If I could tell new photographers one thing...

[ragmaan]

Whatever ( slr models, equipment, tools, thump rules ) you have , all are creating support only. The main thing is your eyes... see the world , Accept the beauty and appreciate it, then go for shoot... Before appreciating the subject, donot go for just shoot , then make as best....

Nowadays, we used to see a lot of people are just roaming the best places with their cellphones and shoot the subject without appreciating the beauty of the subject...

Things to be changed from our mind....

[maturner525]

Take off the sunglasses!!! I can't count how many times I've done this. You see a great opportunity full of vibrant color and good contrast only to look later and ask what happened?

Oh and the settings thing is true as well.. I've wrecked the exposure plenty of times because I didn't look at the settings. Now I try to set stuff back to a fairly "normal" state (zero out exposure compensation and flash power adjustments) before putting my camera in the case for the day.

[Izzy]

Memorize your gear so that you can work it without having to search around. Learn it enough where you do not struggle in normal and slightly abnormal lighting situations.

[SwissJon]

Reset your cameras settings back to your normal after a shoot.

Number of times I've been out and found my camera is set up badly and missed something or thought I was taking lovely photos and got home to find the camera they're out of focus or have movement blur... ISO setting, Mode (Manual, Aperture priority etc), Vibration Reduction, Autofocus, Quality, Hi speed shot or Mirror up or what ever.

I usually check my settings, but more than once I've forgotten that I changed the ISO, or switched off vr, and left it like that for the whole shoot.

[JFeinbergPhotography]

Originally Posted by SwissJon

Reset your cameras settings back to your normal after a shoot.

Number of times I've been out and found my camera is set up badly and missed something or thought I was taking lovely photos and got home to find the camera they're out of focus or have movement blur... ISO setting, Mode (Manual, Aperture priority etc), Vibration Reduction, Autofocus, Quality, Hi speed shot or Mirror up or what ever.

I usually check my settings, but more than once I've forgotten that I changed the ISO, or switched off vr, and left it like that for the whole shoot.

I usually use Custom Manual mode whenever I shoot, so that when I go back to regular Manual, the settings are automatically reset. It is a good practice

[Christian Grattan]

Originally Posted by candidrachel

To practice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

That I made every mistake possible. Instead of getting frustrated I understood that once I learned how to fix the mistake I conquered it. I rarely had that problem again.

Then I made better mistakes the next time.

[ACL Burger]

I would say - learn from the Pro's and read everything you can about photography. In books and on the internet. You are never to old lo learn.

[kirbinster]

I would tell them that it is impossible to take a good picture with an entry level camera. If you want to take really good pictures you MUST have the top of the line model and the most expensive lenses. Everyone with a brain knows that it is totally the camera, not the photographer that makes the picture. The pro photographer's union forces camera makers to make lower level cameras so that regular people can't take good pictures and have to pay them for their services. Heck if you could take a good picture with a cheap camera why would anyone pay big bucks for the expensive stuff? So, go out and spend a minimum of $10,000 before you even start out, its the only way to go.
NOT!!!!