Every photographer should aim to take better photos. That is what I aim to do and teach. Here are the 11 things that I talked about in episode 172.
- What are you trying to do with your photography?
- Composition – what you put in your photos
- How to take photos – getting started
- Camera gear – what to buy and how to use it
- Camera settings – how to get image capture bang on
- Phone or camera? Which do you use?
- Learn from your photos and other photographers
- Image processing – the stuff you need to know
- How to save time but improve your photography
- Get out and practise more – but take fewer photos
- Become excellent at one photography thing.
These 11 things produced 16 episodes, and there has been lots of information and good stuff if I do say so myself.
Hi, and a very warm welcome to Episode 188 of the Photography Explained podcast. I’m your host, Rick, and in each episode, I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 27 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. I’m a professionally qualified photographer based in England with a lifetime of photographic experience, which I share with you in my podcast.
You can listen to this episode here
Or keep on reading – up to you!
I was going to do a summary, but I have changed my mind. After writing it three times, all I was doing was repeating myself. And no one wants that, do they? No, they don’t, Rick.
No, in this episode, I will talk about you, dear listener, and what you can do to start taking better photos. It is time to do something—if you haven’t already, of course!
So, where do you start? Well, if you have yet to listen to all these episodes, that is a great start, dear listener! And once you have done that, do this.
This is what you need to do to start taking better photos
You need to give yourself a decent amount of time to do this. This will be time well spent; the starting point is for you to take better photos.
Look at all your photos, wherever they might be—on your phone, PC, Mac, or mobile tablet, or photos in a box or album, of course. The point is that anyone can do this.
Choose the best photos—your favourite ones—ones you like and think other people will like. Interesting photos. Technically excellent photos. It doesn’t matter how many. Just do this quickly. First impressions are fine—don’t overthink this.
Put them somewhere, label them, flag them, put them in a box, pile them on the floor—whatever you can do to separate these photos from all the others.
Now, choose the 20 best photos—the ones you like the most, the ones you would like to take again, and those you think others will like. These are the 20 photos that people might want to share, publish, or buy.
Put these photos somewhere else—in a folder called “Portfolio” or a smaller pile.
These are the photos we need to spend some time with.
Is there a genre that sticks out? Is there a subject matter that sticks out? Are there any patterns or trends? Have you used similar camera settings or a specific focal length for these images?
Are these 20 photos your one thing? Or is your one thing amongst these photos?
These 20 photos should give you loads of clues about what your photography future might be.
Are you still trying to figure it out? No problem. This is the start of the process. But wherever you want to go with your photography, your best 20 photos are still your best 20 photos. Your 20 best photos are in your portfolio, a work in progress. That will never change.
And in the future, every time you go out taking photos, aim to get one photo you can add to your portfolio. But it has to be better than one that is already in there.
The talky bit
Okay, that was the scripted bit, and rather terrifyingly now, I’m going to pick up on some of the other things from the last 16 episodes. These are the main things, the most significant things. And this isn’t scripted; I’ve just got some headlines I will talk around. So, brace yourselves, this could be ad well, this is going to be ad libby, actually.
First thing, my one photo rule.
I’ve talked about this a lot, but it makes a massive difference and costs you nothing. It saves you loads of time, hard drive space, and faffing around trying to find something good. So, whatever you photograph, this is what you’re doing. You’re trying to get one photo. Not two, not four, not 178. One photo. Now, that could be a particular scene, a view, a product, a location, part of a building. Take one photo which is the best composition. Take time looking at all the different things and find the one composition within that thing that you’re photographing.
Don’t photograph everything and find the good one later. Try to get one photo and then move on to the next thing, whatever that might be. This forces you to think about the composition more and what matters in a photo. There’s only one thing that matters in a photo, isn’t there?
What’s in it? Is it interesting? Is it rubbish? And if you’re not concentrating on what’s in your photo, how will you get the best photo you can? So, you’re not finding the best photo later in editing; you’re creating the best photo at the time. It’s my one-photo rule, and I absolutely love it.
