Go Out and Shoot!

flickr stream. We’ve included some of his images below also. Here’s his tip.

My one and only tip to improve as a photographer would be to GO OUT and SHOOT!

For the earlier part of my venture into the photography hobby, I spent most of my time developing myself indoors. Reading articles, magazines, forums, RRS feeds and blogs. That’s not BAD and I strongly suggest continuing to read and grow in your knowledge of the craft, but the only TRUE way to improve is to put everything we learn and read into PRACTICE. Go out and shoot!

Disregard all fear of what people will think of you as you snap away on the street or at your favorite venue or park. “Oh what a tourist!”, “That camera’s not even that great”, “That looks like a cheap kit lens”, etc. Don’t let others or the price/quality of your gear set limitations on you! We all have to start somewhere.

I’ve read it numerous times here on the DPS forums and elsewhere. It’s not the quality or price of the camera, but the photographer BEHIND the camera that makes or breaks an image. The only way we can improve our photography is to practice and shoot a lot, not by breaking the bank and buying the latest and greatest.

I’m an introvert by nature, so going out and shooting random people, street life, and the like is NOT my forte. I get pretty intimidated when people start staring at me while I take pictures, and self-conscious. On a recent drive, I decided that I need to just break out of my comfort zone. I need to GO OUT and SHOOT. I stopped my car and had the experience of my lifetime. I ended up chatting it up with a few homeless men and bought them a meal in exchange for some pictures and conversation.

All of the research I did online definitely helped in me choosing to put my 50 f/1.8 on and shooting at the correct aperture without chimping, but only by putting it all into practice can I see what all that research and reading was about.