I bring you 10 general exercises that will help you improve as a photographer. If you need more, in this complete (and free) guide you will find all kinds of general and specific photographic exercises. For everything you need to practice, you will find a proposal.
In this article today you will find very diverse exercises, in some you will see that you will not even use the camera, but believe me, all of them will help you on your way to being a better photographer.
Let’s go get them?
1. Sign up for a photography course
Although self-taught photography learning is fantastic and it is something very honorable, from my own experience I will tell you that it is something much slower, it requires more effort as well as time and you miss many things that you would never miss with a course. Very basic aspects, too.
If you’re just starting out, I recommend you take a look at the Mario course. If you are already at a somewhat more advanced level, look for something more specific, such as processing, light, color treatment, etc. Surely in your city they organize something and if not, you can search online. In Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm (and the rest of the brands) they usually organize courses of this type (and no, you don’t necessarily have to have the camera of their brand 😉 ).
2. Join other photographers
If in your city there is a photographic association or a group of friends of photography, I encourage you to join them. Sharing this hobby serves to share experiences, learning, motivate you to go out and photograph, find out about everything that happens around you related to photography, such as courses, exhibitions, talks, contests, etc.
It also gives you the possibility that your work be seen and thus receive criticism, good and bad, which from the latter (as long as they are constructive, of course) is the one from which you can learn the most.
3. Read at least one photography book
Yes, reading is wonderful, necessary, exciting, revitalizing and a thousand other things, but if you also read a photography book you will delve a little deeper into this fabulous ocean of photography. Here are some of the best photography books on the market.
4. Enter a contest
And when I encourage you to enter a contest, a photo marathon or the like, I do not do so with the intention of encouraging you to win a prize. Your prize is your photo, your fun, the emotion you manage to convey. If you also achieve something material, welcome.
The main reason to present yourself to this type of call is the ability they have to awaken and test your creativity. That and that it is a perfect excuse for your camera not to be forgotten in the back of a closet (the worst thing you can do if you want to improve as a photographer).
5. Practice
You know: practice makes perfect. Contests test your creativity and force you to draw your camera, but you can’t just limit yourself to these events if you want to improve. To advance you have to practice, shoot and shoot until your fingers hurt. Of course, it is not a plan to do it indiscriminately and photograph the same subject in the same way a hundred times 😉 Practice different styles, do exercises, take advantage of any favorable opportunity to take your camera, participate in our weekly challenges, etc.
6. Learn from others
Especially at the beginning, when one is more lost than the rice boat, it is essential to observe the work of others. In this way you develop the photographic eye and discover what kind of photographs you like to, from there, create your own photographic style.
To learn from other photographers you can, as I mentioned before, join an association, go to exhibitions or visit galleries on the Internet. If you want to improve your photographs, you must contemplate many others, just as a self-respecting writer reads without measure.
7. Let loose
Break the rules, make photography mistakes and unlearn what you learned. Yes, you’re reading right, and no, I haven’t lost my mind. First of all, to break the rules you have to know them well. And if you don’t know them, you should start there. Once you control them, play to transgress them, to intentionally make mistakes to achieve different photographs, that have your own stamp, that go further and that capture the attention of any gaze.
8. Select and delete your photos
This is quite a difficult task, especially because when you photograph something it is usually with a lot of affection, to the scene or to this art in general, but in every image you capture you usually leave a little piece of yourself and throw it in the bin is not easy at all.
Now, if you want to advance as a photographer you must be the biggest critic of your work. Start with your first photos and delete those that are poorly made or empty (as long as they are not a special memory, of course, anything goes there, a blurred photo of your child’s birthday is better than no photo at all!!!) .
And when it comes to showing your work, if you don’t want to bore the staff, make a good selection first and show only the best, your people will thank you and you will have done a necessary and essential exercise in self-criticism.
9. Don’t take it too seriously
This is not a job, it is not an obligation. It is a hobby that you do for fun (unless you dedicate yourself professionally to photography, in which case, most of these purposes will be far out of your reach).
For this reason, the most important thing is that you see them as an opportunity to have fun and enjoy yourself in this world, not so that they involve an effort and you end up sweating the fat or with the pressure that you do not arrive, it is not at all about it’s.
Relax and take advantage of these tips to have fun. If you don’t, if you don’t have fun, stop to reflect on what is happening.
10. Shoot with your heart
You will never be a good photographer if there is no emotion in your photographs. Maybe you are a good product photographer, but nothing more. Music excites and reaches you when it makes you vibrate, the same happens with a photograph, it may not have perfectly harmonized chords, but if it provokes a feeling in you, you will want to look at it again and again. However, a technically perfect photo that is empty will go unnoticed and never make the charts.
And now… do you want to improve as a photographer? How many of these exercises are you willing to do?