making mistakes is all part of the
learning process and as a beginner
there's a lot of lessons to be learnt
anyway enough of the condescending tone
and let's show you how to sidestep those
pitfalls metaphorically that
that was just a bit of dog poo I was
dodging there yeah right oh just before
we get cracking I just want to give a
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video there are plenty of errors you can
potentially make when learning
photography but let's start off by
cracking open the first five first off
kilter horizons they look wrong kilts
coming off in the horizon probably look
wrong also yes
that's what my neighbours told me anyway
but look off into the distance between
that green thing and that grey thing that
thing should be straight because that's
how you see it in real life that is
unless you're Rain Man in real life in
which case you see the world in tilt it
seems like such a small thing but it can
spoil your image in a big way just a
tiny bit off is enough to ruin an image
and it's something that's quite easy to
overlook because you're too busy
figuring out what settings to use or
what your subject is doing or where it's
going do use the tools on your
camera your camera probably has a
grid for your viewfinder or one of those
electronic levels yeah the electronic
level and grid is quite easy to use when
you're shooting something like a
landscape because the landscape isn't
moving anywhere fast and quite often
there's quite a clear horizon but what if
you're shooting something that doesn't
have a clear horizon or something that's
moving too fast for you to keep checking
electronic level do keep using the grid
but look out for other lines or objects
buildings are a good reference point
in this shot one might be tempted to use
the advertising board as a reference
point but given that I was shooting from
an angle in the first place that
advertising board is supposed to be
slightly slanted and if I levelled that
up it's gonna make the shot a bit wonky
you don't need to get it perfect because
you can adjust it in post but get it as
close as possible because you'll lose
part of the image when you just do
whatever you do just make sure your
image is level before you hit publish
but then there's a Dutch angle which
technically doesn't have anything to do
with Holland this is a purposely
off-kilter shot quite often used to
create a feeling of uneasiness but this
is something you can quite easily get
wrong and something that people use all
too often to try and make it feel a bit
arty even pros get it wrong just watch
the first Thor movie the next one is all
about getting the basics right basic but
fix your framing and your photos will
look anything but basic because if you
have an interesting subject but you're
not framing it right it doesn't really
matter such as having loose framing like
this I'm over here by the way in fact I
could have just done this with VO and
just wave my hands save some time save
some energy talking there's some hand
wavy action photography shouldn't be
about being told what subject to take
photos off so the problem of framing is
not so much about what to include in
your shot as it is what to exclude from
your shot surely you will know what
interested you big red dot thing people
architecture that beard so you know what
is that is interesting enough to make
you take a shot in the first place but
think of it this way if somebody else is
looking at your photos will they know
what it is that is interesting within
that frame is it clear enough loose
framing adds unnecessary information
that dilutes what you're trying to show
move in closer this photo doesn't mean
anything in particular but does a better
job of doing it and another thing that you can try
is to just open up the photos that are already
on your hard drive in your editing
software and just crop them in see if
you can improve any of the photos just
by cropping in tighter the other mistake
you might make is to frame things too
tight and look at this that's just too
much face more face than one really needs
you want to frame it tight enough but be
careful not to cut off things like your
subjects legs it will look odd and I
don't mean literally cutting their legs
off all of a sudden
[Music]
yes so crop it in tight but not too
tight you need a bit of context in your
photo right and there's not just about
cropping off body parts adding just a
bit more visuals that will reveal a little
bit more about the subject or the scene
will add a lot more to the photo
applying filters and effects to your
photos can make them visually more
appealing but you can have too much of a
good thing like too many bloody filters
it affects whether it be digital or
actual physical filters doing it digitally is fake
it has to be done in camera with Instagram creative
filters LUTS as well as the old-school
filters it's all too easy to go crazy with them
got your filters? one or one hundred because you
get an instant effect that is pleasing
to the eye I quite like the green but
it's just the surface layer don't get me
wrong filters and effects are totally fine
but it should be the icing on a cake you
still need that moist spongy bit that is
subject framing composition to make a
nice cake I'm hungry now you can't just
have an image that's all about that single
layer or in this case 100 now the fifth
mistake in this list is making images
that are too soft now one big complaint
I always hear from new photographers my
image is too soft it's not sharp enough
it's fuzzy now there are a couple
reasons why you might be making images
that are too soft number one you're just
too damn bloody shaky
or number two wrong settings on the
camera and there are a few potential
causes of this number one shutter speed
too slow and what you can do to try and
minimise this is to use a shutter speed
that is one slash and your focal length
easy number two not in focus the fix is
to focus it properly first number three
definite large aperture smaller number
small bit in focus so the other stuff is
blurry looks soft number four
diffraction opposite end of the spectrum
small aperture large f-number it's soft
because all that light is trying to go
through a small aperture I just realised
how rude that looks yeah think of it
this way if you go really squinty Mc
Squinty with your eyes like this just
look how crap the world is when you've
got your eyes all like that but the big
mistake is getting so wrapped up into
thinking all my images too soft is not
sharp enough and then you end up getting
another lens a new camera do not buy new
gear just to fix that focus if you
excuse the lame-ass photography pun on
making good shots first
nobody cares about how sharp your images
only yourself yeah so the last mistake
is not so much that you're making images
that are too soft but thinking that you
are
it's the feeling that your photos aren't
cutting it due to some technicality now
your gear isn't working well for you
nobody's going to look down at you for
having a soft image but they will if the
photo is ultimately lacking any
substance so that's it for this video
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