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How manual-focus and vintage lenses made me a better photographer

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I have been a commercial and wedding photographer for over 13 years. And from the beginning, I have been using Canon DSLR cameras and a variety of auto-focus lenses for the Canon EF system.

Switching to another camera system/brand did cross my mind because I made a substantial investment into lenses for the Canon system. Meanwhile I have gathered over 15 EF and EF-S lenses.

But in 2016 I decided to try a mirrorless camera and bought a SONY A7 r-II.

Because lens adapters exist that allow me to use my existing Canon glass on a Sony mirrorless camera I did neither plan nor anticipate that I will buy lenses especially for the SONY system. At least that was the plan.

But little did I know…

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9 tips to improve your photos on the spot by Bob Holmes

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We’ve all had one of those days: you want to take photos, you need to do it, but you feel like the inspiration has deserted you forever. Even famous photographer Bob Holmes feels like this sometimes. But fortunately, there are ways to overcome it, and he shares his methods with you. These techniques will help you get inspired again and improve your photos in an instant.

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These 3 things may prevent you from improving in photography

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Even if you are satisfied with your photos and make great ones – there’s always room for improvement. But sometimes, you can feel like you’re running in circles. If you feel you’re stuck in a rut with your work, you should watch this great video from Peter McKinnon. It could change your point of view, make you go on with your work, and what’s more – become better at it.

Peter mentions three main issues that may be blocking you from becoming better photographers. Do you think these prevent you from improving as well?

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Shoot outside your comfort zone: here’s how and why to do it

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One of my goals as a photographer is to always improve.  Regardless of how well others may think my work is I am always trying to learn and grow as a creative.

There are several things you can do to fine tune and/or continue to grow.  You can take a workshop, read a blog, or watch videos of how others do it.  However, for me, nothing replaces actually getting out the gear and shooting something.  Anything.  I love reading blogs and YouTube videos as much as the next but I (like many) learn best by doing.  I’ve found that for me personally one of the best ways to spin up the creative juice is to shoot outside my norm.  These exercises more often than not give me a different perspective on composition, light, or camera control that I either did not pay attention to previously or never needed to use shooting fashion and beauty.

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5 tips you can use right now to improve your photography

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Do you compare photos with others and wonder how come they are better than yours? You should learn from your mistakes and use them to improve your photography. Peter McKinnon points out to the most common mistakes, and gives you fives you five short, but important tips for making a progress. And each of them takes only a few seconds of extra thinking or preparation.

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13 Things Your Camera Wishes You Knew

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Your sad, old camera will start to treat you better if you learn to take care of it.Every time I go to my nephews’ soccer games and see all the parents with their cameras on “green mode”, or attend a sporting event and see spectators using their flash from a quarter mile away, it makes me grit my teeth.  It’s all I can do to stop from walking up to them and fixing their camera for them.

This morning, I got to thinking.  If it is painful for ME to see these cameras being mistreated, imagine how the camera feels!  Canons have feelings too, ya know?  (Nikons happen to have more, but let’s not get into that).

The readers of this site tend to be a bit more knowledgeable about photography than your average shutter snapper, so I wrote this one with the more advanced photographer in mind.[Read More…]

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