Today I’m going to share with you some of the most valuable secrets of photography. You won’t believe how many of the world-famous photographers use these secrets to improve their photography without you even knowing it! If you follow the steps laid out in the rest of this article, I guarantee that you will take better pictures and become a more accomplished shooter.
Secret #1: Hard Work
You may be saying “Andrew, that’s not really a secret.” Yeah, I know. But it’s crazy how many people don’t realize how important hard work can be. Unless you’re a prodigy like Mozart (composing songs at 3), you’re most likely not going to be that good at something without really working on it. I’ve seen a lot of people get really interested in photography, ask me lots of questions, and seem really into it. They want to get the best gear and know the fast-track to being really good. Problem is, they aren’t willing to put in the endless hours of unpaid work that goes into learning the techniques of the trade. They aren’t willing to mess around with their camera for hours only to get one image. They aren’t willing to spend a lot of late nights editing photos or work on a project for hours only to be disappointed with the final product. To be really good at any given thing in this world, it takes time, effort and countless failures. Failures are great. Every failure gives you the opportunity to decide if you’ll allow that failure to hinder your progress or if you’ll choose to learn from your failure.
Secret #2: Time
You may be saying “OK dude, that’s also not a secret...” Hey, you’re right! But again, so many people don’t realize how important time spent is. To truly advance from the beginner stage of photography, you must spend the time honing your craft. There are so many different aspects to photography to be a well-rounded photographer. You need to take the time to improve. Thankfully, with the internet there are countless materials that you can learn nearly anything about photography for free. It’s incredible! Use it. Many of you have probably heard of the 10,000 hours rule. Essentially what this rule says is that if you practice something for 10,000 hours, you’ll be an expert at it. While that’s not necessarily true (quality of practice is more important than quantity of practice), the general rule rings true. There are people who are naturally gifted at certain things, but nobody is truly good and knowledgeable right from the get-go.
Secret #3: Motivation
Ok, you caught me. These aren’t secrets. I’m actually pretty convinced that with any major field, there is no “fast-track” or “secret” to success. Those are just words trying to sell you something. It’s all mostly common-sense stuff. Having quality practice time, a good work ethic and motivation are the biggest factors for improving at anything.
When I started out in photography I started out pretty poorly. I got a camera and enjoyed taking photos but really had no direction. Photography was a hobby back then, and while it was fun I didn’t really know where to go with it. That leads me to. . . finding motivation. Truly, the best thing I ever did with photography was a 365 project. A 365 project is a project where you have to upload one photo a day for a whole year. This gave me a daily motivation to take and edit pictures with a supportive community giving me feedback. I would HIGHLY suggest using https://www.tookapic.com for this. I believe it’s around 70 bucks a year, and if you stick with it I guarantee you will not regret it. In Steemit currency, it’s (currently) about 10 SBD for an entire year.
Tookapic taught me so much. Looking back at the first pictures I posted there is almost embarrassing now. I see now that I really had no idea what I was doing, but I’m so glad I went in all the way. Just go ahead and ask fellow Steemit users 
Secret #4: Conclusion
So, this might not have been the most groundbreaking photography article. That being said, I hope it helps those starting out understand a little bit more about what it takes to improve your pictures. In order be good at photography you must get off the couch, spend the long hours when you don’t feel like it, and keep at it in order to eventually see long-term improvement.. Photography is a game of quick gains, meaning once you start you’ll see dramatic growth. But to truly get to a different level you must keep at it, learning all the tiny details that will make a huge difference in the end.
I hope this article helped and if you have any questions please ask me! I’ll be posting more tutorials here in the future, so stay tuned!