Photography has become increasingly popular in recent years and there are many reasons for this. Equipment has become cheaper, for example, and advances in technology have made it easier to take beautiful photos. In the past, you still had to have film developed and didn't know what the finished picture would look like. Nowadays you can already see the picture on the screen. The problem: When something becomes so fast-moving, it loses its value. Fortunately, there are many photographers for whom photography is a real craft. And because no master has fallen from the sky, we show below common misunderstandings and mistakes that you can make when taking pictures. If you make some of these mistakes, please don't feel bad. We all make mistakes and that's a good thing. These errors are particularly common:
1. Buying a DSLR is enough to become a good photographer
Many people think they are good photographers because they own a DSLR camera. This is of course wrong. Buying a sports car doesn't make you a racing driver. That's why buying a new camera doesn't automatically make you a professional photographer. Photography is an art and this art must be learned by photography beginners.
2. Expensive cameras and larger lenses make us better photographers
This is the second misconception one has in photography. When you see a good photo, you often ask the photographer what camera they have. And not how much time and effort he put into making such a beautiful picture. That's a bit like asking a famous painter what paints and brushes he used on the masterpiece that just fetched €10 million at auction. So buying an expensive body and larger lens will not make you a better photographer. It takes time to learn, practice, and use your equipment to its full potential.
3. Higher megapixels mean better image quality
This is also a misunderstanding of many photography beginners. They believe that a camera with more megapixels gives better image quality. However, this assessment is not the fault of the user. Because nowadays all mobile phone companies only talk about megapixels in their ads. Megapixel is just the size of the image. So if a camera stores 6000 x 4000 pixels in an image, that means 6000 x 4000 = 240000000000 pixels. So it's a 24-megapixel camera. The image quality depends on the sensor size, the lens, the light and many other factors.
4. We don't need to read the manual that comes with the camera
Life is very fast paced these days. And when we buy something, we usually don't have time to read boring manuals. That's why most people don't even use 10 percent of their camera's capabilities. If someone always uses their high-end DSLR in full auto mode, it's like driving a Maserati in first gear all the time. That way he will never know about the top speed of his car.
5. We don't learn anything about the basics of photography
Let's try an experiment. Take a look at various Instagram pages and you are guaranteed to discover photos with poor lighting and composition very quickly. Why Because the basics of photography such as exposure times, ISO values or apertures are often not yet internalized. If you want to be an experienced photographer, then you need to learn important basics. They must learn to see light and how to use it properly. You should also learn the rules of image design, know the golden section (the rule of thirds) and design the motif accordingly. For example, if you can incorporate a story into photos, a lot has already been gained. Nowadays everyone has a camera or smartphone in their hands and takes hundreds of photos. So if you want to stand out, you have to make your photos extraordinary. And you can only do that if you know what you're doing. So you should learn how to take photos, take some photography courses, workshops or online photography courses and try the best tips from around the web. And when you see great pictures with a wow factor, try to find out what the photographer did differently or what makes the perfect photo..
6. We don't think before we take pictures because we believe that taking pictures is free
It doesn't matter whether we shoot with a DSLR or a mobile phone: nowadays we don't really think about it anymore because it seems free. We don't have to buy a roll of film, we can take as many photos as we want. And if the photos are not good, then we can simply delete them. And now let's be honest: think the same way Because photography is absolutely not free when you shoot with the DSLR. Every DSLR has a shutter that starts to give problems after a certain number of releases. So with every bad photo you reduce the life of the shutter and camera. Suppose you went on a photo walk and took 250 photos, but only 20 photos turned out good. Then you've wasted 230 shutters and still need to buy storage media to keep those great photos. And if you have decided to delete the 230 bad photos to save space, then you must be wasting your valuable time that could be used for more important things..
7. Too much use of post-processing software
With analogue photography, photographers used to spend hours in a darkroom to improve the photos taken by their analogue camera. Now, this work can easily be done with image editing software. And when something becomes that simple, it is misused. In this case, post-processing software is used to correct the bad photos, which is not really the point.
„Take a picture if you made a mistake and then simply correct it in the software. We should say goodbye to this thought. The software is only there to improve the image and should not be used too much. For example, always remember that increasing color does not always automatically result in a better image, and black and white does not automatically solve an image with poor colors. And not every picture looks good in HDR either..
8. No backup of your precious artwork
Don't make this costly mistake. Always index your images properly and keep a backup either online or on external hard drives so you don't lose your valuable work and can easily find it when you need it.
9. Focusing on one type of photography
Each genre of photography requires a different type of equipment and skills. For example, for wildlife you need a super telephoto lens, for landscape photography you need a wide-angle lens, for portraits you might need an artificial light source like a flash or studio light. As a beginner in photography, it definitely doesn't hurt to take a look around in each area, because you learn different techniques that you can then apply to other areas.
10. Too much theory, not enough practice
Many photography beginners spend too much time on the internet and get lost looking at other photographers' pictures. If you are doing this, then you should stop doing it. As a photo beginner, learn one thing after the other and, above all, apply it yourself. And important: keep going until you get the results you envisioned. Once that's the case, learn the next technique.
So get started! Practice with your camera, keep the technical basics in mind, dare to use manual mode and learn the photographic possibilities that your camera offers you. It is worth trying out short exposure times or sometimes long exposure times of a long exposure. Soon you will be even better at photography and impress your friends with great photos.