Stopping for years, using only a phone! So glad to be back. BTW, I went freelance IT in 1988 - 35 years and counting - I'd do it all again. If you're self-reliant then freelance is a vey rewarding lifestyle.
I'm SO obsessed with planning, I thought I was the only one! My problem with that is the expectations, like if I try to get that sunrise glow on the mountain it probably ends up being cloudy or something🤣I'm never lucky with the conditions, even tho I plan ahead!
I've got 2; that I'll take ten minutes getting the in-camera white balance for videos, and miss photo opportunities. The other is that I'll always edit the same photo ten times, ten different ways, until my eyes can't even distinguish color differences, and then I walk away and come back to be horrified at the color grading and white balance I used 😂
Fill the frame. Not leaving too much space. That's what got me for a while. Thanks for your advice on planning. Most photographers try and give the impression that their shots are spontaneous and just talk about gear and settings. For me that was the best and most honest piece of advice.
So true! Too many believe that owning the latest and greatest will make them a better photographer, and the only thing that will do that is practice, practice, practice!
The instagram vertical preference triggered me 🙈😂! Now I make it a point to get the same shot in BOTH vertical/horizontal just to cover all my bases. PLUS, with the addition of the "carousel" post feature, you can do those "detail" swipe images, which is one of my favorite ways to showcase an image.
It's not a "mistake" per se, more of a misunderstanding. When I was a beginner, I'd get frustrated/feel defeated looking at my RAW images compared to Pro Photogs images...until I realized just how much EDITING they did to achieve their final image results. I knew portrait/magazine photogs used photoshop on their models, etc...but I had ZERO clue that LANDSCAPE photogs did too. 😅 I'm not knocking the editing process, but as a newbie, not understanding alot of the TECHNIQUES both whilst shooting & then in editing, had me feeling like I was a crap photographer. Once I realized that I needed to add alot of techniques to my "tool kit", my images quickly became better.
Planning is definitely so important! Checking weather, time of sunset, sunrise etc. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one with 100 shots of the same thing, although, it usually takes me lots of shots to get one good one. I am definitely an amateur. Thanks for sharing these important tips!
OMG sameee, I usually have tons of the same photos with different apertures, or different shutterspeeds or slightly different angles, different focusing points, etc. There's so much that I can twist and change while taking a photo 😭
I started in photography in the 1980's so you just took more time before you hit the shutter. You had to do the research and plan even more shooting film. I find using an L bracket I shoot both landscape and portrait of the same subject so I don't have to pull something out with a crop to get full resolution.
I stopped taking vertical photos years ago. Horizontal works better in slide shows (especially on 16:9 TVs/displays) and when multiple media require different aspect ratios. With the megapixel counts of sensors today, a vertical can often be cropped out of horizontal and still have enough resolution for most uses. A mistake I still make is taking just one composition. When I do it right, after getting the “ideal” composition I back off and take a couple of wider shots of the same subject. That secondary wider safety frame allows more flexibility for square and vertical crops.
I began my Photography career in the early 1980s and used a 4X5 view camera. We shot two sheets of color and two B&W, but we used polaroids to check exposure and composition before exposing the film. And yes, you are correct that it was expensive, But we also spent a fair amount of time planning the image. Sometimes I shot the scene horizontally and vertically if I were out on location. Fast forward to the digital age, I still plan my images. And I still shoot horizontal and vertical images when on location, I also will play with the composition. Always look around; your best image may be behind you. If there is a group of photographers in an area, I will typically try to avoid the spot. In my opinion, Instagram has damaged traditional photography, my reasoning is that it is taking the craft of photography and trashing it. With that said yes I do have an Instagram account Keep making photographs and putting out your videos. Thank you!
One of my biggest regrets was leaving my aspect ratio at something small because I thought it looked fine on my LCD screen but then when I loaded it onto my computer it was very difficult to edit, especially because I also made the mistake of not shooting in RAW. If i wanted to blow the image up into a big print, forget about it. I was at the mindset that needing to edit a photo made me a bad photographer when in reality, its a normal part of the process. Thankfully Ive moved past that rigid way of thinking and am getting way better results.
Make sure on site that yourhorizon is as best as it can be. That way less editing means less cropping/ straightening. Which may force you to lose the shot altogether. Also zoom out a bit sp that you can crop if needed. When starting out it's okay to "waste film" as my dad used to say......dad...I have a digital camera. Learn the rule of thirds. Also don't put your horizon line right in the middle.
