I never thought of myself artistic when it came to photography. I didn’t have that “natural eye”–at least not when I saw others’ photographs. I would look at a tree and say, “Okay…so it’s a tree…” My brother would look at a tree, take one picture (ONE!) and I would be dumbfounded. It was a piece of art.
Fast forward a few years. I did photography as a hobby, then people actually began to hire me. And one of the things they mentioned? I had a good “eye.” (Wait. When did this happen?)
Maybe I did have it naturally, but I just needed to practice, practice, practice.
When I first started photography, using my brother’s digital camera, I would snap twenty pictures of the same object, with almost the same angle. Did that really give me much practice? Since I was using auto-focus, no it didn’t.
One photographer suggested experimenting with three different angles on a subject (keeping the subject in the same pose). I didn’t know this when I was practicing, but on my own, I began narrowing my picture-taking to only 2-3 shots of the same angle. You know what? It made a difference! As I practiced, I learned what worked and what didn’t–when to take the picture and when to avoid pressing that button.
Here are a couple of angles from the same subject. Taken in St. Charles, MO, in 2011.
Photographers – What tips have helped your “photography eye?”
Photographers-in-training – What do you plan on practicing this week with photography?
If you have a photography blog, comment with the link below and I’ll visit! 🙂
Amanda Tero Books 