01/16/2011 – Best Photographic Tip you will ever receive.

We all look for ideas, suggestions, tips or tricks that will help us become better photographers; this goes for amateurs and pros alike. Everyone wants to get better, sometimes we just don’t know how. Well, here is a tip that is the best tip you will ever receive from anyone and its simple.

“READ YOUR CAMERA MANUAL TWICE A YEAR”

How anyone can possibly think they can be a great photographer without knowing their equipment intimately is really beyond me, the goal is to know your equipment so well that you never have to reach for the manual to perform that one little tweak that will make an average image pop! I know it sounds stupid, but if your like me when you get something new the first thing you do is remove the packing, throw it in a corner and start playing with the new “toy”, and in the same corner as the packing material is the manual.

It is important to realize that there is far more to taking a picture than setting your camera on [P]rogram Mode (that P does not mean professional) and starting clicking. To be honest, if you really want to know what your camera is capable of, put it on manual and leave it there. Then pick up the manual and start reading it from cover to cover. You will be amazed at the little things you discover that you never knew about the camera.

Do you know how to switch from center weighted focus to all points without having to look at the camera? Can you turn AI SERVO on and off without having to stop looking through the view finder? Do you know how to change from shutter to aperture priority without stopping? These are all important features on your camera and the way to start learning is to know how to do it and then do it over and over and over again.

What if you are shooting say snow and you are underexposed, but your camera is set to increment exposures in 1 stop increments and you find that 1 stop now has you overexposed, do you know how to quickly change that?

Remember that photography really is painting with light, and light changes so quickly we need to be ready and we need to know our equipment.

It really is the best step we can take to improving our skills.

Happy shooting!