Show Your Work To Other Photographers

One of the best ways to become a better photographer is to show your work to those who are better than you. You have to have thick skin for this, but it's one of the best ways you can get better. There's a point where you've bought a good camera, people are beginning to say they like your pictures (these people of course are not photographers), but then that's as far as it gets. You need to hear what someone other than your mom, wife, or 2-year-old daughter thinks about your shots.

Flickr is an incredible, FREE resource for sharing your pictures online. It also happens to be a place with a ton of professional photographer groups who are willing to help out anyone who will just ask for some critique. Now remember, a great photograph is definitely in the eye of the beholder, but there are some tangible and speakable things that can help you take better photographs. Many times you can even just add some "umph" to your pictures in Photoshop, and there are plenty of people out there who know how to do this and are willing to help you. For instance, I had posted some of my first shots on Flickr and got some good response. Many people said that I was creative and had some nice compositions, but my pictures were just kind of flat (a.k.a. BORING!). After conversing back and forth with a few photographers I made some changes to some of the pictures. Take a look at some of these before and afters:



Not too bad a photograph... so I thought. One of the things that I have learned, is when you start taking better pictures, YOU think your pictures are great, but that's because you haven't started studying photography, you're just practicing taking pictures. Take a look at how this picture ended up after talking with some people who KNOW what they are talking about:




No comparison! And those changes took me 2 minutes. Honestly! 2 minutes! Don't ever be satisfied with where you are. Show your pictures to anyone who you think takes better pictures than you, and I promise that you'll see a huge improvement in your own work.