I recently got the wildlife photography bug. One thing I have noticed is that finding a good place to take pictures, and then going back time after time has yielded fruit for me. I've gotten to know the creatures that live there and their habits. I have also discovered how the lighting changes with times of day and weather. I apply the knowledge of all my previous trips into the current trip. It pays off. My biggest mistake is not getting out and shooting more. The more I get out, the more good (for me) shots I get and the more I learn. With digital photography I am able to afford taking a lot of pictures. Back in the day I had to ration my shots carefully, as I had to keep film and processing costs in mind. Between the flexibility of the new cameras, and the ability to effectively edit images once taken, it is a great time for photography.
The amount of time i have wasted waiting for tourists to move away from the front or side of a worthy "subject" could total many, many hours if not days... That actually has made me take less pictures and I enjoy the "now" more often which is a net positive for my travelling life. Those situations are the inspiration for Commandment VI of my yet to be filmed "Ten Commandment for Travellers" which state, "Thou shall not be the centre of attention of other travellers". Like, take your picture but then, please move.
I love your work, your shots, your channel, I would like to be with you all over the world to see together the wonders you capture with your eyes before they are imprinted in the memory of the camera 📸 thanks for everything you share Allison .
@allisonanderson.. When I see your posts, I find all the magic not only enclosed in a shot, but also inside the infinite sweetness of a woman, a photographer who knows how to express what she wants to show with her soul and this means a lot to me. There is a lot of empathy with nature in your shots and this is a quality that not everyone has. Thank you🙏🏻Allison🥰
As much as I like taking my son shooting in the morning..It's easier to wonder solo. That or do it with someone that digs it as much and can go at that pace.
I saw those elephants and instantly thought of Brooklyn Beckham! “elephants in Kenya, so hard to photograph, but incredible to see” You did it much better!!!
ive been a subscriber for over 10 years i think and i used to really enjoy our videos, but lately i dont find them interesting anymore. all the" what i learned" or "mistakes i made"...feels like the younger you did everything wrong...i dont think that is a way to look back. goodluck with your channel, but sadly i will unsubscribe.
Here's from me as a bird photographer: I wish I had been told, and I wish all mirrorless shooters would know, that rolling shutter is caused by silent shooting. I used to think that the distorted trees and weird wing shapes I got whenever I panned or shot high speed motion were an inevitable feature of my camera's sensor, and that if I wanted to get rid of that I would need to buy an A1 or any other camera with a stacked sensor. And then, after some two years' worth of rolling-shuttering my photos, I realized I could get rid of the problem by turning off silent shooting. I now keep my camera in EFCS mode all the time, and only use the electronic shutter in rare occasions when discretion is important.
Which camera did you use with which you experienced rolling shutter? I’m planning to buy Sony A7IV, but it has rolling shutter problem as per my research.
I shoot on the A6600. The Sony A7IV also has rolling-shutter problems. In fact, almost all mirrorless cameras do, except for those that have a stacked sensor, such as the A1 and the A9, or for low-resolution cameras specifically designed for video and low-light performance, like the A7S series. Whether or not this will be a problem for you depends above all on whether you plan to use the camera for video or for photos. The rolling shutter is more of a problem for video, as there's no way of getting around it. For photos, you just need to avoid the electronic shutter and set your shutter to EFCS (Electronic Front Curtain Shutter). All that being said, the A7IV is a hybrid camera that can do both video and photos very well. It's just not as good as a dedicated video camera like the A7S III.
If you have to shoot with electronic shutter then keep in mind that smaller sensors tend to have faster readout speeds than their larger counterparts 👍👍👍
Really great advice. Thanks for making this video. Definitely tend to take more vertical photos (also thinking of IG). And looking around to see what else you can capture is such great advice. Loved your photos!
That's why there are professionals, and we, just show up when the times work out so we can get there and snap a shot in 5 seconds, let alone we have no knowledge of how to make the photo sparkle.
Jokes on me, I only really shoot film 😂 but literally all of your points are so true and the same for film photography too! Although shooting in manual is kind of a given for most film cameras. It really does force you to learn.
