Why I decided to write a post on the 5 most common mistakes in photography.
Since photography is taking up more and more space in my days, also due to this blog, I happen to spend hours on the internet looking at the shots that other photographers like me take in the rest of the world.
I find it a useful exercise since no one can ever define himself as completely “arrived” in his field, and that there is always something to learn. From everyone.
At the same time, however, my scouting and analysis activity often leads me to detect macro errors (sometimes even in photos that I myself made in the past with less awareness) that I thought in this post to enclose in five main macro areas.
Watch out for blurry photos
It seems odd to find this at the top of the 5 most common photography mistakes list.
Yet you can’t imagine how many (in my eyes) blurry photos I happen to see on Facebook and Instagram, even from people who should have a certain familiarity with the camera.
The reason? A careless eye in post processing that makes us say, too hastily, that everything is fine.
How to avoid unexpected blur?
In addition to greater attention in reviewing the shot, it may be useful to have a shutter speed that is not too slow (1/50 for static subjects and 1/400 minimum for moving subjects) and to stabilize the camera to the maximum just before the shot.
Breathe and shoot.
I don’t know if you have noticed it too. I do. In the past, for example, when I took landscape photos or single-subject photo books in the studio, my finger was particularly heavy on the shutter.
By the way mine was a sort of “trawling” photography policy, that is, I photograph as much as possible, as if there was no tomorrow and you will see that at least some of the photos that will come out will suit me. It was a working technique: yes, in the sense that by continuously shooting shooting
I actually managed in the end, among thousands (and I’m not shooting random numbers) of photos to find those 20-30 that were exactly how I wanted.
However, this cannot be said to be an efficient, albeit effective, approach. In fact, think about what it means to be there to post-process 1000 photos.
It wasn’t easy for me and to be honest, my Mac’s memory wasn’t very happy with it either.
But it was, I only understand today, a stage from which to pass to get to what I now call the “awareness of the shot”. Today the same book, in the studio or in the landscape, will end up counting at most one third of the photos I took before.
Why? Because now I am much more aware while photographing what I am photographing and what I want to achieve from my photography.
It is an awareness that can be reached with experience in the field and only after having achieved an in-depth knowledge of the camera, so don’t be surprised if you realize you don’t own it right away. Will arrive.
Melior NON abundare
Crowding of subjects is one of the most common mistakes, which is why I decided to include it among the 5 most common mistakes in photography.
Obviously there is no maximum number of subjects that can be included in a single shot but my experience tells me that there should be at most one main subject and a few others who, however, must have a complementary function.
The eye of the “visitor” must in fact focus on the primary subject and all the others must appear only as a contour to the view, not distracting the view from the primary.
Focusing on a subject, in addition to making it easier for the end user to see the shot, also makes life easier for the photographer since there will be fewer points, within a single photograph, in which to control lighting and focus.
The equipment is at your service and not the other way around
A typical mistake that many, especially non-professionals, make is to try to take shots thinking about the best that their camera allows them to do.
So for example we will have “landscape architects” or “primo piano addicted” who have taken these paths not out of a personal predisposition but simply because they realized that their camera gave its best in such contexts.
It is not a concept of photography that belongs to me. Let’s remember that photography is an art.
Van Gogh didn’t use orange because he liked how it came on canvas but because it was able to better express some of his inner anxieties.
Similarly: think in your head about the photograph you want to make and only after this you prepare your camera to reproduce this idea as faithfully as possible.
If necessary, even if it is an expensive choice, I admit, do not be afraid to change the instrument: however, you will gain in satisfaction. Here I show you one with which I get along very well.
Limit the corrections
I understand that in the era of Photoshop and filters this may appear to be an archaic concept, but so be it. Go easy on editing your shots, or use common sense and measure. Let yourself go to those over edits that only end up giving the image a heavy and tacky look in which the initial subject has lost all its initial nature.
At the same time, however, don’t be lazy. Almost never a RAW can keep the original look of when it was shot. Small adjustments in brightness, contrast and saturation can help you complete the work you started when, as mentioned earlier, you first imagined the photo in your mind, giving it depth and structure.
