If you want to be a photographer either as a full-time career, part-time or as a hobby, here are some tips to help you along that path from someone who has been down it.

Get a Proper Camera

Yes, you can take great pictures with an iPhone. But real photographers use real equipment. Have you ever been to a wedding with a professional photographer and watched them using a phone or a point-and-shoot camera? Me neither. If you want to be a professional photographer, set down the iPad and get a decent DSLR or a mirror-less camera. The key is to get something that you can change the settings manually on and also allows for swapping out lenses.

Know Your Camera

Now that you have a real camera you need to know how to use it. Know what an f-stop is and how to set it manually and how to adjust shutter speed quickly. In essence, turn off all the auto features and learn to set them yourself, including the focus. I’ve spoken with quite a few people over the years who say they have a nice camera, yet they never turn off the auto functions. What is the point of having a camera that you can use manually if you are not going to use the manual settings? You might as well use a phone if you are not going to learn how to set the camera manually. Camera settings and menus vary from camera to camera, but typically all the information appears on the display of the camera so know what it is telling you.

Megapixels Don’t Matter Anymore

As digital cameras have advanced, so has the megapixel count. The general rule of thumb is the more, the better, although this isn’t necessarily true as clarity can be affected in a smaller camera with a large megapixel count. As the sensor size increases, its ability to accept and work with a larger pixel count increases. Most cameras use a smaller sensor and cramming more megapixels on that little sensor doesn’t necessarily make a better picture. In our modern world, the amount of pixels on your camera’s sensor greatly exceeds the need for the Facebook gallery you are most likely to load the picture into. Look at color, contrast, low light functionality when looking for a good camera.

It’s All About Light

Photography is capturing the light. In the beginning, the arrangement for making imagines was via a box with a hole in it, allowing light to pass through it. Enlarging the hole will increase brightness and let in more light. Simple enough. The change to digital has been the most significant change to photography since the shift from black and white to color. With digital, the film has been replaced by an electronic sensor. Instead of processing the film and creating prints in a darkroom, the camera can now be connected to a computer, and images can be edited and adjusted electronically and printed via a desktop printer. Even though the camera has changed over the years, as has the printing process, one thing remains the same: light reflects off an object, making the object visible to our eye and the camera. The way that light reflects off the object impacts how it looks, so learn to use the light to take the best photograph possible.

Learn and Study the Work of Others

Writers read other writers, doctors learn from other doctors, and photographers should check out other photographer’s work and see what they are doing. Don’t copy, but study and learn. Take classes and workshops. Get as much hands-on experience as possible. Reading articles like this are helpful but no comparison to having actual hands-on experience with a knowledgeable teacher. If you see a picture you like, go out and try to recreate it. Don’t then go and try to sell it, but use it as a learning opportunity to identify how that picture was created. The more you learn from others, the more you will be able to determine what it is in your own work that you like and develop your style.

Software Does Not Make You a Photographer

Spending a lot of time in front of your computer processing pictures or running them through Instagram doesn’t make you a photographer. What makes you a better photographer is knowing how to manually manipulate your equipment, and most importantly getting out and shooting while trying new stuff to see what happens.

My recommendation is to go out and take pictures as if you don’t have Photoshop or other processing software at home. Take the pictures as if the image in the camera is the final product. You will spend more time making sure it is the best it can be there and not “fix it in post.”

And Finally

Get out and shoot. Practice makes perfect, and like the 10-thousand-hour rule says, you need to be practicing your craft in order to be better at it. Be sure when practicing to challenge yourself. Try taking pictures only using one lens, or from only one specific angle. If you don’t have a film camera, pretend you do. Go out and say that you only have 36 pictures you can take and limit yourself to that. This will force you to look at each image before just picking up the camera, clicking it a few hundred times, then picking the best one later.

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#supercute

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Actors should be updating their headshots every few years or every time their look changes. This is to make sure that when going into auditions the casting directors see a person in front of them that looks like the photograph. A headshot should also be a representation of how you want to present yourself as an actor. I know the desire is to show range but when casting agents are flipping through a stack of images they are looking for something specific.

In these image of the same person we have two very different looks. The first taken two years ago is a much brighter look, a slight smile, and light backdrop. The second being a dark moody looking image. His head is angled down instead of up, and he has a serious look. Lighting is darker with a dark backdrop and more shadow. Both images have drastically different looks that tell a casting director different stories about him.

When thinking about getting a headshot, think about how you want to present yourself. Lighting, angles, an expressions all tell a story. Even if not working as an actor it is useful to keep this in mind. Are you a banker or a developer? A banker is probably going to show up for the shoot with a more formal suit as compared to a developer who might be well dressed but not necessarily in a full suit and tie. Girls this applies to you as well. Dressy or casual, relaxed or serious are all useful things to have ready.

And of course, break a leg at that next audition!

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During the session we talked camera drones (he has the one I want), we discussed life in the city and towards the end of the session, as he was leaving we talked about travel to Cuba. This leads to him pulling out a lovely Cuban cigar to show me. I don’t recall which one of us suggested it, but we couldn’t let an opportunity to snap a couple of pictures with this fantastic bit of flair go past. And literally, that is what we did. I set him down, set the lights, and snapped two pictures with this being one of the two.

Thanks for letting me post this picture and hope you enjoyed your visit to the park on that oddly nice day to sample that fine tobacco. Another joy of living in Europe is that they don’t have the ban on Cuban cigars that the US has.

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So when it came to taking her out of it all, I thought she would get mad at her parents but she actually was very good. She went along with a quick change of outfits outfits for us. She also woke up for a while and pleasantly played along with us posing for this boxing picture a lovely picture with mom.

What I really like about this picture is that it wasn’t the one I was going after. I wanted a picture of the mother looking at her daughter. But when they went face to face her brought her in to touch heads, creating a beautiful moment. I did get the picture I was after as well, but it is moments like this that make me love being a photographer.

She did eventually get cranky with us so I almost didn’t try this last shot. I prepped the stage fully expecting her to let us know she didn’t like the pose, but what was great about it, as soon as we put her in the container she instantly fell asleep. She even gave us a bit of a smile for one of the pictures as she dozed into a pleasant dream. We didn’t have the heart to wake her for any of the pictures preferring to get a few lovely pictures of little sleeping Sophie.

Now that I’m done writing this I feel like I could use a nap as well.

Sleep tight

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She arrived with her hair done in this classic look and a great selection of outfits. For the look I usually don’t do a lot of post processing but for these I felt they should have a bit of a vintage feel to them, so I did a bit of sepia toning.

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In this case as I was processing the clients images and there were a lot of lovely ones as their daughter was a perfect little poser. For the selected favorite, however, we all agreed that this one was perfect. The expression on her face and those big baby show us how sweet babies can be. Mix that with her playing with the ribbon on her shirt and this is just a perfect picture. A perfect picture that I love just as much as her parents love.

This Welcome Baby Portrait session gave mom the chance to get a bit of a makeover with our makeup artist, while dad and I snapped a few pictures of their daughter. All of which she posed excellently for.

All the best to you little Isabelle!

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For us here at the studio we have had our ups-and-downs but one thing we always enjoyed was the fantastic children that have come through the door. They act on instinct, smile when they want to smile, cry when they want to cry, and do the things we miss doing – acting like children.

People often say to me, “You know what they say about working with children and animals…” My response to that is, “Do it whenever possible because that is were the excitement comes from.”

From the inner child in us to the inner child in you, merry first of December!

Milo and the D Studios Team!

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She is so happy in this picture with her eyes glowing, I just love it.

All smiles to you from your photographer! And the best to you and your family!

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