When I first started I shot everything at super weird angles. Like purposefully tilted the camera at least 45 degrees. Especially at events...like why 😱 I cringe so hard
REOMMENDATIONS? | I love your videos! I want to learn to shoot manual on my Sony a6400 as a very amature / beginner, would you recommend Skill Share and/or any other youtubers for that? Thank you!
lol!! i do not have to imagen how expensive it was, because I used to develop my own pictures back in the time and yes, it took time to learn photo, now it is so much easier, I see how fast my dauther has learn vs how slow I did. Thanks for your videos!
I'm in my 40's and I just now discovered HDR photo merging or exposure merging of 3 photos at 3 different exposures. My new thing is to take the HDR shot with 3 different exposures and merge them in Lightroom.
It depends on what you are taking a photo of. People should experiment a little with the settings, shot in Manual-, Aperture-, & Shutter-mode. Try some of the built-in functions that many cameras have. I shoot mostly people, so I use the faming that fills the frame the most, ie horizontal which is my standard, and vertical. Many times I shoot multiple images in both horizontal and vertical, and of course varying the subject distance, I am a proponent of zoom lens, I would sacrifice sharpness over not missing out on a photo.
Older girl here. Yes!!! Film was sooo expensive. And took forever. In my teens, I remember waiting for mail in development, that my dad always did to save a buck. Then in my young adult life switching to one day. Then the magic of one hour photo. (angels singing). That one hour took forever!! But man oh man the best was using black and white film ohhhhh! Game changer! However, never buy the 36 roll with black and white. I would be so bummed when I grab my camera and it has 18 pictures left in black and white and we need color that day.... I enjoy your show!!!
Two minutes into this video and realising that I keep shooting vertically for Instagram 😬 I instantly subscribed and I will now be going back to horizontal (why did I ever change?! 😂) Now to continue with the rest of this video and probably make a lot of improvements 🫣
When you said you shot everything vertically I was like: omg I used to do the opposite 😂 I shot everything horizontally. Every. Single. Thing. Until one of my photography teachers was like: try shooting vertically. Especially when you’re doing close up portraits. Because a horizontal shot on a close up portrait, will usually distort the proportions depending on the angle, etc.
Great video, interesting, well organized, your voice is really pleasing/nice, and clear, and you have great video presence. I always find something useful in your videos even though I still shoot film. I'm not a luddite, but I have two cameras that I inherited from my mother when she passed years ago so they are kind of sentimental to me. My mom was an artist that believed in taking good care of her artist equipment (though, for better or worse she was a little/a lot disorganized in the rest of her life) so they are in pristine condition. One is a Kodak Tourist II, and the other is more modern Pentax k1000. All this to say, that I've never really thought about planning out my process of taking a picture. I'm one of those guys who is a hobbyist so I usually just take a photo of whatever is around me when I go places. The way film prices are today, I think this video will save me money and make me a better photographer. Have a great weekend!
I love all your videos and have been watching them a lot lately (like your camera gears! ❤) I've recently bought Sony A7M4 with a 100-400 GM lens. Was thinking of the 200-600mm but it's just too big for me. Going to Kenya and Tanzania in 2 weeks and I'm excited to use my new cam! ❤
In the late 1980s, I (at the time early 20s, British) had the opportunity to spend a year working as an industry intern in Switzerland. In 12 months I spent the equivalent of a month's wage on slide films and their development. A learning experience indeed.
Thanks for this video, I realised that I’m doing some of these things right now and I got a new point of view and can hopefully improve my photography skills ☺️💪🏼
Such a good video with so many good points! I've been too lazy to plan my shots in advance but definitely need to start doing that if I want to get good shots. I was intimidated by manual settings previously too, but after I learned to shoot manually I've never switched back haha. Also, I'm still the person who shoots in portrait mode - definitely need to stop doing that 😂
I shot a lot of verticals in film days. Then I found most albums have very few vertical slots. Then during DSLR, it was a nightmare because software basically didn't handle vertical photos initially. So I stopped shooting verticals.
