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!