The take fewer photos rule
Now, that might sound a bit extreme; you might not feel comfortable with that. You might think I’m absolutely barking coming out with this stuff. So here’s a more moderated rule. It’s called the take fewer photos rule. And yes, you’re not taking one photo; you’re taking a couple, but you’re taking fewer photos than you would have before listening to this. That is the point.
And every time you take fewer photos, you’ve got a better chance of getting better photos. You’ve got a better chance of having better-composed photos. And when you get back to looking at your photos on whatever device you look at them on, you’ve got less to plough through, haven’t you?
And if you’re taking fewer photos, again, you’re still thinking about what you’re taking photos of, so the chances of getting better photos are significantly higher.
Think before you take a photo. I know it sounds so obvious. But I’ve been looking at my Lightroom catalogue, and I dread thinking how many photos I look at and go. Meh, it’s alright.
Can I be bothered to edit it?
Nope.
If I can’t be bothered to edit a photo, do you know what I do with it? I delete it; I get rid of it. What is the point of having photos I can’t be bothered to edit? If I can’t be bothered to edit a photo, why should somebody else look at that photo? And now I’ve gone off the subject of think before you take a photo.
The “can’t be bothered to edit it” was in one of the episodes, it’s a great question to ask yourself.” But, to get over the problem of having a load of rubbish photos, think before you take a photo.
Right, moving on, Rick. Come on.
Try to take great photos, not good photos.
No one goes out with the deliberate aim of taking bad photos.
I’m saying that. I wouldn’t have thought so, but if you do, let me know why and how it’s going for you. No, but rather than just trying to get a little snapshot, spend some time and think about getting the best photo you can. Think about it, and to help you with this, look at what other people have done with other successful photographers.
That’ll help you. It’s all about thinking, isn’t it about what you’re taking a photo of rather than just lifting your camera to your eye, pressing the shutter button and moving on to the next thing two feet away?
Okay. Portfolio swapping.
It really helps focus the mind. No pun intended. You’ve got 20 photos in your portfolio, haven’t you?
Yes, you have.
And every time you’re going out taking photos, you’re trying to get a photo to put into your portfolio, aren’t you?
Yes, you are.
So, you’ve got to take a photo that is better than a photo in your portfolio.
That is the intention. That is the point of portfolio swapping. Now, you won’t do it every time you go out to take photos. It’s not always going to happen if only life was that simple. If that were the case, my portfolio would be impressive rather than pretty good. I think I’m okay with saying that it’s pretty good because I’ve got an Associate in the British Institute of Professional Photography with it, so I think I’m alright with saying that without blowing my own trumpet, aren’t I?
Moving on, take photos of things you like and are interested in.
Don’t choose your one photography thing to be something you don’t like, something you’re not interested in, something that you can’t be bothered to edit the photos of. That would be a bad choice to make, wouldn’t it?
No, photograph things that you’re interested in, things that you like. Because if you do that, you’ll enjoy taking those photos more. And you’ll make a better job of it. It becomes a real grind if you don’t like what you’re photographing, and I’ve done this. It’s hard work, and you don’t get the best photos. You just don’t.
So, take photos of things you like. Nice and simple, isn’t it?
For the next one, don’t worry about what other people think.
I could talk about this for days. Other people’s opinions, do they matter? No, they don’t. It’s a horrible world out there—especially this online world, where there’s no accountability for saying something.
People say things online now that they wouldn’t say to your face in the street, would they? So, ignore people, but listen to the people who know. If you get a comment from an expert, listen to it. If you ask for a critique of a photo or photos from an expert, listen to them and take the feedback in.
But if it’s just some online idiot, ignore them. In fact, sometimes negative feedback can be a good thing because it might mean you’ve done something well, something different, something maybe controversial, something thought-provoking.
But don’t let these people get to you, OK?