I was a photographer during the flim days. I worked for a event studio. There I would be given a couple of rolls of film to cover a event. Something, if I was lucky it would be 36 exposure film but most of the time it was 24. I had to be dead on with my exposure and create meaningful images. Learn really quick to see like and know what exposure to use. I use a 3 exposure rule as my basic exposures. Using pro film of ISO 100 it would be outdoors day at F11 1/250 with a fill flash at full power, church indoors F5.8 1/30, other indoors F8 1/125 with flash at full power with a bounce. I would adjust the exposure a little as I felt was needed. Some photographers would use a light meter, camera meters something was not good enough. Back in those days you knew what you would get from your settings. Many pros today still use basic settings. After shooting many photos and seeing your exposure you start to know what exposure you should use. We all use the camera meter as a crutch. One big plus that pros had in the film days were pro lab to color correct our images. Good video thanks for sharing.
Wow thank you for your tips!! Definitely can relate to the mistakes you were commenting on. Allison, could you recommend me a camera to develop this hobby of mine (photography) that you think is good enough to start but not super expensive? It would help me a lot, I genuinely trust your opinion!
Not TOO long ago (20 years or so) I worked for my college newspaper as a photojournalist... at that time we had to manually roll our own black and white film onto take-up spools, go cover the assignment and hope for the best (with a limited number of exposures... maybe 50-60?), load your film onto developing reels in pitch darkness so that you could manually process it in a developing tank, and check your negatives on a lightbox with a loupe. It was sooooo much work but so fun!
My compact shows you what the photo will look like before you take it so you don't have to remember settings for each scene. But I'm no pro. I take photos on hikes. I definitely agree you must use manual. The camera often has some other ideas on automatic mode. I don't use the phone to take photos on hikes for the very same reason. It oversaturates colors when taking photos of landscape. But if you photograph people from short range, it's fine. So weird.
My most recent mistake was not bringing an extra battery. I was at an arts festival and did not think I would need an extra battery, but the battery died after only about 50 photos. Another mistake I made about 4 years ago was not having backup equipment. I was on the second day of a trip to Germany from the US and my primary walk around lens stopped working. I usually would bring along a high quality compact camera, but I wanted to travel a bit lighter. So for the rest of the trip, I had to get by with a super wide zoom and a telephoto zoom, which left a sizable gap in the middle uncovered. I used my phone as well, but it would have been nice to have my compact camera with a zoom range that is great for travel photography.
Wow I learned so much from this! It’s funny because for the horizontal vs vertical photos, if I’m the photographer, I make an effort to take pictures in both directions 😅
This was a fantastic topic of discussion Allison. Great advice and insight! Your photography definitely demonstrates the you have learned from your mistakes 👌🏼
I made the mistake of shooting only in landscape. Cropping vertical does not always give the desired result. Now I always shoot landscape and then I check if there is a vertical composition as well.
Great video! yeah, planning is key for the photo work I do (4x4 racing) since different races can have different course lengths. Getting there early, checking out the spots for the best lighting, etc. For the larger races, we(I) have to take into account and/or pay attention to where the bulk of the racers are on the course (one race is 3 laps but 80 miles in length) and get to that point to get the most action shots. And yeah, paying attention to your surroundings is also important since there are many different shots to get, plus it helps us to avoid getting run over or hit with kicked up rocks.
I get nervous and don’t spend enough time getting the shot. I click click and move on instead of taking time to make sure I have the right things in the shot and framed correctly. Thank you for your videos and advice it is soo helpful.
You are soo right about the manual mode. I learned photography in the film days and so I was obsessed with lighting the picture "right" ie. meeting the light indicator. Mediocre images were the result. But if you can see on the backside of the camera what you really get with the current time, aperture, and iso settings it is soo much easier to really "play" with those settings and give a s* to the "right" lightning. Nowadays I am way more interested in the highlight warning than in the light indicator.
Thanks for sharing. I cam relate with the last one. I thought auto is the go to setting as long as you have a good camra. But that changed for me once I started to explore manual mode.
I learn so much from your videos. They are also so inspiring! I can relate with the vertical shooting thing... and am still learning to shoot horizontally in a way that the crop works for IG. Thank you for your work, it's fantastic 🥰
A big mistake I have made is obsessing over composition in the moment. There is nothing wrong with capturing an image and re-cropping (recomposing) the image in post. If your camera has enough resolution, point the lens in the right direction with the camera at the right elevation and just start capturing images. Compose later.
You can easily crop, but it's hard to do the other way around? Right, but if you are shooting from the wrong position, with the wrong angle, the wrong lens the image is crap whatever crop you use. And if you invested enough brainpower in adjusting the angle, position, aperture, time and lens, why not check the frame as well?
