What photography tip would you give your past self?

[jsecordphoto]

Wake up for sunrise

 

[Wizard15001]

I would tell my younger self: "Don't you dare shoot that first wedding.....It will kill your desire".....

I know a lot of people enjoy shooting weddings, but after 6 years of dealing with wedding parties, I was burned out.....didn't pic up a camera with interest for 20 years or better....just now getting back the desire.....

 

[melissajeanne]

Thank you for asking this question! So many great responses! So much to learn... yippee!

 

[MandaSue]

I would tell my past self to have more fun with it. When I started out with photography, it was all wonder, rainbows and unicorns. After being beat down by clients and worry, I kinda lost that love and passion I once had for the craft. I'm trying to find that love and passion once again.

 

[pthrift]

Actually read the manual to learn the controls. Once I did that my shots started getting 100x more consistent

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4; probably while slacking off at work

 

[ruifo]

Travel light!!
Primes are wonderful for that!!

 

[Kanthaka]

2. Come to forums for fun and basic help, but only listen to 20% of the advice given.

Why only 20%?

 

[Vince.1551]

Haha 20% is a very forgiving number


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fred Berg]

Don't become snobbish about snapshots: some of the best photos you'll ever take will be of this kind.

 

[pthrift]

Don't become snobbish about snapshots: some of the best photos you'll ever take will be of this kind.

This is good info especially on Internet forums...

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4; probably while slacking off at work

 

[Skyehammer]

I would tell my much younger self of 2012 to put the £1000 I paid for my Nikon D7000 Kit to put the money in a savings account , buy a Nikon F80 to practise with for a couple of years and get a D7000 for £500 instead , or buy a D7100 , or even put more money away during those 2 years and buy a D800E .

I would then tell my younger self ' Don't be such a boring bast**d , buy what you want when you want , you can't predict the Future ! ' .

p.s. I would tell myself to buy ' Exposure For Dummies ' and Bryan Peterson's ' Understanding Exposure ' and I would have got there a bit quicker , not that I've got there , you understand .

 

[Michel88]

To invest in a DSLR earlier on.. I had some amazing sightings during a 6 month stay in South Africa, and had to take shots with my point and shoot... Turned out OK, but nothing great..

In terms of shooting: Probably to take it off the auto and shoot in A / S / P / M mode from the start

 

[gsgary]

Don't give up film for digital

 

[Solarflare]

1. Don't worry about gear as there will always be something bigger and better out there.

IMHO the question is not : what is the best gear, its: what is the SUFFICIENT gear.

2. Come to forums for fun and basic help, but only listen to 20% of the advice given.

If a future self would tell me that, my answer would be: which 20 % ?

 

[PaulWog]

I am a super-beginner to this whole photography thing and I have found a ton of awesome resources for the basics, but of course with any skill it seems like practice and experience is key...

What is one nonobvious thing that your personal experience has taught you that you wish you could tell your past self?

Buying advice: Pay more, and pay once for gear. Budget? $1000 you say? Let's move that up to $3500 and get work done.

Shooting advice: Less is more, but sometimes more is more. Know which is which.

Framing advice: Leading lines, foreground, midground, background, those are the rules that can be played with or broken.

Last bit of advice: Everyone has an opinion, everyone also has an ______. Whatever you learned today might require a complete relearning another day due to misunderstanding, or a bad source.