Challenging youself to be a better photographer in 2012

The start of the year is a good time to set some obtainable goals.  In the the USA at least, New Year's resolutions are popular to make and even more popular to forget later.  If you are serious about improving your photography skills, this post offers 3 suggestions for you to consider for the coming year.

1. Enter a photographic competition. 


This does not require you to wade into the fray on a professional level.  There are tons of photography competitions at all levels, an internet search will easily find many more competitions than you will have time to enter. If you have never entered one, it may be best to enter some local event so you can have face to face contact and feedback about your entry and recognition in your locale. 

This next photo was part of a series I shot for a themed show on "Masks" in Clayton, NC, around  Halloween 2004.

This is one of my favorite photos and is a natural light still shot of a Japanese mask sitting on "found items", including a rice bowl, a pad for hot pots and a colorful folder from a thrift store. 

A competition or exhibition forces you to pay attention to the details.  You have to concentrate your study a specific subject, utilize your  best technique and learn to display your work in a professional manner.


As a college student in Boone, North Carolina in the late '70's,  I entered my first competition sponsored by a local photography shop.  I was fortunate to earn a second or third place and a $25.00 gift certificate at the shop.  In those days $6.00 would buy a tank of gas for my Mustang, so it was significant boost to my photo budget.

The subject then was a clown passsing out balloons on the King Street in Boone and it was done in black and white (B & W).  I was taking a photography course at ASU and printed it in the darkroom there.

I do not have a digital shot of the shot I entered, but here is a shot of me taken in photography class and hand printed around 1976.

The competition was a turning point for me as it motivated me to apply myself more  to the craft. The positive reinforcement of recognition for my shot added to my enjoyment and interest. 


A few years ago I entered a competition by a local animial protection league.  I won the category of "Senior Cat" with a shot of our cute cat, Monica.  We were rewarded with a basket of cat goodies and we helped promote an important non-profit organization.  See: http://jcapl.org/cat_photo_winners_2006.htm --Monica at the bottom of the page.


The following link will take you to a top level annual competition that I was fortunate enought to see exhibited in 2007 in London.  Search the archives from this competition to see the best in the world in the challenging category of wildlife and nature.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/index.jsp


I entered the shot below in the same International Wildlife Competition the following year.  Although it did not make it to the finals, I learned from the process.

This was shot at Lake Johnson in Raleigh, NC., with a 200 mm 2.8  Minolta lens on a Sony DSLR, at close range. (I will do a post soon on what the numbers mean on lenses) The backlighting makes this action shot stand out.  The cropping is a little tight, it might be better with a little more space around the duck.
   
If you enter a competition, be aware that you are giving away the use of your image, time and other valuable investments and if the only reward is publication in a marketing document benefitting the sponsor, it might not be the best avenue.  Many competitions also require an entry fee.  Choose one you have a chance at success and one that will reward you for your efforts or at least supports a  good cause.  In the USA, a county or state fair is a good place for your first entry and you can get the entry information in advance.

2.    Study your camera instruction manual and PRACTICE using the various setting and features. 

With digital cameras, you can practice and delete with no extra cost, so shoot a few hundred frames and discard the rejects back to cyber- purgatory.  When you need to really make a good shot later on, you will have the tools dialed in and be able to use them quickly.

       If you never read my blog again, nor take a photography class, using your manual will be a great investment in improving your skills.  If you do not have your manual, you can usually locate it online from the manufacturer.  Look at your camera body for the company and model information to narrow down your search.

       Camera manufacturers sell new models because they add new features or gimmicks and they change annually or sooner.  You should make use of the features on your camera as they will be obsolete in a year or two.  Choose a shoe or cat or something easy for a subject and just try to apply the information from the manual to a variety of shots.

My Sony A-55 will do some amazing things that I did not know about til I took the time to read the manual.  I bought it used from craiglist and did not have time to get acquainted until I arrived in Hokkaido.  It will shoot about 5 shots quickly in low light (night time) and digitally combine them to create a shot that normally would require a tripod and a long exposure.

This shot of snow removal with snow falling in the background shows how spectacular a night scene can be. In the old days with film cameras it was exceedingly time consuming and difficult to shoot something like this.  This one was done spur of the moment, hand-held as I walked up on the scene near the local market.

3. Another pro-active concept is take your camera with you and check the settings and set it up to shoot a quick series of shots in your current light and environment. 

 If an award winning or newsworthy shot happens in a window of a few seconds, you can point and shoot instead of adjusting your ISO or exposure compensation while the shot runs off into the woods! 

Armadillo and my friend Kazu, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, USA

So 3 ways fairly painless ways to become a better photographer in the coming year. 

1. Enter a competition.
2. Read your manual and practice with the camera.
3. Program your camera for quick action and take it with you whenever you can.
You might have noticed I use google blogspot and I also have some google albums.  Picasa is a free google photo software that is easy to use.  If you do not already have photo editing software, consider downloading Picasa. I have used it for about 10 years with great success.  I have photoshop, but it takes a lot of time to learn to use.

Another note, if you double click the photos in the blog they will enlarge on your screen. 

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment or follow the blog.  I do not have a definite schedule for postings, but there is system to send out emails to those who want to be notified of new postings that I will research and apply to the blog.

Parting shot taken today at Tonebetsu forest park, Iwamizawa, Hokkaido.  I went nordic skiing there today with my wife, Pamela.