How do you get better at photography?

[480sparky]

.....What about you? How do you learn?

Go forth and actuate.

 

[MLeeK]

practice practice practice, learn something new, screw it up, get it right then practice it over and over until you can get it right every time. Start all over again with another aspect of photography. Repeat for the next 50 years.

There are tons of ways to learn the little lessons: Here, YouTube, Books, Tutorials, websites, school, adult ed classes... It's all about how you learn best. I can read something and then apply it. Some people can see something demonstrated and apply it, some have to have hands on training.
Figure out what kind of learner you are and what you need. Then get yourself to learning!

 

[Steve5D]

When I first bought Photoshop, I didn't know anything beyond cropping, levels, and some cloning.

A friend of mine, who I have a great deal of respect for, put it very simply. He told me to select something in Photoshop that I didn't know how to do, and learn how to do it. Don't work on anything else until I had it down pat. Then pick something else that I didn't know how to do, and do the same thing, and on and on and on.

That's philosophy can be, I think, applied to photography in general.

Find something that will challenge you, and do it until it's no longer a formidable challenge. Then find something else.

I did (and still do) a great deal of music photography (concerts, magazines, CD, etc). As good as I am with that, I used to take a really crappy portrait. So, I resolved to get better at that. I joined a local photo group that works, quite often, with a modeling group. I did a number of those types of shoots. I got comfortable enough with it that and, now, I'm able to charge for portrait work, and have done artist shoots for companies like Mesa Boogie and Bose.

The point is to keep challenging yourself. You'll use what you've learned in the past, applying it to a new form of shooting. As a photographer, you'll grow and improve. And, if things go right, you always will...

 

[pgriz]

My photography skills are about decent (not great, but not too bad either) after about 40+ years of practice. What works for me these days is looking at other people's stuff, finding something really nice or intriguing, and then deconstructing it to figure out how it was done. I'll try to do it myself, and compare my efforts to what I saw. The process becomes one of "guided discovery" - I have an idea of what the end result should look like, but the path to it is not clear. I'm not just talking technical - there are some very nice compositions that made me stop and think - and try to understand the feelings I was getting from the images.

 

[amolitor]

Avoid the internet. Well, ok, if you don't really "get" exposure or something, or you want to learn about the basic lighting setups or something, the internet's a good source of basic info for free.

Looking at other people's photographs on forums is just going to teach you bad habits and cheesy gimmicks. Use your local library and get out books of "great" photographs. You might not like them, but *someone* did, see if you can work out why. What on earth is there in this great pile of crap that made it "great"?!!! Then go invent your own bad habits and cheesy gimmicks.

 

[wsetser]

practice makes perfect.

No, practice makes permanent. If you practice something wrong, you'll end up doing it wrong every time.

 

[Steve5D]

practice makes perfect.

No, practice makes permanent. If you practice something wrong, you'll end up doing it wrong every time.

Truer words, my friend... truer words...

 

[skieur]

Learning what needs to be done in post to improve your shot such as adjusting contrast, colour, lighting, etc can lead you to learn how to make those improvements behind the camera.

For the record... this is the absolute ass backwards way to do things. You should always strive to get it right in the camera first. Otherwise you're nothing more than a graphic designer... not a photographer.

Post processing for film was originally done in a lab. Post processing of digital is done on a computer. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with getting it right in the camera, and NOTHING to do with graphic design.

skieur

 

[bladerunner]

One thing that helped me was to look at composition. Take a look at Rembrandt, Caravaggio, or any of the old masters. Look at how the proportions of the image balance, the lighting and contrast, etc. There is a lot to learn there that can be applied to photography as well.

 

[gsgary]

If you had bought the camera from Best Buy you would have been pro by now because they have a special program, "Pro in 1 hour" it comes free with every DSLR they sell

 

[PhotoWrangler]

Post processing for film was originally done in a lab. Post processing of digital is done on a computer. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with getting it right in the camera, and NOTHING to do with graphic design.

skieur

This goes down as the SECOND dumbest thing I've heard on TPF lately. Someone else has been carrying the torch, but you're catching up quickly.

 

[gsgary]

This goes down as the SECOND dumbest thing I've heard on TPF lately. Someone else has been carrying the torch, but you're catching up quickly.

Its also done in my kitchen

 

[Fred Berg]

Remain modest and make steady progress by combining study, practice and observation.

 

[PhotoWrangler]

I do it in my bathroom.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Haven't read everyone's responses, so this may be redundant... But like any beginning musician, don't be afraid of doing a cover version. Take an image you like, and try to recreate it.