New Year’s Resolutions for Photographers, Part 2.

New Year’s Eve is upon us. With the approaching new year come new plans and fresh ideas! Here are the rest of the top ten New Year’s Resolutions for photographers.

6) Take photographs of yourself!

Taking self-portraits is an excellent way to learn portraiture photography, lighting, and the best ways to present your subject. In this case, the subject is you! Play around with your self-portraits. Find ways to make them interesting and unique to you! I have done everything from dramatic lighting to double-exposure photography. Those examples are below.

Self-portrait, double-exposure.

Keep it interesting! Photography is about learning!

Light/Dark Portrait

Learn everything you can about lighting!

You don’t need expensive gear to start your self-portrait journey either. The light/dark photograph I took of myself had a basic night light with a blanket put up in the background. But in order to get those types of results you’ll need to…

7) Learn Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop!

The magic of the image comes out in the edit. Filters and presets can only get you so far. Currently, Adobe is charging $9.99 USD per month on a one-year subscription license. There is a $19.99 USD per month plan that comes with 1TB of cloud storage if you don’t want to clog up your drives.

I highly recommend these two programs. There are free versions of photo manipulation programs out there that you can learn and tinker around with, like Gimp. However, nothing in my experience matches the level of professional results that you can get with Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop. They are industry standard for a reason and you get what you pay for.

You can learn a lot about Lightroom and Photoshop by simply watching and following along video tutorials on YouTube. Two of my favorite channels are Piximperfect and Blue Lightning TV. They both make learning photoshop simple and easy. Additionally, if you want to pay for courses I have found incredible success with courses on Udemy.

Learning Photoshop and Lightroom will bring that snap and pop to your photography that it lacked before. Plus, you’ll be learning a new skill and that is never a bad thing!

8) No Excuses!

I’ve been there. I know the struggle to keep up an aggressive routine. So whatever your plan is make sure it is something that you can keep up with in relation to your responsibilities, relationships, employment, etc… I took a social media marketing course last year that stated, “Whatever your goals are for social media, make sure you can keep up with your posting habits for the rest of your natural life.” This is an intimidating prospect to look at in the face. Until you realize that you’re the one setting your own schedule. Audiences love it when the artist is reliable. So set a schedule that you know with certainty can be accomplished. This goes for your social media postings as well as content generation. That means making time to get out and take photos, studying foundational photography skills, writing and developing your social media accounts, networking with other creatives, etc… This is the best way to learn, grow, and adapt your love of the art form!

9) Don’t Overthink Your Photography!

There are certain rules of composition that you should keep in mind when taking photographs. However, the learning is also in the doing. If there is something that you really want to take a photo of, do it! Don’t hesitate! Not every photograph you take needs to abide by the rule of thirds or the golden ratio. When I began I took photographs of literally everything I could imagine taking images of from textures to street photography, landscapes, and light painting. Get excited! Don’t get bogged down with all the homework of photography if you don’t want to. Remember that this is an art form and part of art is being creative.

10) Print your Images!

If you’re serious about photography then learning the art of printing is necessary. You’ll notice subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) differences between images being portrayed digitally and images that are printed. Additionally, you’ll grow to understand what your work will look like printed on matte paper, glossy paper, fine art paper, and even exciting printable mediums such as canvas, metal, textiles, and wood!

Seeing your work hanging on a wall is a completely different feeling than just looking at it on a screen. You’ll love the feeling of accomplishment! That will help fuel the fire within you to keep getting out, keep learning, and keep taking great images!


I have many more suggestions, tips, and tricks so please bookmark my site for future content! I sincerely hope you all have a Happy New Year! Leave me a comment regarding what your plans are for the new year and how you’ll evolve your photography going forward.

Thank you for being here!

Photography Tips for Beginners, Part 1.

Are you interested in photography but don't know where to start? These photography tips for beginners will help get you on your way to taking amazing photos! In part one of this series, you'll learn some basics about shutter speed, aperture, and ISO values and how they can all be used to create stunning images. So grab your camera and let's get started!

Get to know your camera!

When it comes to getting to know your beloved camera, the best thing you can do is take the time to learn what it is capable of. Cameras are tools. How well your camera takes photographs will be determined by your ability to properly utilize it and its settings. Many photographers will tell you to read the camera manual first to figure out what the camera is capable of. However, if you’re a beginner you might not understand the features anyway. Also, if you’re anything like me you really don’t want to stare at a manual for a couple of hours. It’s honestly terrible! In the age we live in, there are better alternatives! Therefore, I would recommend going to sites like YouTube and searching for ‘how-to’ videos regarding your camera make and model. Most likely someone out there has made an enlightening video regarding the features your camera has and how to properly utilize those features to the fullest. Knowing all of its features will come in handy when you want to experiment and explore new techniques without being overwhelmed.

