A Journey Towards a More Professional Photographer (also the picture of the day)

I’m working my way towards making money from my photography. I really enjoy the trade craft a lot and if I get to do it as a job on the weekends, all the better. So I’ve bought some books to shore up my technique since I’m pretty much a self-taught photographer. One thing my latest book has driven home is something I’ve noticed countless times in magazines, books, and my own work. I need to relax and take my time. I know enough, and have slowed down enough, to think about the aperture and shutter speed in relation to the effect I wish to achieve. I also know to frame my shot correctly and double-check my ISO settings.

But I still need to slow down a bit more. I need to look at the histogram because I’ve come to learn that the LCD display lies. It almost always looks perfect there. But a quick check of the histogram would allow me to reshoot instead of lamenting it later on my compute rand trying to use photoshop to fix things. I even took a shot today and make a point of checking the histogram to try and cement it into my photography rituals.

Another thing I sought to work on today, but which was not mentioned in the book, is to really pay attention to setting up the lighting - especially when it’s something in my own house where I can control the lighting. I find that pictures look much clearer and have a sort of amazing quality when attention is paid to those kinds of details.

So here is my first attempt at taking it slow and being patient.