A Step-by-Step No BS Guide to Better Photography
So you wanna take better photos right?
Then here is a no bs guide to better photography.
No bs meaning no bullshit, meaning we’re going to be somewhat blunt about it.
Feelings might get hurt today, but whatever, that’s the point of this letter.
Please don’t take anything in here personal, it’s not a direct attack, rather it’s actually just harsh advice I’d give myself.
And this advice I need to hear might also be useful to you.
Lets begin.
Take More Photos Period
We’ll start with the most obvious one.
If you want to take better photos you need to take more photos.
I cannot stress the importance of this.
Many people will skirt this point because it’s obvious, obvious to the point where people don’t do it.
But it’s really that simple: if you want to take better photos, go outside and take more photos.
Stop watching videos about photography and of photographers trying to tell you how to do photography (yes that means even me).
Because 90% of your growth comes from work being done by you, the artist.
You have the knowledge of what to do and how to do it.
You don’t need any new knowledge.
You need more experience and application.
You need time and effort put into developing your craft.
And there are no shortcuts around this, other than doing the work.
This means going out on days you don’t want to go out.
This means editing photos when you don’t feel like editing photos.
This means doing stuff without motivation or inspiration.
You see, all this time you spend meandering around whatever goal you have is actually wasting your time in the long run.
People draw circles around their lives trying to find “easier” ways of doing things in an effort to save them a little bit of time and energy.
And this time they spend running around left and right is actually a bigger time and energy waster.
Because you become obsessive about finding the “perfect path” that you forget to just get started and do the work.
This loops you into a cycle of “analysis paralysis”.
It’s productive procrastination because it feels like you’re doing work, but you’re not actually.
No real progress is happening.
People do this for all sorts of reasons.
Sometimes they’re just lazy.
Sometimes that’s just the person they are: all talk, no action.
Sometimes they don’t even know they’re doing it.
But plan all you want, plans without action are worthless.
Imagine your favorite artist, photographer, musician, film director.
They had a vision of whatever they wanted to make.
Now imagine they never made it.
Your favorite album was never made.
Your favorite film was never made.
Your favorite book was never written.
That is your creativity without action.
Because you see, everyone has the same goals.
You and I might want to make a book, or write a song, or paint a painting.
But its those who actually do it that reap the benefits of doing it.
Those who take action become rewarded for taking action.
Not those who plan, dream, and fantasize.
Those are nice, yes, but if nothing is done about it nothing can come from it.
So I’m setting the tone with this because that’s the harsh reality.
If you want to become a better photographer, take more photos.
Stop trying to find shortcuts around doing the work because the only true short way IS the long way.
If you learn to be oriented towards action in not only photography, but everything else in life, you will get more results.
Be Your Greatest Critic
The next step towards better photography is to learn to be your greatest critic.
People shy away from criticism because it’s painful and it hurts.
But if you can be objective about your trashy photography without beating yourself up, you can profit immensely.
Being your greatest critic has several benefits:
you learn to study/be objective about your photos
you get better
you absolve yourself from the opinions of others
Lets break each one of these down.
Learn to Study Your Own Photos
Many photographers don’t actually know what’s wrong with their photography.
They simply repeat the cycle of taking the same bad photos, over and over again.
Or the same good photos, which may result in consistency, but can also get stale and repetitive.
Obviously it’s difficult to know good from bad, right from wrong, if you’re new to photography.
But the sooner you get started, the better, because this is what allows us to build the filter we need for better images.
Let me give you an example.
Say you’ve just gone out and taken 100 photos one sunset.
You find the photos you like, edit them, then post them on social media.
You’re happy and you feel like your job’s done.
But it doesn’t end there.
You see that’s where most people stop.
My recommendation from here is to take it one step further and ask yourself:
“What did I like about this photo?”
“What did I not like about this photo?”
And get into the details specifically.
Write it down:
“I liked the colors of this one, the tones of this one, the expression on this guy’s face.”
“I didn’t like the exposure for this one, I felt like this was off center a bit, this one I took too quickly.”
And then ask yourself:
“What can I do better next time?”
“I can expose this better, I can be more patient here, I can tone down the colors on this one.”
Is this making sense?
Be clear, be specific, be deliberate, and ask yourself direct questions on how to improve.
If you can do this for every photo session you go on, you will get better faster.
Because most people take photos mindlessly.
And most people never stop to ask these questions.
However, simply asking yourself, “What could be better about this photo?”, can ignite a cycle of improvement.
One where you start growing at an exponential rate.
Every photo session becomes a learning experience, which gives you direct feedback on your photography.
And with every new photo session, you try something new and different.
Which gives you even more data and feedback.
Which makes you better overall.
And the cycle repeats itself.
