I've been a professional photographer for over 20 years. My work has been exhibited around the world and published in books and magazines. Last year I won the Best Fetish Photographer award at the Fetish Awards. I still feel like there's so much for me to learn about photography.
My first piece of advice is to realize that photography, or any other art form, is a journey.
You should always be looking to improve, learn new things and try new things.
Foundation
I took six years of classes in college to learn all the technical skills. You don't need to do that.
Pick up a few books and get the basics down.
When I got out of college my skill-level exploded because I started shooting more. The moral of this story is that while technical details of photography are important - and you should know them - applying that knowledge is far more important.
Experiment
No matter what you like to take photos of, you need to mix-up the way you shoot. Try taking photos in radically different lighting conditions. Adjust the aperture, shutter speed and focus.
Strive to create new or interesting compositions. Get down on the ground. Get up in the air. Take photos with your eyes closed. Do anything and everything to bring some chaos into your photography.
Break the Rules
Know the rules first. When you do your reading on the foundational aspects of photography, take good notes and shoot to confirm what you've learned. Once you have the basics down, it's time to start breaking the rules.
Don't ever let anyone tell you not to shoot in a certain way, or that you're wrong, or not a photographer, or whatever.
There is a whole cabal of photographers who think they are gatekeepers of what constitutes a "good photo". Ignore them.
Consciously and consistently breaking the rules will help you establish your own style.
Learn New Equipment
Did you just get a new lens, or a new light? Get that equipment into the field as soon as possible and play around with it. Learn all the settings, and see how it reacts in different positions. Push the parameters. See what happens.
The last thing you want to do is pull out some new equipment right before an important shoot and miss a good shot because you didn't know your equipment.
PhotoShop and Lightroom and All the Rest
I'm in love with PhotoShop and Lightroom, and you probably will be too. That's no excuse for these words... "I'll fix it in PhotoShop."
Do everything you can to get the photo right when you snap the shutter. If you're not getting the right photo, then and there, change your settings, move stuff out of the background, shift your model, fix the lights, or do any other adjustment that's necessary to get the shot right.
While PhotoShop and Lightroom (and all the other programs that do digital modification) are wonderful, they are no substitute for taking a good photo.
Your "fix" will never be as good as just taking the photo correctly.
Shoot and Shoot and Shoot
I'm sure anyone who answers this question will say this, but don't ignore this simple plea; you need to shoot a lot of photos to get better.
When I started taking photos I had to spend so much money buying film and getting it processed that it made me more selective about how much I shot. That one simple thing held back my development early on.
Once I got my first digital camera it truly set me free. I became a voracious photographer and it helped me learn at an exponential rate.
Don't beat yourself up over mistakes. Learn from them. Mistakes are a gift.
Have Fun
Try not to get frustrated. Photography is such a fun and rewarding practice.
It doesn't matter if you do photography for pleasure or for profit, have fun with it. Enjoyment will translate into better photos.
In no time, you'll be taking better photos and then I can learn some new things from you.
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All images are copyright 2018 by Dirk Hooper.
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