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- Top Five Tips For Better Photographs

1. Put your cameras away and go buy yourself an art history book.
Study the history of art as a whole, not just photography. Don’t even think about picking up a camera until you’ve read it cover to cover.

2. Study the masters, constantly.
There is a reason why we call them the masters. Bresson, Smith, Salgado, study all of them. Keep studying them. Never, ever stop looking at good work.

3. Throw away your technology.
Turn off the motor drive, auto focus, auto exposure and put a big fat piece of black tape over that little screen if your shooting digitally. Meter by hand, focus manually, and actually look at what you’re photographing before you click the shutter. Slow yourself down, great photographs take time. Stop looking at the back of the camera to see if you got the shot. While your fiddling with the screen five pcitures just passed in front of your face.

4. Crop it with your feet.
Capa always said that “if your pictures aren’t good enough, your not close enough.” Crop the picture with your feet, not the zoom lens. In fact, throw out your zoom lenses. Primary lenses are sharper and faster anyway. Get closer, lay in the dirt, climb a tree, move with your subject. Don’t let the camera do the work for you.

5. Stop reading lists of tips and go make pictures.
There’s no way 5 tips will make you a better photographer. Hitting the streets and shooting will. Go make some pictures…

Part of the Pro Blogger Group Writing Project

Posted May 4th, 2007

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