Friday Photo Tips

Over the last week I've been thinking a lot about printing for an upcoming exhibition plus, I had a small print run for a few sold photos. On top of this I had an opportunity to do a review on a print company's photobook. So, with this in mind what better way to start this Fridays tips than with printing.

26. Prints

Ever got that great shot, you know the one you’re proud of, you’ve put it on social media, it’s on your phone to show your friends, it may even be a screen saver for a while. Eventually though, it gets relegated to a hard drive filing system, only to come out occasionally. In today’s disposable digital world most photos end up like this, why? Because we don’t print them out. If you’ve got that awesome shot get it printed out and put it on a wall, if you get multiple prints you can give them away to friends and family too. They may become conversation pieces and you never know where that conversation will lead.

27. Exhibitions

A lot of towns and cities have arts exhibitions, ranging from small venues such as libraries, churches, even bars and cafes all the way up to art galleries and large international shows so, why not find out if you can get your work shown in them too. A good way to find out about photo exhibitions is to keep an eye on social media especially in your local area. Occasionally there will be calls for photographers to send work in to be shown for a special event. You can also approach smaller venues and ask if you could exhibit your photos there for a certain period. Some photography clubs also put on exhibitions so, it’s always worth joining one.

28. Art Galleries

Try visiting an art gallery occasionally and looking at the paintings on show, I know we’re photographers but, photography was born out of previous art forms and you can learn a lot from it. Photography took its compositional ideas from painters, looking at a canvas you may see how the painter has used leading lines or how elements fit together in the scene, you may be able to use these compositions in your own shot as well. But, why don’t we just look at photos online, we can find it all there too, can’t we? Well, yes you can, but the good thing about looking at paintings is, good artists tended to use the compositional elements in subtle ways and you hav to really dissect the painting to find them, improving your eye for spotting them in your own shots as a benefit.

29. Learn to play an instrument

You may be thinking, what’s that got to do with photography? But, hear me out on this. It’s not just playing an instrument, it can be any creative pursuit. Trying something new can inspire your thought process in different ways, leading you down new avenues of creativity. Maybe it will help you focus on what’s important in your work or put ideas together that seem disparate. Whatever it brings, it could be a new way forward in your work.

30. Competitions

A great way to improve your photography is to regularly enter competitions. There are lots of free and paid for ones about but, just make sure they a properly run and not about promoting someone else’s gear or services. Entering the competition sphere can give you a good idea of what you need to do to improve your own photography compared to other entries, that’s unless you keep winning them! Some competitions may also rate your entries say, on a scale of 1-20. One thing to be aware of though, judges can be prejudicial against certain photos if they don’t like the style, no matter how good the image is, this is all part of the challenge when entering, and a lot is being done to re-dress the balance in this area.