6 Excuses Why You Don’t Improve In Photography And Why They Are Wrong
Aug 11, 2015
Laya Gerlock
Laya Gerlock is a Portrait and Product photographer based in the Philippines. His passion is teaching and sharing his knowledge in Photograpy and has been doing this for 6 years.
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There are always reasons to go watch some Simpsons or stare at Facebook. That little voice in your head will give you all of them just when it’s time to work on your photography. We disagree.
1. I don’t have the time
Some people say that they don’t have time to learn new techniques, but if you have time to browse facebook or the internet then you have time to learn new techniques in photography. I always try to spend my idle times by reading articles and looking at photographs, every moment unproductive moment is a wasted time.
2. I know everything I need for now
Photography is a never ending learning experience. One thing I like about being a photographer is knowing that there is always space to improve. You never get bored because there is always something new. People keep inventing new stuff that you can do with photography. But frankly, there is probably quite a bit of old stuff you have not covered too.
Other photographers Your competition keeps on improving their skills, so you should do the same.
3. I now have my own style
Maybe you have found your own style in photography and maybe it works for you. But I’ve been doing photography for 7 years but I have seen how the styles and trends come and go over the years and I know that they will keep on changing.
You can go along with the style that you have but your fans and clients will get bored at one point and want something new or just something different from you. Learning new stuff and adding to your style will get will get you more clients and help you keep the ones you have.
4. I don’t have the Gear
Do you have a camera and a lens? That’s all the gear you need. Gear will always help photographers to create great photographs but never let lack of a certain gear piece stop you from improving. It’s about knowing how a camera works, how it captures light, how to communicate with your subject, and how to light your subject. Your camera is always just a tool. And just the tool you need.
When I started photography, noise handling was so bad that you could not go over ISO 800 or your pictures would look horrible, but today you can get a clean shot even at ISO 6400. So there are things you can do now in your photograph that couldn’t be done 10 years ago. So what, learn to use your gear in a way that works.
5. I don’t know where to start
Everywhere you look is a chance to learn something new.
Most of the time when I look for ideas, either to shoot or for practice, I find them by looking at billboards and magazines. When you start reading and learning photography, you understand how a shot is made, and how you can also do it yourself. You see photographs/ads differently once you learn photography.
Personally I think the internet is one of the best places to learn photography, there are hundreds of tutorials, videos and articles on what you need to know. good news is that this blog is a very good start.
6. Because learning is Expensive
I’m probably killing my own workshop business by saying this but learning photography is actually free. Everyone can learn photography and improve there skills by just looking at photography blogs and tutorials on youtube. There are tons of free tutorials on the net and you can learn almost anything you want just by looking at the right spot.
Although joining workshops and doing hands on activities is actually a whole let better and all worth it but don’t let this stop you from improving your skills.
So there it is, whats your excuse for not improving today?
Laya Gerlock
Laya Gerlock is a Portrait and Product photographer based in the Philippines. His passion is teaching and sharing his knowledge in Photograpy and has been doing this for 6 years.
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19 responses to “6 Excuses Why You Don’t Improve In Photography And Why They Are Wrong”
Yay, you’re too nice, don’t have to tell them, don’t kill your business xD
Not really killing my business by saying it :) There is still a big difference in attending workshops and learning to do it things hands on. Reading and watching is one thing, but the hands on part of the Paid workshops makes it all worth it. :)
Yeah you’re right, just kidding. But I like people who buy a lot of gear, they finance research and development and reduce the price tag of all the things,don’t they? And I can make good second hand deals…
the # of typos in this piece is appalling. Also, not sure someone who’s been shooting 7yrs should have “a workshop business”
Thanks :) haha
Great article!!! Thank you!!
you’re very welcome
The most important element of good photography is imagination. Maybe it sounds “counter”, but becoming a good photographer begins with reading books and being literate (long) before you even intend to become a photographer. Or whatever else you want to excel at in life. Thus we get back to Einstein’s saying that “imagination is more important than knowledge”. Because indeed it is. Get your imagination running, and you’ll be making splendid photography with makeshift cameras (read: “lomo” type, pin-point, smenas, basically dirt cheap cameras) rather sooner than later. You don’t have a style if you’re not rightly cultured.
very good point. thanks for commenting
Awesome point! imagination is everything
good point, but isnt reading books and being literate is the total opposite of imagination?
Imagination needs things to work with. An imaginative engineer can come up with technical wonders. An imaginative bookworm can come up with beautiful stories. An imaginative photographer can come up with stunning vistas. An imaginative idiot comes up wi… oh, wait! I can’t really imagine that o.O
Client no / low budget!!
The only thing that does my head in the amount or abundance of self proclaimed critics who like to critique other peoples work and criticizing it from behind a keyboard in a one bedroom apartment because they have a camera, apologies for the Rant ;)
You’re not wrong – there are “critics” everywhere. The question I’d have is whether their criticism has any value. True, comments like “that shot sux” (with the same bad spelling, lack of punctuation and capitalization) does no good. If they come back with, “This is a bit over/under exposed” or “Next time, try cropping out the [random object]” or “Try stopping down next time”…well, then that’s some criticism that can at least be considered.
I biggest excuse is that I’m not good enough… :(
Aye, our inner critic is the worst, no?
OK, so not having seen your photography, and not being a critic, I can’t comment on how good or bad you are. But what I can say is this: Photography – like playing an instrument or exercising – is something that you get better at, the more you do it: We learn more about the camera, what settings work in what conditions, etc… We figure out composition – what we like and what we don’t, etc… We make mistakes; some to fortunate effect, and some not so much. It’s trial and error. Remember that when we see a photographers work being published, we’re seeing the really good stuff; we aren’t seeing the underexposed, out of focus random shots they took at the beginning of their career.
Point being: Load up that camera and go shooting! You’ll get the teensiest bit better with every shot!
My First Excuse: “I don’t have a camera”
Hell sh!t.
This is me. All 6. =D