Hey guys! I’m back… I told you I’m working to be better at writing.

Anywaaaay, this one’s pretty different from what I’ve been writing this whole time. It’s not a travel piece nor a product review, I’s more just a luck post that I wasn’t really expecting to write about. Hope you do enjoy it though and do let me know if this is something I should continue or just stick to what I’ve been doing…haha. I didn’t really want to admit but in order for me to actually write this one, I have to. So here goes…

A couple of days ago I was looking for ‘inspirational’ videos to watch to motivate me to work - yes, by this I mean I was procrastinating hard core! I couldn’t get myself to do any work and I was having a really lazy day - hey I know we all do it. At least, I was watching things to do with Photography so I can redeem myself by saying I was partially working (I really wasn’t but just give me this one).

Moving on, I came across this video by James Popsys, an amazing Travel and Adventure photographer. This particular video was titled ‘9 TERRIBLE Photography tips!’ (Click here to watch this video). The title itself was interesting, I really wanted to understand what he meant by this. Obviously as a photographer, and a kind of newbie, I felt I needed to watch this because I was probably missing out on some really important info. Also, I did feel like it would probably boost my confidence and I’d know I’m not doing something wrong.

The video was quite informative but also it was funny - this guy is pretty jokes. This one’s going to be a little review’ish’ of the video but more what I thought and how I felt about it after. A lot of the things he said I was able to resonate and agree with him while the other made me feel much better about myself as a photographer - as in I wasn’t breaking any ‘rules’.

After he introduces how he got to actually make the video he starts mentioning these tips in number form. He speaks about 9 different ones but obviously I’m not going to talk about all of them but rather pick the main ones that I’ve usually heard of.

The first terrible tip he mentions is ‘always shoot wide open’, this is referring to the aperture a.k.a F-stop, having the widest aperture i.e f1.4 or f2.8. This basically means leaving the hole through which the light travels, in a camera, completely open which is letting in a lot of light (here’s a detailed explanation of what this means). He claims that even though the wide aperture allows you obtain a shallow depth of field and a professional look with background and foreground out of focus (like the image below), it’s not the greatest advice because you risk having your photo out of focus or a vignette created around the image. The biggest disadvantage is that if you’re subject is just slightly off from the center you lose that sharp crisp focus.

To an extent, I agree with him because I have noticed some of my photos losing focus simply because my subject is not in the center. This is frustrating because when you go back to review your photos you tend to lose out some of your best photos. On the other hand,  closing down the aperture means allowing less light which leads to blurry, out of focus too especially when you are shooting in low light conditions.  Like he says - you shouldn’t always shoot wide open, it’s important to play with the aperture in order to get the image you’re looking for.

Obviously, aperture is not the only thing you change to obtain certain photos - there’s more settings like shutter speed and ISO that you tweak according to the aperture. Don’t worry I’m not going deeper into these photographic terms. My go to aperture is usually between f1.4 to f4.0 and f20 - f22 for waterfalls. He concludes saying “there’s a time and a place to shoot wide open” and I a hundred percent agree.

The second one spoke to me on another level. For me this has been the most terrible tip but at least now I know I’m not the only one! The tip has been ‘pick a style’, when I first started telling people I am venturing into photography, the first thing they told me is to pick a style and go with that, I mean even now I get told the same thing.

The funny thing is now that I’m rethinking about the amount of times I have been told that I’ve realized that this advice mostly came from non- photographers.

Yes, I know all successful and professional photographers have a style that defines them but like Popsy mentions they didn’t just pick it, or pluck it out from a bucket full of genres or styles. It’s not easy and it’s something you experiment with over time until you find your calling.  Because of this terrible tip I always thought I would simply only be doing Travel & Landscape Photography because I know that’s something that I work well with, I always thought that would be the style that would define me. Until last year, when I spoke to Pareet a.k.a Cheka Photography (If you are reading this; thank you so much for taking out the time to speak to me and always motivating me). He advised me to try and get into children and family photos and that’s when I started experimenting - today, I’m here and as most of you would know Maternity & Children Portraits are one of my specialties.

I wouldn’t say I’ve found my style or genre because I still do Product and Event photography too, I’m still experimenting and finding my calling. But, I would have been stuck sticking to Landscape & Travel simply because of this one terrible tip!

Useless tip number 3 - ‘always use a tripod’. Again, another one I totally agree with. There time’s when I’m shooting I realize the tripod just gets in my way. It takes way too much time setting up the tripod then changing it when you could simply just move yourself with your camera. Also, with a tripod there’s some angles you just cannot get to. Is it bad to say at these times I feel trapped by my tripod?  

However, I NEED the tripod when I’m shooting with low light conditions because I shake way too much! Oh and of course for long exposure shots where I need the camera to stay still like nightscapes or flowing waterfalls. I have realized that sometimes I do tend to shake more than normal causing a blurry photo but that’s why I try and take the same photo at least twice!

The tripod is my best friend when I’m shooting products and sometimes food, especially when it’s for the same client because this helps me maintain the angle for the products allowing consistency in their product gallery. Using a tripod is a personal preference, you don’t HAVE to use it.

The next one is something that I always thought I did wrong but now I realize it’s sometimes the smarter thing to do. Terrible tip  number 6 ‘Nail your focal length’, he advises not to do that but rather find the rough composition you’re after and then zoom out a bit to give space for cropping and angling. This is because when trying to get the exact right focal length, you sometimes end up wasting a lot of time and I noticed this. I used to do this before and used to waste a lot of time just to get the one picture. I do this almost all of the time, when I’m shooting I prefer to give my composition some breathing space allowing me to make more changes in post. Here’s a few examples of my before and after:

Tip number 7 and the last one I’m about to review, yes I know I skipped a few - ‘Only shoot when the sky is on fire!’ - he is specifically talking about Landscape & Travel Photos. However, this timing can also be referred to as the golden hour/ blue hour (best times of light), this is usually the evening hours or early morning hours). Yes. These are the best times to shoot at however, you should not be limiting yourself only to these hours! He says “there’s always thing to take photographs of regardless of whether you have orange light or not”, this is true. I’ve noticed that sometimes some of my photos are really good despite not shooting at these times. Also, there’s times, especially for portraits, you get more clouds during the day giving you a natural diffuse effect rather than shooting with the orange light.

The effect that comes from these photos are undeniably beautiful but try pick your camera and other times and shoot - you never know you might surprise yourself!

Obviously shooting in golden hours are a must for me because I NEED to use my Lens ball without causing a fire! haha

Thank you for reading through this - hope it helps or informs you a little. Please do let me know what you hink. I trully ppreciate your feedback.