot doing, can we tell from the shot or does it have to be explained? if it has to be explained, then the photo isn't working.

In essence, I'm saying that to get a good shot, you need to know why you're doing it really. Or at least be able to communicate to yourself what the elements of the shot are doing, if they're adding to the shot, just consequential, setting the scene or a main focal point. If you can't say that to yourself, then no one looking at the shot will be able to work out what you were trying to do. You end getting the odd fantastic shot by chance, rather than by design.

So undoubtedly you need to learn the "how" of photography till it's second nature, that's a pleasure to do and takes time. But to really improve you then need to concentrate on the "what" and the "why" of every shot.