Photographers, follow these three steps to kill that crippling self-doubt

Some people seem to have been born with self-confidence and they always seem like they know exactly what they’re doing. Sadly, I’m not among them, and maybe you aren’t either. No matter how good you are at photography, you always doubt yourself, thinking that you’ll do something wrong at the shoot.

In this video, John Branch aims to help you overcome this crippling self-doubt. He gives you three tips that will help you feel better and actually become better at your craft, making you ready for anything shooting days throw at you.

While John talks specifically about wedding photography, I believe these tips apply to any photographer and creative out there. And here they are:

Repetition: put simply, you should be shooting often, even when not on the job. This will result in improving your skills, but also knowing your camera and all your gear like the back of your hand. This way, you can deal with the camera settings on autopilot and focus on more important things on the shooting day.

Have a process: figure out the process for your shooting days and think about the order of everything and the timing for every portion of the shoot. Even when something unpredictable happens, you can still deal more easily with the rest of the day. Don’t wing it: have a timeline and have a plan. Otherwise, things can easily get out of control, leaving you panicked and eventually burnt out.

Build self-confidence: On the shooting day, you may still feel self-doubt and think that you’re not capable to handle everything. But thankfully, having self-confidence is something that can be taught and built. Basically, the previous two tips are the foundation for building stronger self-confidence as a photographer. Practice photography regularly, get to know your gear; and build a shooting day routine as a safety net. This will have a large positive effect on your self-confidence, especially over time.

You can find some more helpful advice for building photographic self-confidence here. And don’t forget: you’ve got this!

[Self Doubt in Wedding Photography: Overcome it with These 3 Tips via FStoppers]