Therefore you don’t necessarily need a mentor or teacher.
Outside opinion is great, of course, it can go a long way, but learning how to give yourself that feedback is also powerful.
Because it means you can recognize the flaws in your own photography.
And then and only when you’ve exhausted all options, you can ask someone else for the insight you can’t see.
Asking for help becomes a second resort, not the first one, and you become better because of it.
And in cases when you do need help, you can actually apply that advice.
You can actually use it and it makes more sense because you’ve already tried to answer the questions beforehand.
As opposed to advice flying over your head because you haven’t given it any prior thought.
So long winded explanation - learn to study your own photos.
You Get Better as A Result
The second reason we want to be our biggest critic is pretty self explanatory.
You get better as a result.
If you’re able to criticize what was good and bad about your photos objectively, you will get better.
You’ll be able to capitalize on the good things and improve the bad things.
And don’t beat yourself up, just be honest about it.
You know the situations you were in, you know what you could have done better.
It’s just acknowledging that and taking it forward.
Being your greatest critic doesn’t mean being your biggest hater.
That would mean only acknowledging the bad things you did.
But if you are also properly acknowledging the good things you did (because there is always something you did right), you can be nicer to yourself.
And that can go a long way.
You Absolve Yourself From the Opinion of Others
This is perhaps the greatest benefit from being your greatest critic.
When you learn to criticize your own work, nothing anyone else says can hurt you.
Whether someone thinks this was a good or bad photo, it doesn’t matter.
Because you already know that.
You’ve already gone through and told yourself what you did well and did poorly.
And so Anonymous comment#33562 doesn’t matter.
If you’re harder on yourself than haters are on you, taking criticism is light work.
And again, let me emphasize here that being your greatest critic is not the same as beating yourself up.
Don’t make yourself feel bad for no reason.
Don’t destroy yourself for taking a bad photo.
Just be objective, be honest, and laugh about your mistakes.
If you’re able to do this you can improve in anything while simultaneously not taking yourself or others too seriously.
Got it?
Build Something Bigger
If I could grab a photographer by the shoulders, shake them, and tell them to do something, it would be to build something.
I’ve found that one of the greatest struggles I had in photography was not having something to challenge me.
Of course I like to take random pointless snapshots here and there, but my photography revived itself when I gave myself a big project.
You see, if you find yourself bored with photography, feel like every photo is all the same, or have become disinterested in the craft, it’s because you lack a challenge.
And I know what your mind might be thinking, because my mind is thinking the exact same thing.
“No Andre, photography just isn’t fun anymore. I don’t need a bigger challenge, that just sounds like more work.”
And then your mind will make up excuses about how it shouldn’t do the work so it doesn’t have to do the work.
My brain does this all the time.
And we gotta cut this behavior out if we want to get better.
Because the fact of the matter is, your mind is bored because you’ve reached a new level.
You’re better at photography than you were some years ago.
And because of this, photography has fallen flat for you.
And the only way to make things interesting again is to seek a new challenge.
And maybe deep down you know this.
But you’re scared to challenge yourself and take your photography to the next level.
Because it’s uncomfortable, takes effort, and will stress you out.
And you’ll fail many times before you succeed.
So you’d rather complain about how boring photography is than go out there and fail yourself.
And you’d rather be comfortably stagnant in your photography than experience the pain of improvement.
Or maybe you’re scared of actually doing something hard because you think you’re not good enough and you wont be able to do it.
This weird state of being better than you were before, but not quite at that next level yet, and being scared to take the leap to get you there, can turn people into what I’d call a “cynical photographer”.
Replace cynical with whatever word you find more fitting.
This is the guy who comments on YouTube videos, hating on the creator.
The guy who disagrees with everyone just to disagree.
The guy who will always reference some famous photographer as their ideal to what your photo should look like when their photos themselves are also trash in comparison.
A keyboard warrior who lives online, not a “photographer”.
Don’t be a cynical photographer.
They are stuck at their level because they are unable to see past their own two feet.
And they’d probably be more optimistic if they weren’t always looking for ways to be so negative.
You see this is all forms of creativity, not just photography.
And it limits many artists because the problem becomes ego, not skill level.
The famous stoic philosopher Epictetus once said, “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”
Meaning the way to get out of this loop, stop being so pessimistic and judgmental about others’ photography, and take one’s own photography to the next level, is to be a beginner again.
Be willing to look like an amateur, make mistakes, learn from others, etc.
And challenge yourself with a hard enough project.
It may make you feel like you’re insignificant, but rising to that challenge is what you need to improve.
And this all stems from discarding your ego and getting out of your own way.
So this could be a photography zine, a photobook, any creative project you want.
Tell yourself, “For the next 6 months I challenge myself to make this project about this thing.”
