Tips to Improve Your Photography Hobby

Tips to Improve Your Photography Hobby

By Aurora M.

Everyone needs a hobby to do in their spare time. It’s healthy to have a non-work related activity that you enjoy doing to let off steam and use your creative energy. Everyone is going to be interested in doing something different, and it’s important to find something that you enjoy that helps you relieve stress and take a break. A great creative outlet is photography; it gives you a chance to get out of your house, and it’s a skill that you can hone to excel. It can be fun to see yourself progress as you learn new skills and ways to photograph things.

Convert home space into studio space

Going out and photographing nature, and people that you love in nature, is a lot of fun and can be absolutely beautiful. But sometimes, what you want to photograph would look better if it was indoors. For example, if you’re taking pictures of a baby. You want newborn photos to be undistracted with the focus on the baby, and that’s a lot harder outdoors. Plus it’s a lot safer for a newborn to be indoors. You run into a similar situation when you’re trying to photograph anything food related. Whether you’re simply trying to photograph pictures of what you made for dinner, or you’ve planned a cake smash photoshoot for your son's first birthday, these are things that will also be photographed much better indoors. Renting out studio space can be expensive, and if photography isn’t your full time job, it’s also unnecessary.

There are probably a lot of rooms in your home that you didn’t know you could convert into temporary studio space. You’ll want to select a room that has plain colored walls and preferably great natural light. The lighting doesn’t matter if you have studio lighting. One room that’s great to convert into a studio is your garage. You can easily paint one wall, or bring in studio paper to use as a backdrop instead.

Experimenting with lighting

A lot of new photographers are really intimidated by studio lighting. If you don’t have experience with something, it’s natural to be kind of scared of it. However, that shouldn’t stop you from learning and experimenting with new things in order to better yourself. Before you invest in studio lighting, it might be a good idea to rent some studio lighting first. This way you can figure out how to use it and decide what kind of lighting you like to use. By testing out the lighting first, you’ll save yourself money on wasted equipment that you wouldn’t have ended up using.

Talk to professionals

Chances are there are photographers in your area that are well established that wouldn’t mind giving you a few pointers. It is their profession, however, so make sure you tread lightly. They won’t be as inclined to help you out if they think you’re trying to steal their tricks to take their clients. If you let them know that you do it as a hobby and are looking to improve your photography skills, most photographers will be happy to share a few tips with you. Just by tagging along on one or two photo shoots and then observing them edit a session, you’ll learn a lot of valuable skills that they spent years curating.

Watch editing and shooting tutorials

Youtube is a great resource when you’re learning absolutely anything. You’ll be able to find editing tips and tricks for whatever you’re struggling with. Whether you want to know how to merge two photos together, add additional features to an image, or you can’t figure out how to color correct a dark image, you’ll be able to easily find pointers with a video tutorial. Even if you don’t have specific questions, watching editing videos will help you learn how to edit and create your own personal style of editing.

Observe your favorite photographers

All of your favorite photographers started exactly where you are. As a hobby, with a camera and no clue what they were doing. Look at their work and figure out what it is about their photos that intrigues you. Whether that’s the composition, their editing style, or even their most popular locations. Once you’ve figured out what it is you admire from them, use that as a starting point to bettering your photography style. This doesn’t mean to copy them, but use them as inspiration to figure out how to create beautiful images.

Aurora McCausland is a professional writer and blogger enjoying life in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although she spends the majority of her time writing, when she’s not, you can find her cuddling her dog, hiking with her husband, or trying to find the perfect coffee shop. You can see more of her writing on her website www.auroramccausland.com or check her out on instagram, @auroramccausland.

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