Learning something new such as photography? Making mistakes is a normal part of the learning experience, everyone goes through it. The hard part is talking about those mistakes, the feeling of embarrassment and fear of being judged kicks in. Making a mistake is not some evil thing but its a step to achieve something or learn a skill. Surprisingly, this is coming from someone who was actually very afraid of making mistakes during teenage life and university.

Let's get down to what kind of things happened to me as a fresher to the field of digital photography:





1) Forgetting extra battery packs when going for photography adventures. Weather changes and long exposure shots cause faster consumption of DSLR battery power, I learned this the hard way. Took multiple shots of mini waterfalls and sunset during my first outdoor trip with a DSLR. As the night rolled in, I fixed my camera outside the tent to take multiple long exposure shots of the night sky. Within first one hour, the camera battery died leaving me with a feeling of helplessness. Landscapes or weddings, extra batteries are a must.





2) Obsessing about gear all the time, like literally every single day. It's easy to get caught in this consistent need of upgrading gear because we feel the shots are not good. I still have gear lust sometimes but with time learned how to convince myself about the right time to upgrade. So yeah, try and make the best use of what you already have. Once you think the gear is seriously limiting the photos you are trying to achieve, then upgrade.



Shot taken using a Canon T5i DSLR

3) Not taking enough pictures and developing skills on the way. Practice makes us perfect, and this applies to photography too. When it comes to digital photography, it takes a lot of failed attempts to be able to achieve keeper shots. Analyze what sort of shots you like, and think for a second before pressuring the shutter. It will improve the photographs by a huge margin.



4) The subject at center in every shot. Once I learned to handle my camera, this is what happened in 90% of the photographs. Not saying centring a subject is bad, but doing it every time is bad. There are tons of other ways to compose a shot depending on what your main subject is. Play with angles, symmetry, colours, shadows, etc.



3) Not taking enough pictures and developing skills on the way. Practice makes us perfect, and this applies to photography too. When it comes to digital photography, it takes a lot of failed attempts to be able to achieve keeper shots. Analyze what sort of shots you like, and think for a second before pressuring the shutter. It will improve the photographs by a huge margin.4) The subject at center in every shot. Once I learned to handle my camera, this is what happened in 90% of the photographs. Not saying centring a subject is bad, but doing it every time is bad. There are tons of other ways to compose a shot depending on what your main subject is. Play with angles, symmetry, colours, shadows, etc.





30 second day time exposure.

5) Don't take critique of your work as a personal attack. When starting out, I remember posting one photo online for some suggestions or feedback on how to improve. Most of the folks were pretty awesome with the advice, but a few comments were downright offensive and mean. We live in a colourful world with all sorts of personalities surrounding us, so there was not much I could do. Do not get easily discouraged, that's what I want to convey. :)



Hope you learned something new from my photography experience and mistakes. If you found the post informative, share the photography love by sharing this post.