“I don’t care if I look stupid, I don’t care if I fail, I don’t care if it falls short of what I think photography is supposed to be.”
And then get working on it.
Don’t worry about whether it’s fun or not or good or not, just get started.
And you’ll quickly find yourself getting immersed in the project.
You’ll start getting excited about using this favorite photo here and there.
You’ll get excited about the text layout, the print materials, etc.
And what I said earlier will begin to make sense.
It’s very counter intuitive but as a creative, you need to constantly be building something bigger.
If you’re not, you’re just stagnating, getting bored, judging others, and you’ll soon fall out of the craft.
And ironically, although your mind says it doesn’t want to do the work, it’s actually craving a challenge.
It’s craving something stimulating enough to get itself off its bed, outside into the world, to make something worth making.
So that’s building something bigger.
Its an antidote to not only your own ego, but also your stagnation and boredom with photography.
Play the Long Game
Many photographers are impatient.
Actually, many people are impatient.
They start something new, stick to it for a little while, and then quit and move onto the next thing.
This can happen for several different reasons:
you want things now - meaning you want to get good fast
you’re comparing yourself to others - meaning other better photographers makes you feel insufficient
you’re not willing to commit - meaning you don’t want to play the long game of photography because it’s hard to dedicate oneself for so long
All of which can lead you to quit because it got hard and you don’t know how to push past that resistance,
But for a discipline like photography or anything creative, you can’t do that.
Because growth, improvement, and great work takes time.
And if you’re impatient, you’ll quit before you can even begin to get good.
So this is one of the many things I have to remind myself of.
Be patient and play the long game.
The good news is that impatience is a normal human experience.
It’s not strange or weird - we all go through it.
And patience itself is a skill.
Meaning it can be trained and we can get better at it, even if we suck at it now.
It just takes practice.
So how do we become patient with our photography?
The key is to treat photography as a 10 year journey, not 1.
Stop trying to get good super fast and learn to get good super slow.
Don’t compress your progress into a short timespan and beat yourself up for sucking.
Instead, change your strategy.
Ask yourself: If I had 10 years to get good at photography, how would I approach it?
Answer this question and use this long term mindset to frame your progress.
What you’ll quickly realize is that a long term approach is rooted in the basics.
Let me give you an example.
Imagine you’re an architect building a building.
If you want to build a super tall and super strong structure, you wanna get the base right.
You want the foundation to be as solid as possible so it can hold the rest of it up.
And once that’s done, building up is easy.
Look at your creativity the same way.
Playing for the long game means spending as long as you can in this foundational stage, building the basics.
Ignore all the complicated advanced stuff and just focus on doing the simple important basic stuff really really well.
This can be anything from just angling your camera perfectly to nailing exposure.
Be detail oriented and take great time and great focus on getting the basic stuff right.
Make sense?
So this is my recommendation.
Give photography an indefinite period of time for improvement.
Treat photography like something you get better at over the course of your life, not 6 months.
And day by day, just find one small thing to improve with each photo.
And what you’ll quickly realize is that:
you’ll be less stressed about your progress
you’ll actually get better faster
Because now that you’re less stressed, you’re less emotional, and you can create better.
Plus, you’ll enjoy photography more.
Which is sort of the point right?
So don’t only apply this to your photography.
Apply this to your life as well.
Look at the timeline of your life as long game to play and orient yourself accordingly.
Understand that your big goals will take big time and try to enjoy the ride.
So anyhow, lets wrap this up real quick.
Here is a step by step no bs guide to better photography.
Step one. Take more photos period.
It’s the most obvious, most useful tip I could give you.
And because it sounds so simple, most people will dismiss it and not do it.
Don’t let that be you.
If you want to get better, go out and take more photos.
Step two. Learn to be your greatest critic.
If you can be objective and study your own photos, you can learn what you did bad and what you did good.
This will lead to other things like getting better as a result and freeing you from the criticism of others.
Because why would their words matter when you’ve already pointed it out to yourself?
Step three. Build something bigger.
Most photographers stagnate because they never challenge themselves.
They get to a point where they’re bored and lazy with photography.
And the only way to push yourself to the next level is through discomfort.
And discomfort is uncomfortable.
So build a book or something, challenge yourself to make something, and reinvigorate your photography.
Step four. Play the long game.
Meaning don’t try to get better overnight.
See your progression with photography throughout the course of your lifetime.
And be patient.
If you’re able to do this you will get better.
Anyways, I hope this was helpful - if it was, please share it with a friend.
Also if you like photobooks check out my latest photography project, “The Sinking Sun”.
It’s a book I’ve spent a lot of time and effort on, and comes with plenty of extra goodies.
You can also grab a free 4x6 print while you’re at it!
Thanks for reading, have a great day.