Right, don’t worry about manual mode.
In manual mode, on a camera, you set the aperture and the shutter speed, and the exposure that you get is a direct result of those settings. The camera doesn’t do anything other than capture the light using those settings.
So if it’s 78 stops overexposed, that’s what you get.
But you will hear people say to be a real photographer, you’ve got to use manual mode. No, you don’t. You don’t have to use manual mode, but I will say this. Learn how to use manual mode. Because if you learn how to use manual mode, it will help you in those times when you need it.
I use AV mode all the time. I select the aperture, the camera selects the shutter speed, and my ISO usually is 100, which is the lowest ISO on my Canon 6D. I don’t use manual mode unless I have to because it will take me longer, and I don’t need that for what I’m doing. But, if I need it, I know how to use it.
I know how to use it inside out. And it helps me. So, you don’t have to use it, but please learn how to use it so it’s there when you need it. It’s just another tool in your toolbox, and it’s not something; it’s not a stick to be beaten with. Did that analogy work?
Get a camera. Yes, get a camera.
You can take better photos with a camera than you can with a phone.
And I’m surprised that no one has disagreed with this since I came out with this big bold statement some months ago. Nobody has said you’re mistaken; you can get better photos with a phone. No one at all. Which is reassuring.
Find your one thing.
Yep, I talked about that a lot. If you’re photographing everything and anything, you won’t get very good at anything, are you? In the last episode, I listed out some of the things that I’ve photographed. I’ll give you the range of things I was photographing – not all of them; I’ll show you the variety. Okay.
- Personal injuries. I photographed a man’s cut hand.
- Car damage. Fifteen quid a job.
- Houses that are going up for sale, where I had to do floor plans as well. Got paid a pittance for it.
- A celebrity chef. Yes, a celebrity chef.
- A wedding.
- Headshots.
- Corporate events.
- Sporting events.
- And buildings.
Now, a lot of those things need a different set of gear to that, which I use for photographing buildings. And when I was photographing everything. I was average. I was technically competent. I could produce a technically correct photo of pretty much anything. But my photos were average at best. They were boring. They were functional.
And I wasn’t progressing.
When I decided to focus on photographing buildings only, that was when things started to improve. Up to that point, I’d reached a technically competent standard. I could produce quality images, but they were average and functional.
No, it’s when I found my one thing and went for it, and that alone was when the big improvements happened. There are other side benefits, which I’ve mentioned in other episodes, too. Like you don’t need as much gear. You can refine your workflow to within an inch of its life.
Your image processing becomes better, quicker, and more efficient. Everything improves. And it doesn’t mean you have to stick with that one thing forever, but you need to get the best that you can be at that one thing before you move sideways on to other, similar related things. That makes sense.
Right, that was the ad-libby bit.
That wasn’t too bad. I am happy with that. I was worried I would be waffling all the time, but no, I’m alright with that.
One last point, actually. A lot of what I’ve talked about is basically thinking before you take a photo. And it is. And that makes perfect sense.
Now, if you were to take one thing and one thing only from everything that I’ve ever said on my podcast, in my blog, rickmcevoyphotography.com, nice plug, Rick, it would be this.
Think before you take a photo. Ask yourself, is this photo I’m taking interesting? Will somebody else want to look at it? Think before you take a photo. That could sum everything up, couldn’t it?
What if I use my phone to take photos and not a camera?
Everything that I say still applies. If you are happy taking photos with your phone, that is great. You are taking photos, which is the important part. You are taking part in this wonderful thing called photography. Photography is drawing with light.
But if you are taking photos with a phone, dear listener, you are missing out. Many will disagree, but this is what I believe.
You can take better photos with a camera than you can with a phone.
With a camera and other gear, you have more and better opportunities to take better photos.
That is what I think.
What do I do?
I talk a lot about what I do and have done. These are professional photography tips from me to you.
