By Ricardo Da Cunha

The following 5 tips represent the top 5 things that have helped me the most to develop as a photographer and I continually refer to these to further my development. I hope they too can help you along your own journey.

“the lookouts” captured by David Hobcote (Click Image to See More From David Hobcote)

1. It sounds simple but it’s true; looking at good photographs will make you a better photographer. Study images captured by the best photographers in your field.

Personally I’ve found continually looking at other photographers’ work and studying what it is that appeals to me in images that I like to have led to the most improvement in my photography. I really recommend you to be stern in which images you study – don’t study good photographs but rather only study ‘great’ photographs. A great photograph will make you stop and take notice and capture your interest. When looking at such images ask yourself the following questions:

• What elements immediately appeal to you in the image? Is it the light? The subject? The composition? Perhaps it was the low angle viewpoint? Understand what it is that you like so much from the image and then set out to include these elements in your own work. The more images you study the more apparent trends in what you like so much become.
• Observe the time of day that the image was captured? Was it at pre-dawn or after sunrise? Try and establish a trend and then set-out to shoot during the same times of the day
• Observe the direction of lighting; is the light hitting the subject from the back, front or is the subject side lit?
• What subject continually makes for a strong image?

There are numerous online sources where you can seek out great photographs but none better in my opinion than 500px. Simply visit the ‘Popular’ and ‘Editors Choice’ sections and choose your respective genre (i.e. Landscapes). There is even an iPhone App that you can download so that you can be inspired whilst you’re on the go.

2. Only show your very best images – not just images you’re reasonably happy with but images you feel proud to show. There was once a question asked in a presentation by a successful photographer and they were asked a simple question from one of the audience members. The question was how to do you become a great photographer? The successful photographer’s answer was then just as equally simple; “never show anyone your bad photos”. I think this is very true and just very recently is something that I’ve began to do better after a recent moment when I realised that I was sharing images on social media outlets because I felt the need to keep producing images regularly and by doing so compromising on quality and ultimately compromising my reputation along the way… Don’t make the same mistake that I made and only show your very best images.

“Paris II” captured by Tony Bramham (Click Image to See More From Tony Bramham)

If you’re in two minds or not sure about an image then such an image is just not good enough! Only show images that you’re absolutely convinced that they are a hero shot. Showing only 5 very strong images is much better than showing 8 very strong coupled with two weak images; those two weak images will greatly weaken the impact of the other eight and cause the viewer to change their perception about the quality of you as a photographer. The old golden rule still remains; quality is better than quantity.

3. This third rule is more applicable to landscape photography. In order to improve as a landscape photographer you need to be incredibly persistent! If you visit a scene and you’ve captured an image that you’re not quite happy with because the lighting conditions may have not been the best, then don’t settle; return to the same location until you capture an image of the same scene in amazing light. If you speak to any seasoned Landscape Photographer they will tell you that most of their trips and those painful early pre-dawn starts prove fruitless… Accept that you are not always going to come back with images to share and if you’re finding that you’re capturing a worthwhile image on each of your shoots then it’s not because you’re lucky but rather your quality expectations are not high enough! It takes years to build a collection of images that you can feel proud of and I have the upmost respect for successful landscape photographers for this very reason as I have a somewhat understanding of just how much effort has gone into producing their collection of images.

4. Learn as much as you can about your favoured genre of photography. It’s very true; you never stop learning and I like to think that I’m only just learning the basics in a lifelong quest to feel fulfilled. I never stop trying to learn and I quite regularly seek tuition and workshops from photographers who I deem to be among the best in Landscape Photography in my area. I love to learn more and fuel my desires to learn as much as I can about the craft of photography. I’ve met some great people along my short journey so far and I’ve found that the community of Australian Landscape Photographers to be a friendly one where we try to share knowledge to benefit one another. Identify your favourite photographers in your area and don’t be afraid to contact them about receiving some paid for knowledge sharing. Don’t expect that these photographers will just tell you everything that they know for free and instead respect that these photographers need to make a living from what they do.

Photo captured by Lilia Tkachenko (Click Image to See More From Lilia Tkachenko)

5. Finally my last tip is to just simply get out there and shoot! Learn by doing! Stop talking about it and just do it! Achieve better results through committed action. There will be many frustrations and mistakes along the way but mistakes are another word for experience. For each failed shoot a lesson will be learnt and this is what will greatly help you become a better photographer. I’ve made my share of mistakes and I’m quite sure I’ll continue to make a few more as I get more experienced but I can tell you that I am much better for each mistake that I’ve made. For example I once left behind an L bracket that holds the camera on my tripod head in the car where I was off bound for a pre-dawn waterfall shoot. Only once I had arrived after completing the hour long trek in the dark did I realise that I forgot the L Bracket… Year’s on and I’ve never forgotten that same L bracket ever again…