Know the difference between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Many cameras have automatic settings allowing you to simply point and click. However, if you are wanting to be more creative with your compositions you’ll need a camera that allows you to take manual control of its settings. The main controls that you will need to figure out are your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

1) Aperture

A lens's aperture is the hole that allows light to enter the camera. The size of the aperture in your camera's lens directly affects the depth of field and focus in an image. It can be thought of as the camera's eye, with the pupil size being governed by how much the iris expands or contracts. By carefully controlling your camera settings, you can determine how much light enters the sensor and produce dramatic effects such as manipulating depth of field. This allows you to choose which objects in your composition will be sharp and in focus, as well as create blur effects in the foreground or background.

Wide apertures like f/1.4 and f/2.0 let in more light, making the photo brighter. As you move toward narrower apertures like f/8 and f/11, the image will look darker due to less light getting through. Technically speaking, your pupils are equivalent to an eye's iris/aperture as they dilate when it gets dark outside (just like your camera's aperture widens) so you can see better.

Aperture also controls depth of field. Depth of field means the distance between the nearest and furthest objects that are in an acceptably sharp focus. A plane in focus while the background is out of focus is known as having a shallow depth of field. Wider apertures allow more light to enter. A shallow depth of field effect is more prevalent the more light there is. Low f-stops, from 1.4 to about 5.6, are used while taking pictures to create a shallow depth of field. You can blur the foreground or background of your photograph depending on your subject and region of focus. More light enters your camera when your aperture is larger, which results in a lower f-stop value. To prevent overexposure or blowing out the whites in your shot, your shutter speed should be quick and your ISO should be adjusted to match.

Here is an example of a shallow depth of field.

Notice the blur in the foreground and in the background. This photo was shot at f/3.2 with a Canon 50mm lens.

2) Shutter Speed

Photography is all about light and its utilization. Inside your camera, there is a curtain in front of your camera’s sensor. When you trigger the camera, the shutter opens allowing light to enter the sensor. Once your camera’s sensor has gathered light, the shutter closes, halting the ability of light to reach the sensor. The shutter speed controls the shutter. The camera’s trigger button is often referred to as a ‘shutter button’ because of this. Shutter speed is simply the length of time the camera shutter is open. With proper control over the shutter, you’ll be able to blur motion or freeze action. 

For instance, the below photo is one I took with a long shutter speed. It was taken during daylight hours so I had to use a neutral density filter in combination with the shutter speed settings. This allowed me to properly expose the composition while applying the necessary blur effects to the water.

Notice the blur effect on the waterfall. This is due to a slow shutter speed.

Conversely, a fast shutter speed can freeze action. See the photo I took below featuring a bald eagle smashing a fish on rocks.

Notice how the eagle and fish seem frozen in time. This is due to a high shutter speed.

When you leave the shutter open for long periods of time, you get motion blur. This is known as a “slow shutter speed.” Slow shutter speeds are often utilized in landscape photography where one wants to blur the sky or water, like the photograph I provided of the waterfall above. Additionally, it is used in sports photography, action photography, and motorsports photography. Another use of a slow shutter speed is when a photographer needs to gather as much light as possible in low-light conditions, such as in astrophotography. See the below photo of the Milky Way which I shot on the west coast of B.C.

3) ISO

In the most basic terms, ISO refers to the sensitivity to light of the camera’s sensor. Cameras have varying ISO values so your camera might be different than mine. The lowest native ISO on your camera is your base ISO. This is important for you to know since this setting will, in basic terms, give you the highest image quality which minimizes noise. On my camera, a Canon 5D Mark III, I have a base ISO of 100. Yours might go below that or it might be a higher number.

As you increase the camera’s ISO value you heighten the in-camera amplification of the signal recorded by the image sensor. However, this has consequences in the form of grain introduced into the image. This grain is commonly known as noise. Too much noise and your photograph may not be useable.

For a beginner, what you have to know is that the camera’s ISO is used in relation to shutter speed and aperture. You should research at what ISO levels your camera model begins introducing composition-breaking noise. Which, to be fair, in this day and age of A.I. de-noise programs, may be exceptionally high. My camera is fairly good until it reaches ISO 6400. Admittedly, I have a somewhat older model camera. Your camera may have a higher or lower threshold until the noise introduced into your image is problematic. 

If your ISO is set too low, you’ll have an underexposed image. If it is set too high you’ll have an overexposed image. You can adjust this by playing around with your shutter speed and aperture. Usually, if you are looking for a long shutter speed, like my waterfall or milky way images, you can set your ISO to a lower value. Alternatively, if you are looking for a short and quick shutter speed, like the eagle photograph, most likely you’ll need to have a higher ISO value due to the quicker shutter speed. 

If you need to increase your ISO in low light, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you want crisp shots, it will help you maintain quicker shutter speeds and improve your low-light photography. Higher ISO values, in my opinion, are frequently preferable. Despite the fact that higher ISO’s produce more noise, it is much easier to fix noise in programs like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom than it is to fix drastically underexposed or blurry images.

Join me next time in Photography Tips for Beginners. In future releases, we will discuss gear, technique, locations, and more! 

What kind of camera do you have? Let me know in the comments and please help spread the word about my little blog by sharing it. My social media links can be found below.

Thank you!