The Path to Great Photography

In a world where almost any subject has been photographed thousands, maybe millions, of times, it’s easy to wonder what makes a good photograph or good photographer. Anyone with a smartphone can get lucky and snap an accidentally well-composed and well-timed shot. But, those of us who dedicate our free time, and spend a lot of money on gear, to consistently get good images can’t rely on those lucky shots. We need to be able to produce good shots on a consistent basis. And, if we’re fortunate enough to have a client paying us for our work, we owe those clients the good, and possibly great, shots. The path to getting good at our craft is not an easy path.
The first part of this path is knowing our gear. We need to be able to operate our equipment without thinking about it. It does us no good to be in the presence of a great shooting opportunity while fumbling to set the ISO, aperture, or shutter speed. Practice, practice, practice. And, this gives us one more reason to stick with our favorite brand of camera when we upgrade. The major brands, Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus, etc, tend to keep their menus and buttons relatively consistent between camera bodies, so there’s less of a learning curve when upgrading within a brand than upgrading to a camera of another make. Plus, our existing lenses usually fit other cameras of the same make, so we can continue to use lenses that we like, and know how they’ll behave under a variety of conditions.
Second on our path to craft is simply putting in time behind the lens, getting familiar with ways to handle unusual situations. The more experience we have, the less unusual a situation will seem. We’ll know how an aperture will affect a shot, or how any shutter speed will render a moving subject. And, we’ll get better at getting that great composition on the fly.
Lastly, the path to good craft involves becoming a good self-editor. We need to recognize our best shots, and not get attached to mediocre shots. In any situation, present only good shots. Or, if possible, show one or two great shots – those will have more impact than a lot of mediocre images. No one needs to see clunkers, whether showing shots to friends, presenting images to a photo club, or entering photo contests.
I don’t know if the axiom about needing 10,000 hours to become an expert is true. But, in getting good at photography, more hours in the field, and more hours culling our shots on the computer can only make the process easier, and more natural.