I take photos of buildings using a DSLR camera, Canon 6D, and usually my Canon 17-40mm lens. I take the photos with my camera on a tripod. I use AV Mode, f/8 (depth of field done), ISO 100, and the camera chooses the shutter speed. I use the auto-white balance. I use auto exposure bracketing, taking three images simultaneously with different exposures, which I merge in Lightroom. You can call this high dynamic range or HDR. I call it smart photography. I use the camera self-timer to take my photos. I take photos with my camera on a tripod. I don’t use artificial light; I use natural light, which is designed and built into the buildings I photograph.
I take all my photos in RAW and process all the images myself in Lightroom. I have worked on my photography skills for years and years and continue to do so every time I go out to take photos.
I take as few photos as I can. I compose using the rule of thirds. I spend most of the time on a shoot getting the composition the best I can the first time.
I use an Olympus EM5 and my go-to, excellent 12-42mm pancake lens for my travel photography. This is my general day-to-day lens. I also use a 12-40mm lens and a 40-150mm lens. I might use a tripod, or I might not. I might take photos handheld, carefully pressing the shutter button to get the sharpest photos I can with my camera held at eye level while I look through the viewfinder.
I can use either for my landscape photography. It just depends.
I use whatever mode I choose and take the photos however I want. I might even use shutter priority mode for a complete change! But when photographing a sunrise, I will try to get one photo. I can enjoy golden hour. I will take this photo the same way I take my photos of buildings.
I aim to take enough photos to capture a location’s essence and create great memories. But one photo only of each thing I am photographing.
I even get prints of some of the photos.
I also use a camera rather than my phone to take photos because I don’t like taking photos with my phone—not anywhere near as much as I do with my cameras. And while I love the idea of film photography, I use a digital camera. Sorry, film photographers, not for me any more.
And neither is an expensive camera; you can get both second-hand relatively cheaply. As for camera quality? Well, you will struggle to buy a modern camera these days that is rubbish. An amateur photographer these days has access to great cameras, including professional cameras that used to be way beyond non-professionals.
And I firmly believe that you can take better photos with cameras than you can with smartphone cameras.
I have three portfolios: one for my architectural photography, one for my landscape photography and one for my travel photography.
Every photo I take, I want to capture one that can go into a portfolio. This doesn’t always happen, but that is my intent. I never take a photo that I can’t be bothered to edit.
This is what I do.
Some thoughts from the last episode
There’s no need to worry. Enjoy your photography, do what I tell you, and let me know how you get one. But enjoy yourself—that is my first requirement of you. And if anything worries you or confuses you, get in touch.
One last thing from the last episode – great photographs don’t happen by accident. Professional photographers don’t just get great photos – they work hard to make them.
Next episode
I am done with the series of episodes on how to take better photos. It’s time for a change of direction. Next up is Lenses explained. The title will hopefully change, but I am moving on. This is a listener question which I am excited to answer. And this is the title finally – Camera Lenses Explained – My Beginner’s Guide.
Ask me a question.
If you have a question you would like me to answer, email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk or visit the podcast website, photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.
If you want to say hi, please do – I love hearing from my listeners.
OK – I am done.
This episode was brought to you by a chicken and mayo sandwich on some lovely wholemeal bread, washed down with water. Yep, no crisps, no pop, no fizzy drink. Just good, healthy, earthy stuff, yes, my healthy streak continues, which I had before I settled in my homemade, acoustically cushioned recording emporium. But no crisps.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here) and for giving me 27 minutes of your valuable time. After I have edited out the mistakes and other bad stuff, this episode will be about 25 minutes long.
Take care and stay safe.
Cheers from me, Rick
That was the podcast episode.
Want to know more?
Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.
And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.
Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.
Let me send you stuff
I send out a weekly email to my subscribers. It is my take on one photography thing, plus what I have been writing and talking about. Just fill in the box and you can get my weekly photographic musings straight to your inbox. Which is nice.
And finally a little bit about me
Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.
Thank you
Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).
Cheers from me Rick
