In this article I'll share five tips on  how I actually improved my photography. Here I'm not talking  technicalities such as sharper images, shallow depth of field, using a  tripod, or removing your lens cap. If you want to improve your photography beyond the craft with the  camera itself, you have to work for it and you might have to change the  way you think about it. The following five tips helped me to develop my  artistic skills more than my technical. 

Editing Is OK

The first tip is to enjoy the editing part. As much as many  photographers these days say, “shoot more”, “edit less”, and “wouldn’t  you rather spend your time photographing than editing”? You have to  learn some proper editing techniques. Editing is absolutely essential to  digital photography as the work in the darkroom is to the analogue  photographers. Those people thinking a photo straight out of the camera  and un-edited is somehow better, truer, or whatever excuse they can find  to not edit their photos, are cheating themselves. Even the best  photojournalists apply some kind of post-processing to enhance the  story. 

 What you shoot is a digital file; it’s a  digital negative. It’s light absorbed on a sensor, which the nice guys  at your favorite camera brand have managed to put into a digital file,  which is shown as an image on your monitor. It’s data manifested as an  image, that’s it. If you’re shooting JPGs the picture profile you’re  using has been calibrated from the factory to treat that data in a  certain way. No matter how you approach that file, some processing has  been applied, which has been decided by humans working in these  factories. You cannot avoid some kind of post-processing because it’s a  fundamental part of digital photography. Taking a photo in raw you have all the data available, which the  camera caught. But, just as a painter choose with what and how he paints  his canvas, it’s your job as a photographer to decide what colors and  tones you want to emphasize, as to tell the story you want to tell. The  effects, colors, and tones used can differ from photographer to  photographer, style to style, and field to field. Some prefer to only do  minor retouching, some apply black and white, and some again make major  edits. Some try to make an edit, which is close to what he or she saw  in the moment, while other photographers have different goals. None of  these techniques or goals are more right or wrong than others. It is all  about working with intention, which I’ll come back to later. Editing is  a part of the digital photographic process, period. 

  

Get Your Photos Critiqued

The second tip is to get in touch with other photographers who can  criticize your work. Or even better, get in to review groups with  photographers who preferably are better than you. I’d also say aim for a  good diversity in the members. The members do not all necessarily have  to be landscape photographers if you are, but make sure they’ve got  something to say and know what they’re doing. Most importantly, be  grateful for the criticism! People might not be right in their  critique and they might not understand your vision (if you've got one),  but in 99 percent of the cases, they are right. You can make group chats on Instagram or Facebook groups, among other  methods. How you go about it is up to you, but I’d suggest keeping the  groups tight with a max of 10 people who you want to work with. 

 

Photography Is a Subject

Tip number three is to realize that photography is a subject like any  other, with a lot of theoretical information available. Whether it’s  math, chemistry, language, music, painting, sports, or any other school  subject, there’s a theoretical level and a practical level, which work  together and influence each other. Photography is not just about going  out shooting. In that case, it becomes happy triggering without thought  or goal. That in itself is not a bad thing and can work therapeutic, but  for improving your craft I’d say don’t just go and shoot; study art.  More than just on YouTube. YouTube is a good start but study classic art  — read a book on the subject. If the famous artists such as Leonardo da  Vinci, Raffaello Santi, Rembrandt, Dali, Van Gogh, Monet, or Picasso  knew how much focus the rule of thirds get in photography they’d scream  out in horror and disbelief! Do you think Michelangelo used the rule of  thirds to paint the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel? Of course not! A couple of directions I can point you in when it comes to digging beyond the rules of thirds is Gestalt Theory, which is a psychological theory for visual perception. There is also Dynamic symmetry,  which is a complex tool and method for composition based on Gestalt  Theory. You probably know about it from the work of the famous  photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. If you want to see what I mean,  check out this video by Tavis Leaf Glover. Thirdly, there is of course Color Theory. 

Shoot With Intention

My fourth tip is to photograph with intention. Tell a story, display a  feeling, use the artistic tools to guide, stimulate, and touch the  viewer — just do something which is not just “pretty”. Guy Tal has some  excellent blogs on his work, be sure to check them out. Here are a few of my photos which hopefully is more than just a "click": 

![how_to_actually_improve_your_photography_8.jpg]() ![how_to_actually_improve_your_photography_9.jpg]()